Analyst Insight: The issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Indian retail has been in the headline news over the past few years. However, little media attention has been paid to the supply chain aspects of foreign retailers setting up shop in the country. The entrance of new foreign retailers into India will have a positive impact on domestic retail supply chains, bringing in global best practices, technological know-how and strengthening the position of local small suppliers. - Viktoria Sadlovska, Managing Director, Prameya Research, & Lead Author of the Pragmatic Value Chains Blog

Analyst Insight: In the world today, there are 6.8 billion people; 4 billion have mobile phones. Only 3.5 billion use a tooth brush! There are more U.S. mobile subscriptions than people; 70 percent use their smartphones during their in-store experience! Why should we care in CPG? One fifth of searches are for CPG products. Online-to-offline (O2O) commerce is expected to grow 50 percent over 5 years, outpacing offline commerce and exceeding online ecommerce by over 400 percent (!), according to Forrester Research. - Rich Sherman, Principal Essentialist, Trissential

Change still is a constant and it comes at today's supply chain professionals faster, with more intensity and greater risks than ever before. Art Van Bodegraven describes what this means for current and future supply chain leaders.

Analyst Insight: Direct delivery of orders to the customer's doorstep is a hot topic for transportation and logistics executives"”from giants like Amazon to mom-and-pop specialty retailers. In particular, there is a lot of buzz around the direct-to-consumer cold chain. Free delivery and free returns, combined with the complexity and cost of cold chain distribution center (DC) and delivery assets, make for a chief marketing officer's dream and a chief financial officer's nightmare. How can you get this capability just right? - Don Anderson, Principal, Tompkins International

With warehousing and logistics operations in numerous countries, Greg McKinley of InComm shares his experience and advice on how to select a reliable in-country vendor.

More than a third of manufacturing firms in the small and mid-sized business (SMB) sector expect the economy to strengthen in the coming six months, while nearly half expect it to remain the same, according to the results of the second annual Sage Manufacturing Survey announced by Sage North America. Respondents also anticipate an increase in orders, production and exports.