After the economic crisis, which had a marginal effect on the power generation industry, the automation and software solutions market in the electric power generation sector continued to grow. While the capital expenditure trend grew strongly from 2006 until 2008, it went down significantly in 2009 due to the global economic crisis. However, the investment activities resurged in 2010 and 2011. Developed economies have increased their investment in grid modernization while emerging economies have continued to build new electricity infrastructure. China's projects in this sector are ambitious and farsighted.

While most executives recognize the importance of supply chain sustainability, cost is still a major factor and trumps environmental impact as a driver of behavior, according to a survey of 150 C-level and senior leaders at U.S. and European companies, according to AlixPartners, a global business-advisory firm. However, those that can implement cost-effective sustainability strategies and effectively market them to customers will have a competitive advantage.

A host of marketplace trends are driving logistics companies to offer more value-added services and to physically locate closer to customers in order to support continued growth, says John Ferguson, CEO of SCI Logistics, a major logistics provider in Canada.

Innovation is a popular word today, with plenty of books supporting it. Most pundits promote big innovation programs with innovation departments and innovation plans. But unless you happen to have hired the next Nikola Tesla, this is hardly a sustainable strategy.

Manufacturing expanded in July at the fastest pace in more than two years, sparked by surges in orders and production that signal companies are growing more optimistic about the U.S. economy's prospects.