Amazon, which has never published a sustainability report, has recently hired sustainability executives that may change the online retail giant's strategy - and reputation - according to the Guardian.

Chipotle Mexican Grill revealed on Tuesday that federal prosecutors had expanded their inquiry into the company's multi-state outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, further threatening sales that declined steeply by the end of last year.

For years, companies have used digital supply chain technologies to improve service levels and reduce costs. But the inability to connect disparate systems, provide end-to-end visibility into the supply chain, and crunch massive amounts of data, among other issues, has prevented many companies from achieving the full potential of their supply chains.

Beijing is crawling with motorcycle-mounted deliverymen, one sign of the rapid growth of China's service industries. Services grew 8.3 percent last year and for the first time generated more than half of gross domestic product, or 50.5 percent. Manufacturing rose only 6 percent. "If it hadn't been for the service sector, China's economy would be in a much worse state today," says Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong. He notes that all kinds of services have expanded quickly in recent years.

During the long downturn in R&D productivity, a handful of bio-pharmaceutical companies have consistently bucked the trend. How did they manage it? After all, they have experienced the same industry pressures as their peers - pressures such as lengthier R&D cycle times, higher costs of failure, and sharper regulatory scrutiny.

Circuit City was liquidated in 2008, but there are new owners and a new plan to bring the defunct electronics chain back.