Supply chain consulting services firm enVista sent a group of employees and a van full of donated supplies to Southern Indiana to help with volunteer efforts after deadly tornadoes ripped through the area in late February and early March.

The efficiencies and cost-containment initiatives that the physical supply chain has seen have not been brought to the financial supply chain by most companies, says Robert Kramer, vice president for working capital solutions at PrimeRevenue. That's unfortunate because there are literally trillions of dollars in accounts receivable in corporate supply chins that can be freed up, he says.

In "truly collaborative" trading relationships, targeted operational metrics, such as inventory days, total landed cost, and cash-to-cash cycles, can be expected to improve by 50 percent over those without collaborative execution capabilities, according to a joint research project of E2open and SCM World.

The center of gravity for consumer-focused companies is subtly but unmistakably moving toward developing economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and Indonesia. The middle class in emerging markets will make up 30 percent of the global population by 2020. These customers represent the future.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda have announced plans to begin negotiating a free-trade agreement aimed at deepening trade and investment ties between the two nations.

Could China grow into a nation of shoppers? The country is better known around the world for its factory workers and exports. But to put China's economic growth on a steadier glide path, especially in a global slowdown, the Chinese government wants to shift the drivers of the economy towards consumer demand at home.

Corporations in the U.S. and Europe will move an additional 750,000 jobs in IT, finance and other business services to India and other low-cost geographies by 2016, according to new research from The Hackett Group. But levels of additional offshoring in these areas will begin to decline by 2014, and in the next 8 to 10 years the flow of jobs offshore is likely to cease, as companies simply run out of business services jobs suitable for moving to low-cost countries.

President Obama and his Republican challengers are ramping up their rhetoric about creating more manufacturing jobs in the United States. The question is, will employees be ready for manufacturing?

Despite greatly improved safety records in the century since Titanic, the maritime industry faces new challenges driven by the continued growth of worldwide shipping, according to specialist marine insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.

The past few years have brought radical changes to the world of supply chain management. The business climate today is not only more complex, due to shorter product life cycles, increasing service demands from channels, price erosion and global customers with specialized needs but much more uncertain due to supply risks.