Analyst Insight: The next defining opportunity for supply chain is in digital operations. The scope of digital operations is enormous, and it presents amazing opportunities. But failure - either from moving too fast or too slow - may lead to redundancy or, in extreme cases, extinction. Companies must clearly understand where they are today to drive change successfully and must move with purpose. If they cannot, they will be history. - Peter Anderson, Principal, Advisory, Ernst & Young LLP, & Chekyiu Ng, Senior Manager, Advisory, Ernst & Young LLP

Analyst Insight: Cost cutting by itself is not fun for most employees and does not inspire them. But getting lean and cost cutting in some areas to make the company "Fit for Growth" is motivational because the goal is to reallocate resources and invest in capabilities that will help the company win. Once supply chain professionals embrace that the purpose of the cost cutting is smarter investment to become more competitive, they will rally around the cause. - Rodger Howell, Principal, PwC's Strategy&; John Plansky, Principal, PwC's Strategy&

Retail CEOs say internal silos are holding back omnichannel success. In fact, retailers without these operational barriers are more positive about achieving profitability, according to a new report.

If a robot takes your job, don't say the government didn't warn you.

The Specialty Chemicals Market Volume Index, a tool created by the American Chemistry Council, fell in January, dropping 0.5 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis after a 0.1 percent decline in December.

Though the U.S. logistics industry has recovered unexpectedly well from the last recession, reaching record highs in occupancy and absorption, experts believe the growth in property rents and values will peak sometime this year.

Two measures commonly used by the government to measure manufacturing's overall impact on society are badly underestimating the impact of that critical sector. One is the proportion of gross domestic product for which manufacturing accounts. The other is the "multiplier effect," which measures the impact on other industries from an increase in economic activity by a specific industry.