If one had to choose a single word to describe the M&A market in 2013, it would be disappointing, and indeed many market participants have used this very term. But the exasperated deal makers have had little time to cry in their beer - they've been too busy. The M&A market took off like a rocket in 2014, fueled by the return of the megadeal (transactions with a value of more than $10bn), which has been in hibernation for the last several years. The momentum of the first quarter carried into the second, setting up 2014 as a potential bellwether for the market's longer-term evolution.

With all the talk of sales and operations planning, companies still can't agree on exactly what the term means. Michael Uskert, managing vice president with Gartner, offers some clarity on the topic.

Hedge funds are betting that the price of cocoa will rise on concern that the deadly Ebola disease will disrupt supplies from West Africa, which produces 70 percent of the global supply.

Companies across all industries depend more and more on analytics and insights to run their businesses profitably. But, attracting, managing and retaining talented personnel to execute on those strategies remains a challenge.

Achieving forecast accuracy is both an art and a science. Rahul Tyagi, associate director of retail and CPG with TCS, explains how the science part can help companies to solve this thorny problem.

The World Trade Organization has slashed its forecast for world trade growth in 2014 to 3.1 percent, citing weaker-than-expected gross domestic product growth and muted import demand in the first half of the year.