Here's the latest advice for supply-chain managers: Sweat the small stuff. Manufacturing company executives responsible for parts and supplies tend to worry most about what would happen if deliveries from one of their biggest suppliers were disrupted by a natural disaster or other unforeseen event, says David Simchi-Levi, an engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Saudi Arabia's infrastructure spending continues to surpass expectations. The Kingdom is especially committed to a nationwide transportation infrastructure expansion program which will feature one of the world's most sophisticated rail and metro networks.

Corporate extortion is likely to keep booming in 2014, and we don't mean extortion of corporations, as is practiced by Somali pirates or entrepreneurial Russians. We mean extortion by corporations.