Shipping losses worldwide have declined by 50 percent over the past decade, but 75 ships were lost in 2014, according to a recent study.

Global companies are wasting more than $30bn (£20bn) a year because they do not share information about suppliers, according to business information provider Achilles.

Organisation-wide purchasing is often the responsibility of the procurement team with the business reliant on them to source the right goods and services at the best price. But different departments within an organisation will often have very specific and specialist requirements and there are significant merits in empowering selected personnel to source exactly what they need, when they need it.

The UK construction sector expanded at its slowest pace for 17 months in December against a background of concerns around supply chain pressures and skills shortages, according to a survey of buyers.

The Ebola crisis in West Africa has helped push cocoa prices up by 10 percent since August to more than £1,000 ($1,617) per tonne, and this despite rising production.

"Don't 'greenwash' because you will be caught out," is the message from IKEA UK's environment and sustainable development manager Charlie Browne.

UK manufacturing expansion slowed in May, but the sector is still in "one of the brightest spells of output and new order growth" of the past 22 years, according to a survey of buyers.