A cyber crime occurs every 18 seconds, but few companies are developing proactive plans to deal with a security event before it happens. Involving executives, including a company's board of directors, is imperative for retailers to mitigate the damage from a breach.

Chief financial officers of corporations that have already set up captive insurance companies or are thinking about setting one up should ponder the benefits of self-insuring cyber perils and supply chain business-interruption risks via a captive to supplement commercial insurance coverage.

China is struggling to combat illegal imports which smugglers conceal in mass freight as the country's logistics industry booms.

Port security has become a complicated issue in today's world. Terrorist attacks over the past decade have shown the importance of securing major ports. However, the logistics and costs involved in ensuring the safety of ports have certainly made port security a major problem.

According to a survey of 600 manufacturing and retail executives conducted by Deloitte, 71 percent of the executives surveyed view supply chain risk as "an important factor in their companies' strategic decision making, including 20 percent who view it as extremely important." Yet, 42 percent of the executives from large companies said their supply chain risk management programs are only somewhat or not effective.