Analyst Insight: Suppliers competing in a global market grapple with several factors that are pushing them to redesign their distribution footprints. A boom in mergers and acquisitions, increasing delivery demands, and a shift in the locations of supply sources are all converging, requiring reconfigurations of the single or multi-echelon networks of warehouses and cross-docks used to "hub and spoke" products in a cost-effective manner to customers while ensuring the appropriate level of required customer responsiveness. - Michael Albritton, Director, AlixPartners

Manufacturers like the U.S. They really like it!

Beset by continued sluggish demand, a growing mountain of debt and a radically changing marketplace, listed companies in the global container shipping industry as a whole face a greater risk of financial distress, including possible bankruptcy, than at any time since 2010, and that risk has grown in each of those past three years. That's according to a new study from AlixPartners, the global business-advisory firm.

While most executives recognize the importance of supply chain sustainability, cost is still a major factor and trumps environmental impact as a driver of behavior, according to a survey of 150 C-level and senior leaders at U.S. and European companies, according to AlixPartners, a global business-advisory firm. However, those that can implement cost-effective sustainability strategies and effectively market them to customers will have a competitive advantage.