Of all the potential disruptions to global supply chains today, terrorist attack might be the least understood, and the hardest to prepare for. Much of the time spent by companies looking to shore up their supply chains against disruption has been devoted to thinking about natural disasters — tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, erupting volcanoes. Read More

Forget about trade friction between the U.S. and China. Now it's a global trade war. As more and more aggrieved countries jump into the game, we find ourselves in a world of retributive duties and other government actions against the ''dumping'' of goods in export markets. Read More

"It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." So said a Danish wit nearly 80 years ago. But when it comes to divining the direction of the economy, why try? Read More

Forget about the old style of business networking. ''Social'' networking has brought a whole new meaning to the term. Social networking is fast becoming a must-have skill in the business world — both for career advancement and for managing day-to-day operations. Read More

For transportation providers in the e-commerce era, the choice is clear: disrupt, or be disrupted. The motivating force is, of course, Amazon.com, which has shown distinct signs in recent years of desiring to take over multiple transportation and logistics functions in support of its dominant e-commerce business. Read More

Do modern-day retail customer-loyalty programs really make for loyal customers? The loyalty program is a tried and true maneuver to keep shoppers from straying to rival retailers. In its original manifestation, though, it was largely a means of mining information about customers, who were otherwise anonymous in the brick-and-mortar world. Read More

We're well into the 21st century, but we seem no closer to achieving gender parity in supply-chain leadership positions. Just 5 percent of top-level supply-chain positions at Fortune 500 companies today are occupied by women. Read More