Coach Inc.'s $2.4bn acquisition of rival Kate Spade & Co. is part of its broader push for fatter profit margins, even if that means settling for lower sales.

Last month, FedEx issued a report with much fanfare about the results of two initiatives that made them proud: They had set baseline targets back in 2005 and were already close to hitting their goals. All told, the two initiatives saved FedEx a combined $281m dollars in cost savings in fiscal 2016 alone.

United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest delivery company, is pushing back against major retailers who order up capacity for vast numbers of packages during the holidays but don't meet their forecasts.

Manufacturing is having a moment. Optimism on Wall Street and rising levels of consumer and business confidence have put manufacturing squarely back into growth territory. One index that tracks global manufacturing performance, the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI, is the highest it's been since 2011. Production growth rates are at a three-year high. So is the rate of expansion in new orders. And factory payrolls are growing faster than they have in over five years.

Smarter procurement could save around 15 percent of government spending globally and improve outcomes, a report has said.

Residents of the Park Slope area of Brooklyn are now able to sell power generated from rooftop solar panels via a microgrid enabled by a blockchain ledger that records every transaction made with a local utility.

General Electric Co. shook up the 3-D printer market last year by laying down more than $1bn on two acquisitions. Turns out that may be just the beginning.