Analyst Insight: If 2012 was the year of climbing the emerging market mountain, then 2013 was the cliff. Not just for patents, but also in succeeding across multiple global markets. Quality issues, bad business practices, failure to integrate acquisitions, these were all common threads. Reputable players stumbled. Lesson learned: focusing on core business is the key to success. Many smaller non-core acquisitions such as animal health, devices, and OTC products will continue to spin off. Emerging and core markets will focus on profitability and smart growth, not just volume. - Brian Hudock, Partner, Tompkins International

UPS has acquired Polar Speed, a provider of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical supply-chain services in the United Kingdom.

FedEx Corp. has joined with Cardinal Health to provide third-party logistics (3PL) services for the healthcare industry.

IAG Cargo has opened a new pharmaceutical center at Heathrow airport, as part of the expansion of its temperature-controlled services.

The Medical University of South Carolina, in a bid to slash more than $64m from its budget, embraces procurement automation. In the process, the facility goes from survival mode to ranking among the nation's top medical centers.

Changing regulatory environments, new customer demands around the globe, challenges around product security and increasingly complex products are driving healthcare executives to make strategic supply chain investments, according to findings from the sixth annual UPS "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" healthcare survey, conducted by TNS. New technology investments and go-to-market models are top of mind as healthcare executives drive business and logistics transformations to meet evolving industry needs.