The top five events causing disruption to supply chains in 2014 were Typhoon Halong in western Japan with a revenue impact of more than $10bn, severe flooding in Long Island, New York, with a revenue impact of more than $4bn, Typhoon Rammasun in China and Vietnam, which caused a revenue impact exceeding $1.5bn, the Taiwan gas explosions and their $900m impact, and the Intel hazardous chemical spill in Arizona, which also had a revenue impact that topped $900m.

What does it take to overcome the logistics challenges of serving customers in emerging markets?

In 2014, organizations were caught off guard by the increase in advanced threats targeting vulnerabilities within business-critical applications running on SAP platforms. Everything from malware being loaded up on RFID devices and being inserted into the manufacturing process, to high-risk "denial of service" vulnerabilities are challenging organizations to re-think their current approach to protecting critical data.

The sign in the elevator banks at Coca-Cola Refreshments reads: "There is a person at the end of our supply chain." Well, that's a start.

For most business leaders, it's difficult to make any decision without letting bottom line bias come into play. Globalization, in addition to evolving social, economic and regulatory trends, has elevated corporate competition to a new playing field altogether. For procurement departments in particular, cutting costs, doing more with less, and running agile operations are the new standards for success.

Analyst Insight: Companies today face a wide range of security risks to their supply chains as well as to their sources of supply. In order to overcome vulnerabilities, they should have a deep understanding of their internal and external supply chains, and be able to quantify the likelihood and impact of security threats. – Glen Goldbach, Director, and Kelvin Harris, Director, PwC's Advisory Practice