Even as companies are relying more on technology to come up with innovative business models and fresh ideas for finding new revenue, many boards of directors don't understand enough about IT to keep up.

After a half-decade of running on the treadmill, manufacturers are once again positioning themselves to achieve growth. An Accenture survey found that 89 percent of 81 senior manufacturing executives at U.S.-based companies with global operations are expecting growth. In fact, about four in 10 companies surveyed already have successfully restored either their production or profitability levels beyond pre-recession levels of 2007.

Ryder System, Inc. reports that its fleet of 250 natural gas vehicles have surpassed six million miles. The fleet consists of 35 liquefied natural gas and 215 compressed natural gas tractors, running in 32 customer operations in California, Arizona and Michigan.

It's an often overlooked area of the supply chain, with a woeful record of success. Josefin Aspegren, marketing director with Optilon, talks about the challenge of assessing the efficacy of trade-promotion programs.

Canadian Pacific is donating $1m to various organizations active in relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey.

You can love CRM as a discipline, but don't have any illusions about its ability to survive in the cruel world. The reality is that customer relationships are fragile things; they need the right environment to flourish and be profitable.

Despite the embattled state of the global economy and resulting lack of political enthusiasm for tackling environmental and climate change issues, the $866bn global environmental market managed 4-percent growth in 2011, according to research by Environmental Business Journal.

The strongest case Africa presents for its attractiveness to manufacturing is its GDP growth. The continent is home to six out of the top 10 countries that are experiencing economic growth, according to an analysis by the Economist. Over the past decade, it has been the second-fasting growing region in the world, averaging growth of 5.1 percent during that period.

In many companies, marketers have been first movers in social media, tapping into it for insights on how consumers think and behave. As social technologies mature and organizations become convinced of their power, they will take on a broader role: informing competitive strategy.