In 2001, Jim O'Neill kicked off a decade-long investment boom with a catchy acronym for the four largest emerging-market economies - BRIC, for Brazil, Russia, India and China. The Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman is now promoting a new foursome of fast-track countries: Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey. Call them MIST countries.

Increasing labor costs in China's heavily industrialized areas, mostly along the coastline, are driving many companies to move production to the country's inland regions, creating a number of logistics and supply chain challenges, according to Greg Spudic, vice president of North American sales and marketing for Dimerco Express.

A new wave of robots, far more adept than those now commonly used by automakers and other heavy manufacturers, are replacing workers around the world in both manufacturing and distribution. Such factories are a striking counterpoint to those used by Apple and other consumer electronics giants, which employ hundreds of thousands of low-skilled workers.

In the mid-2000s there was a beginning of public discussions and a surge in market awareness about support and maintenance (S&M) alternatives for users of enterprise applications. Companies in the market for enterprise software S&M services, like nearly every other market in the world, have responded to monopolistic-like pricing and profit margins by seeking choice. Enterprise software licensees now have a choice of annual support providers.

While computer hackers and data thieves are always improving, developing ever-more sophisticated ways to to breach corporate security systems, businesses have been falling behind in the measures they're taking to protect themselves, a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report asserts. C-suite executives, the aren't taking enough personal responsibility for mitigating organizational risk due to mobile computing and employees using their personal devices at work.

Johnson and Johnson, owner of personal care brands Aveeno, Neutrogena and Clean and Clear, says it will remove a number of potentially harmful chemicals, including formaldehyde, from its line of adult consumer products by the end of 2015.

A new air ship capable of vertical takeoffs and landings and with a 66-ton cargo capacity could be a game-changer in the 3PL industry, says Shenny Yao, vice president, Washington, DC operations, Worldwide Aeros, developer of the Aeroscraft, a rigid variable buoyancy air vehicle.

Not all logistics service providers do the same thing, and not all do the same things well, a new report from Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium says.

In emerging markets, regulations impacting trade and business differ greatly from country to country and changes constantly occur with little or no notice, says Mark Millar, managing partner at M Power Associates, Hong Kong. Because of this, trade compliance is an increasingly important issue for companies doing business in these economies.