Most companies go through some form of portfolio planning, whether they use that term or not, says Eric Symon, principal with Digital Tempus. He defines it as a strategic effort to determine "what products you're going to sell to whom, and what businesses you're going to invest in." The model can help businesses to understand which products are growing in demand, and which need to be phased out.

Supply chain consulting services firm enVista sent a group of employees and a van full of donated supplies to Southern Indiana to help with volunteer efforts after deadly tornadoes ripped through the area in late February and early March.

The efficiencies and cost-containment initiatives that the physical supply chain has seen have not been brought to the financial supply chain by most companies, says Robert Kramer, vice president for working capital solutions at PrimeRevenue. That's unfortunate because there are literally trillions of dollars in accounts receivable in corporate supply chins that can be freed up, he says.

In "truly collaborative" trading relationships, targeted operational metrics, such as inventory days, total landed cost, and cash-to-cash cycles, can be expected to improve by 50 percent over those without collaborative execution capabilities, according to a joint research project of E2open and SCM World.

The center of gravity for consumer-focused companies is subtly but unmistakably moving toward developing economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and Indonesia. The middle class in emerging markets will make up 30 percent of the global population by 2020. These customers represent the future.