Job seekers should see varying degrees of positive hiring activity across 31 of 42 countries and territories, with employers in 22 labor markets reporting improved or relatively stable hiring intentions compared to the third quarter. However, according to ManpowerGroup's fourth-quarter 2012 Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, the pace of hiring is expected to weaken in 26 markets compared to one year ago.

While online marketplaces offer additional revenue opportunities for retailers and merchants, there are many areas to improve upon before retailers can fully realize the benefits of them, according to a study from Merchantry, an e-commerce technology provider.

So you're thinking of launching an e-commerce store, whether it's to turn a hobby into an additional income, to take your "bricks and mortar" business online, or perhaps you're ready to launch a new full-time venture in cyber space.

Prime Advantage, a buying consortium for mid-sized manufacturers, announced the findings of its 10th semi-annual Group Outlook Survey, revealing financial projections and top concerns of its member companies for the second half of 2012. The majority of surveyed manufacturers report healthy revenue projections, strong hiring and capital spending plans. However, for a small portion of respondents these plans may see delays due to uncertainty about the results of the federal elections.

Ever since Frederick Taylor's early writing on industrial efficiency - followed by the work of Peter Drucker, Alfred Chandler, and others - the modern Western corporation has been managed according to a tightly defined set of rules and norms. A clear corporate strategy calls for earning at least the cost of capital, growing at a higher rate than the overall market, and managing the portfolio to a "logic" - periodically pruning poorly performing businesses. And with Wall Street analysts ready to applaud CEOs for making their numbers or pulverize them for a one-cent per share miss, there is often little opportunity to change course.

Drewry Maritime Research's latest Container Leasing Industry report indicates that the rental container fleet grew by 10.6 percent during 2011, improving on the 9 percent returned in 2010 and giving a compounded rate of 9.5 percent for the two years combined. Up to 9.5 percent is also being forecasted for 2012, as lease demand is again holding up well.

If a retailer really wants to compete with Amazon and the changing realities of today's retail environment, it needs to kill the IT budget, disband the IT Steering Committee and throw away the IT project list. It's time for IT to be moved out from under the CFO's reigns. It's time to let go of the past and start thinking about IT as a business enabler, unleashing its full potential to the organization.

Mike Jones, president of St. Onge Co., explains the value of total landed cost modeling, and how it's affecting decisions to offshore manufacturing activities.

Remember when Motorola ruled the mobile phone business worldwide? And then Nokia did? And then BlackBerry did? And now none of them do? What happened?