Automobiles are selling again, and executives are confident. The U.S. auto industry is positioned for a global economic recovery - if car manufacturers can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Kohl's Department Stores is to install solar panels at roughly 30 additional locations, expanding its existing solar program by nearly 25 percent.

When Sonja Zozula and Jerry Anderson founded LightSaver Technologies in 2009, everyone told them they should make their emergency lights for homeowners in China. After two years of outsourcing to factories there, last winter they shifted production to Carlsbad, Calif., about 30 miles from their home in San Clemente. "It's probably 30 percent cheaper to manufacture in China," Anderson says. "But factor in shipping and all the other B.S. that you have to endure. It's a question of, 'How do I value my time at three in the morning when I have to talk to China?'"

If you're a consumer in one of the world's developed economies and you think that Japan is full of powerhouse exporters, you're right. Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony, Toyota - many Japanese multinationals became household names in the second half of the 20th century. If you're a consumer in an emerging market, though, you probably don't view Japanese companies the same way. In fact, it's possible that you have never used a product made by one of those giants.

This year, Vermeer Corp. is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its lean journey, a remarkable milestone given one of the words President and CEO Mary Andringa uses to describe the continuous-improvement methodology. "Fragile" is the word.

In Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli's most recent book - Why Good People Can't Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It - he debunks the oft-repeated argument from employers that applicants don't have the skills needed for today's jobs. Instead, he puts much of the blame on companies themselves, including their lack of information about hiring and training costs, and on computerized applicant tracking systems that can make it harder, not easier, to find qualified job candidates.

Mobility is important to retailers, but it is not mobility for the sake of mobility. Instead, the focus is convergence of e-commerce, mobility and social. And despite the doomsayers on the concepts of social commerce, the greatest increase in the intended use of mobile is to fuel efforts in social commerce.