Companies have a major financial incentive to achieve zero waste. In fact, says Eric Lombardi, executive director of Eco-Cycle International, "Waste equals wasted cash."

Across Nigeria, low-cost Chinese goods are everywhere, evidence of Beijing's growing dominance in global trade. The trade flow has helped keep life affordable for millions of Nigerian families, at a time when the country is struggling with economic stagnation and plunging prices, as well as the deadly costs of the Boko Haram insurgency.

U.S. shoppers are likely to change their shopping habits if their favorite retailer experienced a data breach, according to a report by Vormetric and Wakefield, which specialize in data security solutions.

Innovation continues to rise in importance. In The Boston Consulting Group's tenth annual global survey of the state of innovation, 79 percent of respondents ranked innovation as either the top-most priority or a top-three priority at their company, the highest percentage since we began asking the question in 2005, when 66 percent said innovation was their top or among their three top priorities.