Driven by the need to continuously improve the performance of industrial operations, the worldwide market for asset reliability software and services should experience growth that will outpace the automation market as a whole, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

Social media can make or break a company today. They can't be ignored as a crucial element in building and maintaining brand image, says Larry Monaghan, senior vice president of supply chain with Haier America.

While mobile reigns among the hottest topics of discussion, its adoption at the supply chain operation level may be surprisingly less widespread than expected, according to a survey from TAKE Supply Chain, a division of TAKE Solutions.

Over the past 30 years, most companies have added new C-level roles in response to changing business environments. The chief financial officer role, which didn't exist at a majority of companies in the mid-1980s, rose to prominence as pressures for value management and more transparent investor relations gained traction. Adding a chief marketing officer became crucial as new channels and media raised the complexity of brand building and customer engagement. Chief strategy officers joined top teams to help companies address increasingly complex and fast-changing global markets. Today, the power of data and analytics is profoundly altering the business landscape, and once again companies may need more top-management muscle.

Shrink, consisting of shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, organized retail crime and administrative errors, cost the retail industry more than $112bn globally last year, according to the 2012-2013 Global Retail Theft Barometer, and represented 1.4 percent of retail sales, on average.