Global companies are wasting more than $30bn (£20bn) a year because they do not share information about suppliers, according to business information provider Achilles.

UTi Worldwide Inc. has expanded its freight-forwarding operations in Malaysia with the opening of new facilities in Port Klang and Kuantan.

For most business leaders, it's difficult to make any decision without letting bottom line bias come into play. Globalization, in addition to evolving social, economic and regulatory trends, has elevated corporate competition to a new playing field altogether. For procurement departments in particular, cutting costs, doing more with less, and running agile operations are the new standards for success.

Analyst Insight: Automation and efficiency in corporate accounts payable is opening up new opportunities that simply are not possible in a paper-based environment. Chief among these is the opportunity to design payment programs that accelerate funds to suppliers – and provide significant working capital benefits to buyers as well. – Scott Pezza, Principal Analyst at Blue Hill Research

LPG shipping earnings are forecast to remain buoyant on the back of low oil prices and the absence of fuel substitution, according to the latest edition of the LPG Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

Analyst Insight: While e-commerce is buzzing, it's still only 6 percent of total U.S. retail spend. For CPG companies, the Online Search to Offline Purchase (O2O) market (30 percent to 40 percent of retail spend) growth is driven by mobile commerce. Some 74 percent of smartphone owners use their device while shopping with 79 percent ultimately making a purchase as a result, according to Retailigence. As the "moment of truth" shifts to the "point of demand", more information is available to support supply chain decisions. – Rich Sherman, author and founder at Gold & Domas Research

Analyst Insight: The greatest gap between performance and satisfaction of supply chain applications is in the area of demand planning. The reasons are many, but many are rooted in organizational and processes issues causing many people to throw in the towel too early. – Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights

Analyst Insight: Collaboration is widely identified by supply chain analysts as a critical trend for supply chain execution. But it is one thing to "say" collaboration and quite another thing to get it right and garner real results from your efforts. For the best results, think of collaboration and integration together. And don't be afraid to contract for collaboration. - Kate Vitasek is a faculty member of the University of Tennessee's Graduate Center for Executive Education.

Analyst Insight: Supply chain efficiencies and dynamics are tested daily by the heightened need for companies to meet a growing set of demands. As efficiency and consumer demand converge, visibility grows in importance and can only be brought about through collaboration. What makes visibility and collaboration between stakeholders possible is a common language of standards that can enable supply chain participants to understand and act on information with agility and precision. Industries achieve remarkable progress together. – Siobhan O'Bara, Senior Vice President of Industry Engagement, GS1 US