So often our discussions about supply chain center on arcane details and limited stakes. Production delayed? Get ready to pay more for expedited transportation. Lost a supplier? Might mean empty shelves at the supermarket. Life goes on.

So we have a handful of Chinese companies that haven't grown up by the traditional method of attaching an umbilical cord to the government and receiving endless amounts of financial support and monopoly status in return. These "Second Mouse" ventures are going head to head, both in China and around the world, with entrenched, Western-style multinationals. The question is: can they really compete?

Considering the astonishing growth of China's economy over the past decade, it should come as no surprise that 73 Chinese companies showed up on this year's Fortune Global 500. That's up from 11 just ten years ago, but given that fact that the nation saw average annual GDP growth of 9.91 percent between 1979 and 2010, and is now the world's second largest economy, one might ask why more Chinese companies aren't on Fortune's list.

No one appears completely happy with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule on tracking the presence of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in high-tech and other types of products. Comments on SEC's action range from outright opposition to quibbling over details.

Moving at the blinding speed of bureaucracy, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has finally adopted a rule that requires manufacturers to report on their use of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Schadenfreude is the act of deriving pleasure from observing the misfortunes of others. It helps to explain our enjoyment of tragedy, comedy and reality TV. It's also a convenient emotion to access when we read about economies that are in worse shape than ours. We would be well-advised, however, not to submit to the urge to feel superior to the slow-motion train wreck that is the European Union. What's happening in that dysfunctional coalition promises to have severe consequences for U.S. exporters.