The reshoring of manufactured goods from Asia to North America is bound to take some import business away from U.S. ports. But there are other developing threats to the continued dominance of gateways like Los Angeles-Long Beach - specifically, a couple of upstarts to the north and south.

On its way back to the U.S. from China, might manufacturing take a detour into Mexico? Does our neighbor south of the border stand ready to quash the Great American Industrial Revival?

What does it take to convince a manufacturer to locate a plant in the U.S.? How about in California, one of the most highly regulated and difficult states in which to operate? (It ranked 40th in CNBC's latest survey "America's Top States for Business." What about the San Francisco Bay Area, with its prohibitive cost of living, high population density and even more onerous regulatory environment?

With every presidential election comes a spirit of renewal (at least for those who supported the winning candidate). We're emboldened to look ahead, to renew our faith in the future, to reaffirm our belief that despite the occasional stumble, economic expansion will continue indefinitely.

Now that corporations are "persons," I suppose it's no stretch to describe supply chains as "mature" or "immature." In fact, the words are especially useful when it comes to determining a company's level of supply-chain responsibility.