Global supply chains will continue to expand in coming years, but at a slower pace than before, and in ways that follow different patterns, according to a report from Standard Chartered Bank.

Many mid-sized U.S. cities and other areas now make attractive alternatives to India and other offshore locations for companies considering consolidating finance, IT and other business services operations for shared service or global business services centers, according to new research from The Hackett Group.

Automotive suppliers are under mounting pressure to satisfy two conflicting customer demands: to cut costs and to open more factories in fast-growing emerging markets so that they can be closer to their customers' production plants. Striking the right balance between cost and proximity in global manufacturing networks will be one of the industry's greatest challenges, according to a report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), conducted in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA. The report is titled The Proximity Paradox: Balancing Auto Suppliers' Manufacturing Networks.

Manufacturers typically evaluate seven critical areas when it comes to operational decision making: transportation and energy costs; market demand for their products; rising labor costs in China and other developing nations; access to talent, tax and regulatory policies; availability of capital; and currency trends.

Goodman Group, Australia's largest listed industrial property group, says its wholly owned North American subsidiary, Goodman Birtcher, has received approvals for the development of a proposed $350m logistics center in Linden, N.J. The project is part of the recently announced $1.4bn development pipeline in the key U.S. logistics markets of California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.