Supply Chain

The consumer goods industry in North America has seen a significant transition to global expansion, including the emerging markets playing field. Here, we have tapped into the extensive knowledge banks of industry leaders to help us focus on the best practices needed for expansion in the most sustainable manner.

Even as leaders such as P&G and Amazon (inRetail) further embed analytics into the very fiber of the enterprise, consumergoods companies in general have yetto consistently connect strategy andorganization design with investments in analytical tools. The result is aninsight-rich, outcome-poor industry that struggles todemonstrate ROI onanalytics investments.

Diamond Foods, Inc. has opened a new 7,000-square-foot innovation center adjacent to the Kettle Brand potato chip facility. The innovation center will drive new product offerings for Diamond's entire family of brands.

The chief executive of Heineken, the world's third largest brewer, told CNBC that he expected to see continued sales growth in emerging markets, despite the occasional "hiccup" in the future. Heineken reported higher first-half results than markets expected as it increased profit in all regions except Africa.

The Census Bureau publishes annual figures on each state's international trade. For a map look at the biggest trade partners by dollar value of goods imported and exported for each state in 2014 read on.

Mondelez International is investing more than $130 million in its North American biscuits business to modernize its manufacturing assets and processes and create a global integrated supply chain. This investment will fund the installation of four state-of-the-art manufacturing lines at the company's Americas production facility in Salinas, Mexico, to be completed by mid-2016.

Approximately 1,300 employees are covered under this new contract, which will allow the company to further invest in innovation and brand growth.

Wholesaler-distributors and manufacturers remain underwhelmed by the effectiveness of search marketing, and they also view e-commerce as a way to promote their brand as much as a way to increase new customers and orders. This study takes a deep dive into the objectives and challenges these companies face around e-commerce today.