News Room

Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold the lion’s share of the supply chain. However, they lack in adoption of new technology, impairing their ability to be nimble when large world events interrupt the status quo. Greater investment in enterprise software and advanced manufacturing can better insulate supply chain SMEs and the global market at large.

Rusty Vanneman, chief investment strategist at Orion Portfolio Solutions, says that persistent inflation -- for longer than most observers are expecting -- is going to keep the Federal Reserve hawkish for longer, which investors will have to adjust to by diversifying away from the mega-cap stocks that have been a particular drag on portfolios this year. He suggests that investors look to small-cap stocks, non-US issues plus real assets and value investments to smooth out the ride in the year ahead. In The NAVigator segment, John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors and the Active Investment Company Alliance looks back at 2022 for the closed-end fund industry and reviews his forecasts, most notably how his basket of five funds for the year came out ahead of the market and poised to rebound in the new year. Plus, University of Toronto professor Opher Baron discusses how retailers are changing return policies in response to consumer habits and global supply-chain issues -- saying that consumers must pay more attention than ever to how stores handle returns -- and forensic accountant Tracy Coenen -- author of 'The Marriage Money Guide (for Women)' -- discusses financial fidelity and how couples can keep their finances on the level so that money doesn't make them lose their minds.

Every year more than 100 billion apparel items are created by the industry — enough for every person on Earth to get 14 new pieces of clothing each year, and more than double the amount of clothing produced in 2000. And because of our "buy-and-return" culture, a lot of that clothing is getting sent back to retailers. Despite what many people think, most clothing returns are not restocked, repurposed, or reused — they end up in the garbage.

I recently had a conversation with Carlos Crespo, Chief Operating Officer of Zara parent company Inditex, in which he mentioned a software tool created by Netflix over a decade ago to institutionalize system resilience. The name is catchy, and for supply chain leaders trying to reinvent their supply networks for turbulent times, it is irresistible. And yet, a GoogleGOOG -0.2% search for "supply chain chaos monkey" yielded exactly one citation, from 2012.

Technology companies are shedding jobs at disturbing rates. Those with experience in computing are being laid off, sometimes with little warning. Freshly minted computer science graduates are facing employment headwinds not seen for well over a decade. Is this the next dot-com bubble burst, which could send the economy spiraling downward to new lows?