Ingram Micro will open an information technology asset disposition processing center in Plainfield, Ind., and close its South African office, noting "[t]he relatively small size of its operations and the limited number of product lines available."

Employees at Amazon are forming an increasing number of groups to call for change related to warehouse working conditions, immigration enforcement, unionization and other issues, including Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, which had almost 1,800 employees pledge to participate in the recent Global Climate Strike walkout. Amazon published a blog post earlier this month in which it responded to employee group demands.

Distributors can differentiate themselves from Amazon and other competitors by providing excellent service, according to ICC CEO Alex Alexandrov. Loyalty programs, cross-selling and bundles can also help distributors increase wallet share with existing customers.

A new report from UPS outlines insights about business-to-business online buyers, such as product quality being the top consideration when choosing a vendor and that more than 44% want B2B e-commerce sites to remember their personal details, such as log-ins and delivery preferences. More than half of B2B online shoppers are loyalty program members and 88% research products before purchase, with a vendor's site the top resource.

Keep business emails short, focused, professional and positive, even when communicating about solving a problem or relaying critical feedback, writes Alexandra Levit. "Because you can't rely on voice or nonverbal cues, always reread your emails to make sure the message you are sending is professional and clear," she writes.

Instead of venting to co-workers or feeling powerless during a crisis, take stock of the situation and your thoughts, then seek positive ways to resolve the situation, writes Maki Moussavi. "You have no guarantee that it will work, but it is a proactive (empowered) rather than reactive (disempowered) way to build some positive momentum," she writes.

During our free webinar "Reboot the Real World: Beating Disruption through Human-Centric Innovations," Mark Dancer and SAP's Magnus Meier will explore how to win by being human, how to engage customers through shared interests and mutual advantage, and how to optimize benefits through intentional combinations of human and technology forces of change. Content is based on Mark's new book for NAW, "Innovate to Dominate." Register to attend or to watch on demand. Sponsored by SAP.

According to Jia Wang, many distributors have initiatives aimed at developing high-potential employees. However, identifying the employees with high potential (HiPo) can be challenging and is highly subjective. This is partially because different organizations may define high potentials differently. As a result, the characteristics and abilities that an employee must possess to be classified as a "HiPo" is largely up to individual interpretation. How can your HiPo program truly benefit your company and your employees? Read her blog post.

This study brings together best practices from leading distributors and their suppliers that were developed through a consortium on Optimizing Channel Compensation. The resulting Channel Alignment Framework is the first-of-its-kind map that seeks to build optimal manufacturer-distributor channels. Distributors need to read this book and buy it for their manufacturer partners. Then they need to sit down with those suppliers and properly plan effective processes to get the supplier market access while meeting distributor investment needs.