Wesco International last week increased its bid for Anixter International from $90 per share to $93.50 per share. Anixter's board has favored a bid by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice but will consider the revised Wesco bid ahead of a Feb. 4 meeting.

Supply chains have yet to realize the value of blockchain and 5G networks, but real-time location solutions and machine learning for demand planning applications have already proven useful, if not widespread, write Steve Banker, Chris Cunnane and Clint Reiser. "We are still in the very early stages of building out 5G wireless networks across the nation -- this is requiring a massive, incredibly expensive roll-out of the new wireless infrastructure," they write.

Truck tonnage dropped by 3.5% in the US during November from the month before and declined 2.1% year over year, according to surveys by the American Trucking Associations. Driver turnover also increased in the third quarter, although smaller carriers experienced this by adding drivers.

The new year is the perfect time to update your business-to-business email strategy, which is one of the most effective ways to reach customers, writes Christa Tuttle. To be most effective, streamline the content to fit a customer's needs while making it personal and send messages regularly to optimize open rates.

Sales managers must be willing to take action when poor performers undermine the company's performance, writes Colleen Francis. Salespeople who consistently underperform, refuse to make positive changes and exhibit negative attitudes have no place on a successful sales team, Francis writes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was said to have asked "what's become clear since last we met?" -- and using a similar approach can create the motivation required for habit change, writes Susan Fowler. "By identifying your current motivational outlook and shifting to an optimal outlook, you can experience a breakthrough on habits and goals," she writes.

Leaders who have difficulty paying attention to details need to acknowledge this weakness and be willing to learn from others, writes Dan Rockwell. "When you ignore details, you give detail-people the impression that details don't matter," he writes.

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.

Don't miss the NAW 2020 Executive Summit: INNOVATE TO DOMINATE, Jan. 28-30! This year's forward-looking program and networking with distributors who are your peers will really shake up your thinking, provide you with fresh ideas and critical thinking, and give you a rare chance to benchmark your business. You'll walk away with valuable insights that you'll translate into ideas to help you run your business more effectively and profitably. Register today.

The October kickoff meeting was so popular that the NAW Institute and Texas A&M are holding a second kickoff meeting Jan. 23, so more companies can participate in our groundbreaking Digitizing the Sales Process Consortium. Distributors: This is your opportunity to contribute to this fundamental research on how distributors will determine which portions of the sales process will be digitized. Learn more here; if you're interested, you have to register soon, because only four seats are available.