If companies had not already computerised on a large scale, running everything from their supply chain to their sales operation electronically, they would not be able to connect to the Internet and amplify their reach overnight.

ECONOMIST: Eventually, bigger means different

Behind this retail chain is a wholesale buying operation: Graff Diamonds International is vertically integrated, taking stones from the rough shapes that come out of the mine to the display case.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Giordano's management also took the opportunity to overhaul the company's inventory system, improving the operation's just-in-time supply chain.

CNN: An All-New Dress For Success

Starting with Bank of Scotland's operation of payment cards for Marks and Spencer, a retail chain, they have shattered the old convention that English and Scottish banks did not compete on each other's turf.

ECONOMIST: The financial industry in Scotland is enjoying a quiet boom

Banks' change of heart follows the political attack on Starbucks late last year, when it emerged that the coffee chain paid very small amounts of tax in the UK despite having a large operation in the country.

CNN: Goldman eyes tax delay on UK bonuses

The pull-out leaves the American giant with only one European operation, in Britain, where it owns Asda, the country's number two supermarket chain.

ECONOMIST: Retailing

With a flexible operation, Niagara can do minimum private-label orders of 20, 000 bottles, supplying a chain of Costcos or a single casino.

FORBES: Water, Water Everywhere

Sanwa Bank, one of the chain's four biggest creditors, is weighing several schemes, including one in which Daiei's main supermarket operation has its debts forgiven, allowing it to survive, but other parts of the group are sold or shut down.

ECONOMIST: Japan's banks