Stephan's Friday picks

• DoorDash, shifting business model, will offer drivers hourly pay (NYT)
• Morrisons' boss admits supermarket chains have hiked profits on petrol (The Guardian)
• Indigo reports nearly $50-million loss as it appoints new board leadership (Globe and Mail)
• How marketing can drive resilience during uncertain times (McKinsey)
• From the archives (2012): Talk to me, one machine said to the other (NYT)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Capital allocation starts with governance - and should be led by the CEO (McKinsey)
• Canada's grocery industry doesn't give customers enough choice, Competition Bureau finds (Globe and Mail)
• Inflation slows to 3.4%, but Bank of Canada poised to raise rates again (Globe and Mail)
• Former Maple Leaf Foods CEO knew about price fixing, says Competition Bureau document (Globe and Mail)
• Weston family shifts private investing strategy after $6.9 billion Selfridges sales (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Monday's are the new office fight (WSJ)
• Larry Fink 'ashamed' to be a part of ESG debate (Axios)
• The place most affected by remote workers' moves around the country (NYT)
• FairPrice CEO on breakthrough leadership (McKinsey)
• The buffet is back, stretching dollars and slinging crab legs (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Commercial innovation strategy (Medium)
• The paradox at the grocery store (The Atlantic)
• The ugly shoes now worth billions of dollars (WSJ)
• Scammers target grocery stores with bomb threats, seeking Bitcoin and gift cards (WSJ)
• Gen Z discovers cottage cheese (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Shein tries to shed its Chinese image (WSJ)
• Ocado shares surge on Amazon takeover rumors (BBC)
• Metro grocery workers enter bargaining armed with 100% strike mandate (Globe and Mail)
• Beyond Meat wannabes are failing as hype and money fade (Bloomberg)
• F.T.C. sues Amazon for tricking its customers to sign up for Prime (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• People on drugs like Ozempic say their 'food noise' has disappeared (NYT)
• Instacart warns customers over rude behaviour (WSJ)
• How Unilever is working to understand black women's hair (NYT)
• How generative AI is already transforming marketing (Bain)
• From the archives (2016): Loblaw admits to bread price-fixing scheme spanning more than 14 years (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Jack Ma ally Joe Tsai to take helm of Alibaba (WSJ)
• Amazon HQ2 is not matching the original hype (CNBC)
• Grupo Bimbo's Canada Bread to pay $50 million fine in bread price-fixing settlement (Globe and Mail)
• Running Amazon became a lot less fun once Jeff Bezos left (Slate)
• U.S. approves the sale of lab-grown chicken (NYT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Modelo dethroned Bud Light as America's top beer (WSJ)
• Remote and hybrid work have helped more women with young children join the workforce (Globe and Mail)
• Consumer ratings are meaningless (WSJ)
• Apple is taking on apples in a truly weird trademark battle (Wired)
• One-percenters keep shopping at the dollar store (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy & Competitors (Medium)
• Brands wanted to cut out stores. Not anymore (WSJ)
• Agri-Committee Report #10 (House of Commons)
• Baggu's totes find a Gen Z audience (NYT)
• After Bud Light debacle, AB InBev takes a bow at ad-biz Oscars (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The Instant Pot failed because it was a good product (The Atlantic)
• Loblaw customers protest receipt-check policy in select stores (CBC)
• Higher-income grocery shoppers are shaking of higher prices, Kroger says (WSJ)
• How the Bunge-Viterra deal will create a global agriculture giant (Globe and Mail)
• Why 'drip pricing' is so effective (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• AI comes to the drive-thru (WSJ)
• Telus Health 2023 Drug Trends Report (Telus)
• Lack of female CEOs shows diversity problem in UK retail (Bloomberg)
• Vertical product location effect on sales: A field experiment in convenience stores (SSRN)
• From the archives (2002): Pepsi adds a blue-hued beverage to the spectrum of coloured sodas (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Bud Light loses title as top-selling U.S. beer (WSJ)
• How retail media is creating a Bermuda triangle relationship between retailers, marketers, and media agencies (Digiday)
• Inside Walmart and Amazon's race to buy PillPack (Fortune)
• Instant Pot maker says it will gauge sales offer during Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Bloomberg)
• Sainsbury's and Asda told not to block rival stores (BBC)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• World's top cocoa producer battling to create sweet tooth at home (Globe and Mail)
• Eating healthy is hard. It's even harder for people who can barely afford to eat at all (CBC)
• Inflation can't smudge the growing beauty industry (Washington Post)
• New York City sets new minimum wage for food delivery workers (NYT)
• The world of 'ands': Consumers set the tone (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Confident companies do less (Medium)
• The tiny, squishy toys driving parents to the brink (WSJ)
• Colombia's mustard lovers grow desperate amid saucy shortage of Dijon (NYT)
• What the price of Nescafe at Woolworths tells us about supermarket promotion tactics (The Guardian) 
• Why billionaires are circling debt-laden French grocer Casino (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• How Hasbro plans to revive its toy business (WSJ)
• How online advertisers label you (The Markup)
• Bunge finalizing $30 billion-plus merger with Viterra (Reuters)
• Andy Jassy urged to refocus in open letter from Bernstein analyst (CNBC)
• Energy drinks are surging. So are their caffeine levels (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Campbell's U.S. soup sales cool off (WSJ)
• Tim Hortons credit card to launch in mobile rewards app (CBC)
• 'Massive shift' in food shopping habits as prices soar (BBC)
• Bank of Canada hikes rates by a quarter point amid stubbornly high inflation, resilient economy (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2018): The 3 things that employees really want: Career, community, and cause (HBR)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Ghost kitchens are dying and nobody noticed (Washington Post)
• SunnyD vodka seltzer tastes nothing like SunnyD - or vodka (Washington Post)
• The global brands coming to a shopping mall near you (WSJ)
• Indigo sees nearly half its board exit; founder Heather Reisman to retire this summer (Globe and Mail)
• Six ways retail can soar through the macroeconomic clouds (Bain)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Companies that embraced social issues have second thoughts (WSJ)
• Canada's affordability conundrum (BMO)
• UK ministers discuss voluntary price limits for basic items but rule out imposing caps (The Guardian)
• Generative AI and retail: Beyond the skateboarding panda (Bain)
• Bed Bath & Beyond in talks to sell Buybuy Baby (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: What strategy questions are you asking (Medium)
• Restaurant chain Cava set to launch IPO (WSJ)
• How the best CEOs continually improve performance (McKinsey)
• This tale of two British buyouts gets a twist (Washington Post)
• Why your steak is getting pricier (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Inside the buzziest restaurant in America (GQ)
• Has New York reached peak pork (NYT)
• When blind hiring advances DEI - and when it doesn't (HBR)
• Why are food prices so high in Europe (NYT)
• The data science behind raising fast food prices (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Bed Bath & Bankruptcy: Lessons from senior leaders (MIT Sloan Management Review)
• How America's largest restaurant franchisee decides when to raise prices (WSJ)
• The beauty market in 2023 (McKinsey)
• How Bud Light blew it (WSJ)
• From the archives (2019): Do your data scientists know the 'why' behind their work (HBR)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• America is binging on snacks, and food companies are eating it up (WSJ)
• Michael Medline dishes on supply chain woes, price-fixing allegations, and Galen Weston (Globe and Mail)
• MSG is finally getting its revenge (The Atlantic)
• Activist shareholder plans proxy battle at Shake Shack (WSJ)
• Why CEOs and boards should be terrified by activist investors and their new tactics (Globe and Mail)