Stephan's Friday Picks

• Our top five working definitions' of 2023 (MIT Sloan)
• Respect each other's delusions (Collaborative Fund)
• Amazon is a go-to for batteries and toilet paper. Can it sell cars (WSJ)
• Nine predictions for how we'll eat in 2024 (NYT)
• From the archives (2016): Know your customer's 'jobs to be done' (HBR)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• A demographic time bomb is about to hit the beef industry (Wired)
• 'Food freedom' and the debate over raw milk in Colorado (Colorado Sun)
• What do we miss in standard supply chain measures (Brookings)
• What dermatologists really think about those anti-aging products (Bloomberg)
• Workers at 121 Loblaw-owned stores in Ontario ratify new agreement (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Dyson took over TikTok (The Atlantic)
• Temu and Shein are shipping millions of packages a day (WSJ)
• You wanted lower food prices, Ottawa gave you political theatre (Globe and Mail)
• South Korea will police 'shrinkflation' at the supermarket (WSJ)
• The English muffin problem (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• 6 kinds of board members - and how to influence them (HBR)
• The art and science of reducing retail shrink (McKinsey)
• Starbucks CEO takes on chain's social media controversy (WSJ)
• Jorge Lemann's 3G fuels hedge fund bets for billionaire dynasty (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2004): Interbrew said to be near deal for Brazil brewer AmBev (NYT)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Slow grocery checkouts boost time in a hurried world (Globe and Mail)
• Food groups accuse Galen Weston of misinformation over grocery code of conduct (Globe and Mail)
• How Olive Garden and IHOP build relationships across income classes (MIT Sloan)
• Rite Aid hit with five-year facial recognition ban over 'reckless use' (The Verge)
• Canada's inflation rate holds steady at 3.1% (CBC)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Farfetch gets $500 million lifeline from Coupang (NYT)
• Ontario court approves sale of Mastermind Toys chain (Globe and Mail)
• Factors to consider for same-day delivery (McKinsey)
• From salad trees to 'charcuterwreaths', has the festive food trend gone overboard (CBC)
• Inside Amazon's effort to challenge Musk's Starlink internet business (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• We're all addicted to cheap stuff - and Temu knows it (Vox)
• Inside the mad dash to buy your Walmart and Amazon returns (Washington Post)
• The biggest problem with lab-grown chicken is growing the chicken (Bloomberg)
• Chobani buys coffee company La Colombe for $900 million (Reuters)
• Step inside the secretive world of toymakers (CBC)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Sainsbury's boss defends decision to sell customers' Nectar card data (The Guardian)
• Convenience stores would rather sell you pizza than gas (WSJ)
• Campari buys Courvoisier from Beam Suntory for $1.2 billion (Bloomberg)
• How to reach sustainable packaging targets in retail (McKinsey)
• The self-checkout even the haters will love (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Boots owner Walgreens revives talks on $8.8 billion exit (Bloomberg)
• How to bring an outside CEO into the family business (HBR)
• Is this how Amazon ends (The Atlantic)
• No storybook ending for Life Savers this Christmas (CBC)
• From the archives (2014): Walgreen shareholders approve Alliance Boots deal (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• This is what happens to all the stuff you don't want (The Atlantic)
• The full reset (Collaborative Fund)
• The 'Moneyball' firm behind your chicken (WSJ)
• Retail group retracts startling claim about 'organized' shoplifting (NYT)
• Macy's billion-dollar question: What's more valuable, the real estate or the business (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The world's most anonymous CEO is about to take centre stage (WSJ)
• Why are your groceries still so expensive (Noah Smith)
• Hermes created Europe's biggest family fortune after spurning LVMH (Bloomberg)
• How a $13.99 Snoopy sparked a Gen Z craze (WSJ)
• Mastermind deal would keep at least 43 stores open, preserve hundreds of jobs if approved (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Corporate America is testing the limits of its pricing power (NYT)
• U.S. retail lobbyists retract claim on 'organized' retail crime (Reuters)
• Is that food ultra-processed? Hard to tell (WSJ)
• Diamonds aren't rare. Why are they so in demand (The Atlantic)
• Investor group launches $5.8 billion buyout bid for Macy's (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The weird, secretive world of crisp flavours (The Guardian)
• The race to save ketchup: Building a tomato for a hotter world (WSJ)
• Shoppers discover boxes of Cheerios, bags of No Name chips that weigh far less than advertised (CBC)
• Krispy Kreme opens in France, the latest in a fast food invasion (NYT)
• Rom-com meets shopping? Why Walmart launched a shoppable series (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• A few of the ideas about how to fix human behaviour rests on some pretty shaky science (NYT)
• If an octopus is so smart, should you eat it (Washington Post)
• Too much stuff: Can we solve our addiction to consumerism (The Guardian)
• Should we believe Americans when they say the economy is bad (FT)
• From the archives (2005): P&G agrees to buy Gillette in $54 billion stock deal (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Australia's leading grocers to face Senate inquiry into pricing (Bloomberg)
• The unstoppable ascent of tequila (FT)
• The executives who could be Johnson & Johnson's next CEO (WSJ)
• Overheated food prices have Canadians buying less meat (CBC)
• Plush toy makers play hardball in a competition for the squishiest creatures (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• JAB's Panera Brands files confidential IPO paperwork (FT)
• No more dry burgers: McDonald's overhauls its biggest item (WSJ)
• Unpacking the real source of rising food prices (CD Howe Institute)
• He never thought he'd rely on food hampers. But he's one of the growing number of people who do (CBC)
• The annoying - and hard to solve - problem of stolen packages (Vox)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Market maps make me nervous (Medium)
• Why food discount stickers may be a thing of the past (BBC)
• The chicken tycoons vs the antitrust hawks (NYT)
• Neiman Marcus rejects $3 billion bid from Saks (WSJ)
• Mastermind Toys to be bought by company controlled by veteran retailer Joe Mimran (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon introduces Q, an AI chatbot for companies (NYT)
• Shares of retailers surge despite mixed holiday results (WSJ)
• The great American eye-exam scam (The Atlantic)
• How fungi became an It food (The Guardian)
• Red Lobster's popular endless shrimp deal ate into its profits (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• A rural post office was told to prioritize Amazon packages. Chaos ensued (Washington Post)
• The State of Fashion 2024 (McKinsey)
• How mortadella went from cold cut to hot item (NYT)
• The 'lipstick' index and the strength of beauty retail amid inflation (CBC)
• From the archives (2020): Why the Restoration Hardware catalog won't die (The Atlantic)