Stephan's Friday Picks

• The value of getting personalization right - or wrong - is multiplying (McKinsey)
• Roger Martin: Stop letting OKRs masquerade as strategy (Medium)
• Ocean shipping rates fall but ports are still jammed (WSJ)
• Cannabis beverages were supposed to be the next big thing. So why are sales slow (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2011): The Flexner Report - 100 years later (NCBI)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Coca-Cola is changing the flavour of a soda. Again (NYT)
• You're paying more for food - and you may not know it (WSJ)
• Canada's agriculture ministers set deadline for code of conduct (Globe and Mail)
• Dara Khosrowshahi, dad of Silicon Valley (NYT)
• Growth of cannabis retailers in Ontario could lead to a wave of closures, experts warn (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• It's time to replace the public corporation (HBR)
• Why is there financing for everything now (The Atlantic)
• High-end city dining turns to suburban delivery during the pandemic (WSJ)
• Aphria, Tilray combine to form the biggest cannabis company (Bloomberg)
• Former Away employees describe toxic work environment at the luggage startup (The Verge)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Unifor expands Loblaw battle beyond Newfoundland (Globe and Mail)
• Fast Food's bet on breakfast goes bust during pandemic (WSJ)
• Aphria to buy beer maker Sweetwater for $300 million (Globe and Mail)
• Supermarkets get new looks as shoppers adapt to pandemic (WSJ)
• From the archives (1981): The controversy over infant formula (NYT)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• An early view of post-COVID discretionary spending in Asia (McKinsey)
• The future of commerce belongs to the frictionless (Wired)
• Property owner Simon sees buying tenants as a way to boost malls (WSJ)
• Aurora Cannabis to close facilities, lay off 700 workers in restructuring (Globe and Mail)
• Plexiglass supplies run short as COVID barriers go up (WSJ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• A hidden origin story of the CBD craze (NYT)
• Dining in the post-virus era (Bloomberg)
• Behind the fall of China's Luckin' Coffee (WSJ)
• Amazon profits from the price gouging it says it is trying to stamp out (Quartz)
• As pandemic hobbles retailers, HBC fights department store headwinds (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Under Armour lost its edge (NYT)
• Bathroom brands need to come clean on recycling (The Guardian)
• Nestle buys Allergan business to expand in medical nutrition (Reuters)
• Canopy delays cannabis beverage launch at most inopportune time (Bloomberg)
• Halo Top does keto; craft beer taps into oat milk craze (Food Dive)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• The great, American eye-exam scam (The Atlantic)
• Shoppers are buying more generic brands (Bloomberg)
• Bernard Arnault bought Tiffany. Who is he (NYT)
• How 'calming' drinks made with adaptogens and CBD took over (Eater)
• From the archives (2004): Grocer Metro no longer le premier choix (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Big Alcohol's pursuit to make weed beverages (The Verge)
• Is fair trade finished (The Guardian)
• Auchan China's chairman on the future of grocery (McKinsey)
• High end diapers test how much more customers will pay (WSJ)
• Why Amazon hasn't dominated the clothing industry yet (MIT Technology Review)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• The oral history of serious eats (Grub Street)
• Canopy CEO Bruce Linton is your friendly Canadian weed guy (Bloomberg)
• Forever 21 seeks restructuring advice to avoid bankruptcy (WSJ)
• Shopify to launch warehouse network for merchant clients (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2011): The In-N-Out secret menu guide (Serious Eats)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Can CBD really do all that (NYT)
• Just Inc considers IPO after Beyond Meat success (Bloomberg)
• In plastic bag wars, industry fights back (WSJ)
• The startups building 'dark kitchens' for Uber Eats and Deliveroo (FT)
• Walmart to make first direct pitch to big corporate ad buyers (Reuters)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• How a radical idea turned Loblaws into a supermarket empire (TVO)
• Amazon rewrites book industry by marching into publishing (WSJ)
• The marijuana billionaire who doesn't smoke weed (Fortune)
• Inside the $3 billion race to kill plastic (Fast Company)
• From the archives (2012): How Dollarama turns pocket change into billions (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Nestle plans vegan push with no-meat burger, purple walnut milk (Bloomberg)
• Amazon, to win in booming rural India, reinvents itself (WSJ)
• Protein mania: the rich world's new diet obsession (The Guardian)
• Hudson's Bay chairman buys stake held by Ontario pension fund (WSJ)
• Aphria's dealmaker: How a self-described outsider found himself in the hot seat (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• The dollar store backlash has begun (City Lab)
• Dirty dealing in the $175 billion Amazon marketplace (The Verge)
• Juul closes deal with tobacco giant Altria (NYT)
• Cigna closes $54 billion purchase of Express Scripts (Reuters)
• Amazon's grocery push keeps stumbling after Whole Foods purchase (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• With a pinch of innovation, food makers raise prices (WSJ)
• Amazon flexes its muscle on private label (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Prime 2-day shipping doesn't ship for Christmas (Fast Company)
• Altria is nearing a deal to take a 35% stake in Juul (WSJ)
• From the archives (2011): Weston supremacy (FT)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• J&J knew for years that asbestos lurked in its baby powder (Reuters)
• A toaster on wheels to deliver groceries? Self-driving tech tests practical uses (NYT)
• America can't move its cheese (WSJ)
• Going head-to-head in beauty retailing (Coresight Research)
• Tilray, Novartis deal to distribute medical marijuana globally (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• From grass-fed to lab-grown: How meat is evolving (WSJ)
• Instacart is breaking up with Whole Foods (Fast Company)
• Using AI to improve electronic health records (HBR)
• Amazon is rewriting the rules for loyalty cards (FT)
• How CBD and THC became health foods instead of illicit substances (GQ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Why kombucha may never make it really big (Bloomberg)
• Pioneering perspectives from online grocery (Winsight Grocery Business)
• The business value of design (McKinsey)
• The big lies of strategy (Rotman Management)
• Altria makes big controversial bets in search of growth (WSJ)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Beyond the list price (BCG)
• Walgreens, Humana are in preliminary stages of buying stakes in each other (WSJ)
• The art of woke wellness (The Atlantic)
• For a buck and sometimes a buzz, brewers are putting cannabis into cans (NYT)
• How two young entrepreneurs used relentless online marketing to build Away into a $700M luggage brand (Forbes)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Why it's a golden age for grocery shopping (Grub Street)
• Meat has a replacement but no one knows what to call it (Bloomberg)
• Canadian Tire not rushing to offer free shipping (The Globe and Mail)
• Pot is no miracle cure for what ails Big Food (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2014): Why you always seem to choose the slowest line (Wired)