Stephan's Friday Picks

• What I learned about billionaires at Jeff Bezos' private retreat (The Atlantic)
• The Japanese designers changing menswear (NYT)
• How the Walkman, Game Boy, Liquid Death, and Pokemon became surprise hits (HBR)
• Why do the top sushi restaurants leave us so bored, and so broke (NYT)
• From the archives (2025): The great French Fry mystery (Toronto Life)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Corporate divestitures: Considering stranded costs (McKinsey)
• The innovation edge for retailers (BCG)
• The top 20 food trends of the past 20 years (Eater)
• Different kinds of smart (Collaborative Fund)
• From the archives (2013): Portugal billionaire sells lollipops, champagne in Poland (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Generating creative strategy possibilities (Medium)
• What 350 retailers say about the future of merchandising (BCG)
• Former Burger King boss picked to oversee Panera, Pret a Manger (WSJ)
• The rising stakes of innovation in the consumer sector (BCG)
• Walmart warns about ability to 'absorb' tariff costs without raising prices (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Training a novice strategist (Medium)
• 3G to buy Skechers footwear brand for $9.4 billion (Bloomberg)
• Temu stops China shipments to U.S. consumers (WSJ)
• When launching a product during a recession pays off (MIT SMR)
• High beef costs hurt Tyson Foods (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Statistical process control and strategy (Medium)
• The old school spy tactics helping to set your grocery prices (WSJ)
• CVS ousts Karen Lynch as CEO and shares fall (NYT)
• The new e-commerce innovation imperative for retailers (BCG)
• The powerful companies driving local drugstores out of business (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy & sustained innovation (Medium)
• Amazon, built by retail, leans into its AI future (WSJ)
• The world of luxury fruit (NYT)
• The Save Mart Companies acquired by Jim Pattison Food Group (Grocery Dive)
• Walgreens plans 'significant' store closures, citing weak consumer spending (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• An innovation wake-up call for CPG companies (BCG)
• The woman shaking up the $50 billion instant ramen industry (WSJ)
• California is solving its water problems by flooding its best farmland (Wired)
• Walmart abandons plan to open fulfillment centre in Quebec (CBC)
• FDA to issue first approval for mass drug imports to states from Canada (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Why Totino's needs 25 ways to make pizza rolls (NYT)
• Bed Bath & Beyond to cut jobs, close stores in bid to reverse losses (Reuters)
• Couche-Tard sees better environment for M&A as it seeks out next big deal (Globe and Mail)
• Foreign candy puts American candy to shame (The Atlantic)
• From the archives (2017): Not all moats are created equal (Morningstar)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Amazon wants 100,000 electric vans. Can Rivian deliver (NYT)
• Canada's foodservice industry roars back after two years of pandemic pain - but soaring inflation blunts the joy (Globe and Mail)
• Maybe we don't need groceries in 15 minutes after all (NYT)
• Aldi, Lidl sales jump as UK consumers try to save money (Bloomberg)
• Bell, Canadian Tire, GM all look to back local startups as corporate Canada awakens to innovation (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• This pioneering economist says our obsession with growth must end (NYT)
• Inflation rises again, to new 39-year high of 8.1% (CBC)
• Uber Eats, DoorDash offer new deals to court customers as growth slows (WSJ)
• CFOs must rebrand themselves as innovation allies (McKinsey)
• From the archives (1952): When Sears joined up with Simpson's (Maclean's)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Mastering innovation's toughest tradeoffs (MIT Technology Review)
• Marc Lore's food-delivery startup Wonder is valued at $3.5 billion after capital raise (WSJ)
• 2021 ESG Report: Accelerating sustainable and inclusive growth (McKinsey)
• Our restaurant critic says goodbye (Grub Street)
• On inflation, economics has some explaining to do (WSJ)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Empire buys controlling stake in Longo's, Grocery Gateway (Globe and Mail)
• Which industry excels at innovation? You'd be surprised (WSJ)
• How Amazon crushes unions (NYT)
• Why we shouldn't assume Amazon has it all figured out (NYT)
• Seven imperatives for the retail industry (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Canadian company Spin Master buys Rubik's brand for $50 million (Globe and Mail)
• Modern CPG product development calls for a new kind of product manager (McKinsey)
• How does one of the world's biggest pork firms go bust in a boom (The Guardian)
• Amazon launches shopping website in Sweden (Reuters)
• Michael Medline open to regulation of grocery industry (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Eating direct and local is harder than it sounds (The Counter)
• Re-imagining consumer-goods innovation in the next normal (McKinsey)
• Scientist at the DFO says Ottawa is too beholden to fish farm industry (Globe and Mail)
• Retail workers to get new training: How to handle fights over masks (NYT)
• How to think about market share (Medium)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Are you really innovating around your customers' needs (HBR)
• How supermarkets are dodging a second panic-buying calamity (Wired)
• The weird impact COVID-19 is having on the fast-food industry (The Ladders)
• Leaders need to harness Aristotle's 3 types of knowledge (HBR)
• Microsoft thinks you've been missing your commute during lockdown (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• How great supply chain organizations work (McKinsey)
• Grocers stockpile, build 'pandemic pallets' ahead of winter (WSJ)
• How Amazon conquered Italy in the pandemic (NYT)
• Kellogg's Nigel Hughes discusses innovation in the COVID era (McKinsey)
• Amazon to add another 3,500 employees to its Canadian work force (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Why are some groceries still so hard to find during Covid (WSJ)
• Amazon is so much bricks and mortar (NYT)
• Why every brand needs to behave like a health and wellness brand (Fast Company)
• Will innovation finally add up for consumer goods companies (McKinsey)
• The new Aeroplan loyalty program has been revealed, and it's a complete overhaul (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The hard truth about innovative cultures (HBR)
• Pretty catastrophic month for retailers, and now a race to survive (NYT)
• This is how America drinks now (Vox)
• 'Animal Crossing' gives Nintendo new horizons (WSJ)
• Quick-service restaurants in coronavirus times (McKinsey)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• When department stores were theater (NYT)
• Can babies learn to love vegetables (The New Yorker)
• Smaller loaves of bread are on the rise (WSJ)
• Next-day delivery spawns Amazon warehouse fix (Bloomberg)
• Cosmic Crisp apple that can reportedly last for a year to hit U.S. stores this week (The Guardian)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Booze dynasties control $70 billion of world's liquor wealth (Bloomberg)
• The ever-changing store (McKinsey)
• Consumer products: Now's the time to double down on China (Bain)
• Kellogg's new Pringles fail to make waves (WSJ)
• Warby Parker had a message. It's customers didn't care. Here's how it changed its message (Inc)