The formula shortage has exposed an inflexible industry dominated by just three to four large players that own a majority of formula production in the United States. There’s little wiggle room when one plant abruptly shuts down, as Abbott Nutrition’s plant in Sturgis, Michigan, did in February after a bacterial contamination. By May, stores were … Read more
Now, one Japanese startup, Spiber, is exploring how spider webs could transform the textile industry. The biotech company started by making a spider silk replica in the lab and has since spun out its fabric range to include more sustainable alternatives to wool, cashmere and denim, says Kenji Higashi, head of business development at Spiber. … Read more
Nissan’s been through some rough times in the past four or five years. Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested in 2018. Its business had been suffering under an aging product line-up, largely driven by Ghosn’s focus on fleet sales rather than consumer excitement. The company’s head designer, Alfonso Albaisa, said last year that he … Read more
More than two years later, the world has been upended by the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But for the rich and powerful arriving in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, very little has changed. “Davos is the epitome of one of the greatest challenges to society right now, which is self-congratulatory … Read more
It wants to outsource those orders to call centers, where a person or automated system will take your orders and also try to upsell you a little. More than half of Applebee’s roughly 1,575 US locations already use call centers for phone orders, according to the company. By the end of the year, Applebee’s wants … Read more
This scene, repeated countless times every day at grocery and convenience stores, is a textbook example of impulse buying. Your decision to grab that gum may have been spontaneous, but the plan to entice you in the checkout lane was carefully crafted. It pays off for stores and brands, as shoppers spent $6 billion in … Read more
China’s coal imports from Russia nearly doubled between March and April, reaching 4.42 million metric tons, according to trade data from Refinitiv. Russia has overtaken Australia as China’s second biggest supplier since last year and now accounts for 19% of its coal imports, up from the 14% share it had in March. Coal imports soared … Read more
The Bond car that the late actor Sean Connery first drove in the 1964 film “Goldfinger” was an Aston Martin DB5 replete with gadgets like machine guns, an ejector seat and an oil slick maker. More than 50 years later, Connery sought out a 1964 DB5 for himself and, after looking for over a year, … Read more
The setting, an empty lot in a nearly all-Black neighborhood of this upstate New York city, drew prominent visitors. They included Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, the two US senators from the state at the time; Anthony Masiello, then the mayor of Buffalo; Byron Brown, the current mayor of the city; and other officials. The … Read more
A big part of the problem is the soaring price of dairy products. The cost of milk, cheese and eggs — supermarket staples — shot up 9.5% in the 12 months to April. The price of whole milk rose more than 12%. There could be more pain to come, according to a recent analysis by … Read more