June 17, 2024
McDonald’s Pauses Drive-Thru AI Chatbot Test Despite Growth in Voice...
After two years of testing, McDonald’s has ended its partnership with IBM to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered drive-thru system. The collaboration, which aimed to change the fast-food ordering process...
June 15, 2024
Retailers Embrace ‘Dadcore’ Stereotypes to Combat Father’s Day Spending Pullback
As Father’s Day approaches, retailers are seizing on different paternal stereotypes to drive engagement and sales, from dad jokes to “dadcore” style to that tangle of unidentified, no-longer useful cables...
May 25, 2024
Retailers Heat Up Memorial Day With Holiday Deals and Pop-Ups
This Memorial Day, in addition to the usual round of holiday weekend sales, many retailers are getting more targeted about how they can insert their products into shoppers’ summer celebrations....
May 09, 2024
Ecosystems and Competition Law: A Law and Political Economy Approach
This short paper examines the emergence of the concept of ecosystems in competition law in recent years. This is not a linear process, and a competition law and policy theory...
April 18, 2024
Wagestream Raises $21.8 Million to Expand Financial Well-Being App
Wagestream, a financial well-being app focused on frontline workers, has raised 17.5 million pounds (about $21.8 million) in a funding round. That total includes an investment of 7 million pounds...
April 07, 2024
The Challenges of Shifting Landscapes
By Brad Staples & Rachel Brandenburger1 Introduction Businesses are facing unprecedented challenges. Changes in the geopolitical landscape call into question (and even reverse) many of the key assumptions that...
April 01, 2024
Yum Brands Doubles Tech Spending, Expands Use of Generative AI
Fast food company Yum Brands aims to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) across the operations of its restaurants. The parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit Burger...
March 28, 2024
Retailers Add Tech to Meet Consumer Demand for Biometric Authentication
With consumers looking for more frictionless authentication, retailers ranging from Whole Foods to Steak ’n Shake are adding biometric payments. Amazon has been looking to remove friction from its Amazon One pay-by-palm capability, most recently launching an app to...
February 28, 2024
Wendy’s Insists It Has No Plans to Test Surge Pricing
Wendy’s wants diners to know it’s not raising prices, despite what they may have heard. When reports emerged recently that the fast-food chain was going to test dynamic pricing — or surge pricing,...