‘Coming Home’: Danish biotech giant Novo Nordisk puts down roots in West Lebanon
Dennis Clancy remembers June 30, 2014, very well. 9:35 a.m., to be exact. That’s when Clancy, a manufacturing technician at former Olympus Biotech in West Lebanon, got word that he was being laid off after 11 years with the company. Its Japanese owner, beset by an unrelated financial scandal, was exiting biotech to refocus on its core camera and microscope businesses. “I told my wife I was going to be home early that day,” Clancy...
Instacart Getting Advertisers to Pay Fees for Delivery
Online shoppers hate paying delivery fees. So Instacart Inc. is getting Pepsi to foot the bill. The grocery delivery startup is working with General Mills, Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, and other consumer goods makers to cover the cost of delivery or provide other discounts when customers buy their products. In addition to the coupons, the companies pay Instacart to advertise on its website. Since introducing the program about six months...
Making Sense of Traffic Data
San Francisco — On the Internet, traffic is easily tracked. Google and Facebook have algorithms that know what users are searching for. Online retailers can monitor what shoppers are buying. Newspapers can see in real-time how many readers are viewing an article. The same hasn’t been true for traffic in the physical world, where data-gathering has been decidedly more low-tech. Want to know how many people are getting on at a certain...
Chipolte Struggles to Stop Food-Borne Illnesses, Win Back Customers
Chipotle Mexican Grill responded quickly when four of its workers called in sick last week with suspected cases of norovirus. The Boston-area restaurant was shuttered for cleaning, and no customers got ill. The company’s management considers that a successful outcome — a sign its updated health protocols are working. But customers, still wary of the chain after a string of outbreaks, didn’t see it that way. Headlines about the...
Embracing March Madness
New York — March Madness is taking over at small companies that are letting employees watch the NCAA basketball tournament while they work. Staffers at the marketing company Phelps will be able to keep an eye on the games at their desks or on conference room TVs. CEO Joe Phelps said his 86 employees are hard workers, often staying late or completing projects on weekends, so he’s fine if they work a little less hard during when games...
