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Dole invented a new fruit. The Dole Colada Royale Pineapple is sweet and tangy with notes of coconut and, as the name suggests, pia colada. Unlike its golden yellow counterpart, the Colada Royale has a cream-colored pulp with a green-to-golden shell. It also took more than 15 years to get it just right. The suggested recipes the company released with the new fruit include snacks like a pineapple and coconut carpaccio and a basil-wrapped pineapple with pine zest. Clearly this is meant to be a luxury pineapple experience. The fruit, which is now available in select grocery stores in the U.S. and Canada, is 100% non-GMO and naturally bred. The company didn’t share its suggested retail price, but the Colada Royale comes amid a wider trend toward “designer” pineapples. Just last year, Fresh Del Monte released a pink pineapple it called the Pinkglow, which it followed up with a $400 Rubyglow. [Photo: Dole] A new growing process Developing new pineapples requires patience since the natural process can stretch out for nine years or more. “You have to go through thousands of pollinations and develop thousands of seeds and then have the capacity to pinpoint that particular plant that combines what you are looking for,” says Roberto Young, director of pineapple breeding at Doles farm in La Ceiba, Honduras. He led the team that developed the Colada Royale variety. The new pineapple also had be grown in different seasons, since temperature can affect the taste of the finished product. All in all, that means it takes thousands of attempts that go wrong in hopes of getting one that goes right. Dole pineapple breeder Roberto Young [Photo: Dole] “Usually, you have to discard most of the fruit because it could taste very good during the summer, but in the winter you cannot really taste it because it’s too tangy, it’s very acidic,” Young tells Fast Company. Plant breeders consider factors like size, productivity, and color as they’re developing a new product, but taste, of course, is the most important. “It doesn’t help if the fruit is a good size, good productivity, but doesn’t taste like pineapple,” Young says. Dole’s new pineapple had the right taste, but its cream-colored pulp was at first a concern since consumers today are used to yellow pulp in pineapples. At the produce and floral trade show in Anaheim, California, where Dole unveiled the Colada Royale in October, Young says people were hesitant about the fruituntil they tasted it. Then, he says, their reaction was Wow, this is something different. [Photo: Dole] Developing a new market The goal from the beginning was to develop a unique flavor and bring something new to the market. Pineapple is genetically very variable, Young says, and the biggest challenge was consistency. Plant breeding doesn’t have a high success rateIf you are a plant breeder, you might be successful, or you might not,” he concedesand pineapple is especially tricky since it has a relatively long harvest cycle. The process requires first planting parents, which take about a year to produce flowers that can be pollinated. From there, it’s about five more months until the fruit can be harvested. The seeds from that harvest are then planted to get all new plants, repeating the cycle. [Photo: Dole] The results need to be repeatable to ensure the fruit can be mass-produced, so it takes at least three generationsroughly nin yearsto develop a new product. The Colada Royale took longer, and Young, a Honduran native who’s been with Dole for 28 years, has been on the project from the start. He considers it his legacy. “I feel really very, very grateful,” he says. Dole is also looking at the new fruit as a legacy play of its own. The company plans to reinvest a portion of the proceeds of every box of the pineapple sold to create a community center in La Ceiba that will provide healthcare services, language classes, and vocational training. In its most recent earnings report, Dole said its second-quarter 2025 revenue was $2.4 billion, an increase of 14.3% over the same period in 2024. The company is expected to report third-quarter financials on November 10. Designer pineapples may sound like a novelty, but since they can be upsold, fruit growers and grocers alike may find they’re a sweet addition to the produce section.
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E-Commerce
When corporate crises hit, the public looks to the CEO. From product recalls to workplace discrimination to customer mistreatment scandals, CEOs are often thrust into the spotlight and forced to apologize. But do the exact words they choose really matter? Im a professor of marketing, and my preliminary research suggests the answer is yes. In fact, they can even move stock prices. A tale of 2 apologies Consider two examples from the not-too-distant past. When Samsung Electronics had to recall 2.5 million smartphones in 2016 due to battery fires, the company ran full-page ads in major American newspapers that said, We are truly sorry. Despite the apology, Samsungs stock continued falling, wiping out billions of dollars in market value. Contrast that with a famous case: the 1982 Tylenol crisis, in which seven people died after taking capsules that a still-unidentified criminal had laced with cyanide, circumventing the companys safety protocols. The then-CEO of Tylenols parent company, Johnson & Johnson, said I apologize to consumers and immediately ordered a nationwide recall, costing the company over US$100 million. His direct acknowledgment of responsibility and swift action helped restore public trust and became a case study in effective crisis leadership. The companys stock price didnt take much of a hit, either. While the two cases are different in many ways, together they illustrate a pattern my colleagues and I observed in our study: Markets respond differently to I apologize versus We apologize. Investors reward personal accountability I collaborated with marketing professors Jennifer H. Tatara and Courtney B. Peters to analyze 224 corporate apologies between 1996 and 2023. Using event-study methods common in finance, we tracked unusual stock returns around apology announcements and linked them to how CEOs framed their statements. Our results, which we are preparing for publication, were striking. CEOs who said I apologize often saw short-term stock returns rise by a statistically significant amount. CEOs who said We apologize saw no such effect. Saying I apologize lessens the market penalty by roughly 86%, we found. We think this is because markets reward leaders who take individual responsibility. I signals personal accountability and decisiveness. We, by comparison, dilutes ownership of the problem. But context matters, we found. When we zeroed in on diversity-related casesthose involving mistreatment based on race, gender, disability, or LGBTQ+ status, for examplethe positive effect of I apologize weakened or disappeared. Thats because investors often interpret diversity crises as signs of systemic failure, rather than isolated mistakes. In those cases, investors, employees, and the public may expect accountability that goes beyond the CEO. A lone I apologize can seem hollow, while We apologize may resonate more by acknowledging shared institutional responsibility. Beyond CEOs: Why stakeholders should care Apologies are among the most scrutinized executive communications. Their effects ripple across different audiences. For investors, apology language provides a real-time signal of leadership quality and future governance. Our research shows these signals are strong enough to move stock prices. For corporate boards, an apology can be as important as a balance sheet in shaping market perceptions. Our research suggests that boards should insist leaders prepare for crisis communications as a standard part of risk management. For employees and customers, apology language sends a message about corporate culture. I can demonstrate accountability; we can affirm inclusion and shared responsibility. Both matter, depending on the situation. Leading in a skeptical era Corporate apologies are nothing new. But in todays environmentwhere social media amplifies every word and trust in institutions is fragilethe stakes are higher. A single poorly framed statement can trigger outrage, stock sell-offs, or viral boycotts. The good news is that sorry doesnt have to be the hardest word. In fact, this research suggests that a good apology can pay off, literally. The key is to remember that apologies arent one-size-fits-all. The right words depend on the nature of the wrongdoing. Prachi Gala is an associate professor of marketing at Kennesaw State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Racing along the Potomac River at 26 knots (almost 30 mph) usually guarantees a raucous ridebut not on a battery-electric Candela C-8 hydrofoil. Instead of the roar of a conventional boats fossil-fueled engine and the smack of its hull on the water, this vessel smoothly whirred along, barely shuddering over the wake of a passing water taxi as its foils cleanly sliced through the surface. The placid experience belied the speed shown on the C-8s touchscreen. And the loudest noise heard on a mid-October ride came not from the C-8s electric motor, but from planes taking off from Washington National Airport that were following a prescribed course above the river. Stockholm-based Candela (a Most Innovative Companies honoree in 2025) doesnt just want to electrify the boating-for-fun experience, however. Along with a few other companies, it aims to purge fossil fuels from the passenger ferries that regularly ply city waterways. A ride for the ruling class You can think of the C-8, starting at $300,000, as a Candela equivalent of the Tesla Roadsterthe high-priced plaything that helps boot up a line of more useful electrified conveyances. The hardtop edition we took around the Potomac and the Anacostia rivers is a sleek machine that drew compliments from boardwalk passersby when we pulled up to the Washington Harbour development in Georgetown. [Photo: Candela] The C-8 pulls out of a marina as a boat, but then starts flying on its foils at about 17 knots (19.5 mph). Candelas engineers are fixated on foilsnot only because of the speed they allow but also because, by getting the hull above the water, they vastly cut down on the drag. Candela quotes a range of 57 nautical miles (almost 66 miles) for the C-8s 69 kWh battery, with the ability to go from 10% of a charge to 80% in under 30 minutes with 135 kW DC charging. [Photo: Candela] You helm the C-8 via a steering wheel, a throttle, and a 15.4-inch touchscreen. Candelas software monitors the boat and will automatically slow it down if you bank it too muchas I found out firsthand during an August 2023 ride on the San Francisco Bay in an earlier model of the C-8. Three seats and a bench aft of them can accommodate up to six passengers, while a cozy belowdecks space forward of the controls hides sleeping quarters and, below a cover, a small toilet. [Photo: Candela] Almost two hours of cruising up and down the Potomac and the Anacostia, most of it on the foils, took the battery from 100% of a charge to 63%. Candela has sold more than 100 C-8s and delivered about 90, spokesman Mikael Mahlberg says; about half of those deliveries have gone to U.S. customers. It has also delivered 32 C-7 boats, the companys debut electric hydrofoil that it no longer produces. The privately held firm has raised $96.2 million in funding so far, according to Crunchbase data, but isnt disclosing financial details. Were aiming to be profitable next year, Mahlberg says, describing Candelas current phase as a hyper-growth curve optimized for research, development, and sales. Fossil-fuel-free ferries That joyride on the C-8 doubled as a chance to show off how passenger ferries can provide a useful transportation alternative. With Washington roads gridlocked due to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys White House meeting with President Trump, as well as the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, my boating-enthusiast friend Bob Vanasse couldnt make it to Columbia Island Marina on the south side of the Potomac. So we zipped up to Washington Harbour to pick him up there instead. Vanasse, whose day job is representing seafood and fishing-industry interests, pronounced himself impressed and gave an impromptu sales pitch to a guy at his boat club by the District Wharf in Southwest D.C., when we pulled up there. [Photo: Candela] Candela aims to offer that convenience to larger groups of people with its P-12 battery-electric hydrofoil ferry. It can transport up to 30 people at a cruising speed of 25 knots (almost 29 mph), with a range estimated at 40 nautical miles (46 miles). Candela doesnt specify a price for the ferry; Mahlberg only says its of course more expensive than the C-8 and slightly more expensive to purchase than the cheapest diesel vessels of the same sizeoffset by annual operating costs about 60% to 70% lower. As with electric vehicles, the low maintenance of an electric motor makes a large contribution to those savings. [Photo: Candela] The P-12, however, is just pulling out of the dock in terms of commercial deployment. One P-12 is providing ferry service around Stockholmwhere Candela was able to get a waiver from no-wake speed limits, cutting travel time on an 11-mile commuter route from an hour to 30 minutesand another serves as a demo vessel for the firm. Candela has 50 P-12 orders booked, with plans to deliver the first eight starting in the first quarter to customers in Saudi Arabia and Mumbai. And it has one new U.S. ferry operator, FlyTahoe, that’s considering the P-12 for a planned service going north and south across Lake Tahoe. FlyTahoe CEO Ryan Meinzer says that the company, based in San Francisco and Tahoe Vista, California, considered and rejected non-hydrofoil ferry concepts. [Image: Candela] Conventional hull and propulsion designseven when electricstill displace water as they push through it, making them far less efficient and less comfortable in choppy conditions, he says. Meinzer isnt disclosing FlyTahoes financial arrangements with Candela but says the company is advancing toward a tentative 2026 launch for our cross-lake service, subject to regulatory approval. Candela, meanwhile, will need to start building boats in the U.S. to advance its own ferry business herepre-Depression U.S. laws impose a buy-American requirement on vessels transporting people between American ports. The U.S. is potentially our biggest market potential, Candelas Mahlberg says. Were in advanced discussions with several states regarding a U.S. factory, and we hope we can shed more light on this soon, as we aim to deliver our first U.S. vessel in 2026. Other passenger ferry prospects Candela already has company in that market. Belfast-based boat builder Artemis Technologies inked an agreement in February with the U.S. firm Delta Marine to develop battery-electric hydrofoils for Puget Sound routes. Artemis’s EF-24 will carry 150 people at a cruising speed of 34 knots (39 mph) and a range on foils of 70 nautical miles (80.5 miles). And in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Ferry placed an order in December for three battery-electric, 150-passenger catamaran ferries from All American Marine, with the first vessel set to begin service on its shorter routes in early 2027. That ferry operators electrification ambitions include converting four 400-passenger diesel ferries to electric power. Putting batteries in a boat might seem like a much more ambitious venture into zero-emission transportation than electric cars, but the concept also has some nonobvious virtues. [Photo: Candela] Ferries are the largest vessels capable of becoming pure electric due to their well-defined operational profilesoften the exact routes, energy profile, stoppage times, size, load requirements, etc., are accurately known during the powertrain design, eliminating range anxiety and allowing high-cost batteries or other energy storage systems to be right-sized, says Mika Takahashi, senior technology analyst at IDTechEx, a Cambridge, England-based research firm. But electric ferries also constitute a tiny raction of the worldwide ferry fleet. IDTechEx estimates that only 280 e-ferries have been sold, with 440 more sales predicted through 2030. In the U.S. alone, 604 passenger ferries were in service in 2022, per the latest Department of Transportation statistics available; the industry group Interferry estimated there were 15,400 in operation worldwide in 2019. Takahashi also notes two other possible obstacles. One is being a relatively small subset of the EV industry relative to cars, meaning a slower pace of innovation. Another is unpredictable policy shifts in the U.S. and other countriessuch as the Trump administrations weird and evidence-detached hostility to EVs.
Category:
E-Commerce
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