Drug cartels, coffee beans and the rest of the best business stuff this week

Here at Grid we spend a lot of time reading what the Internet has to say about business. Or, as journalists like to call it, “working.” Every Friday, we let you benefit from our diligence by collecting the most interesting and entertaining stuff we’ve encountered this week.

80 percent of the Chicago market

Joaquin Guzman controls most of the heroin, cocaine, marijuana and meth that floods the Chicago area each year — which means he also controls the city’s crime rate. Bloomberg takes a look at the Sinaloa cartel’s bloody $3 billion Chicago business. Sara White

Does Leaning In rule out B-school?

The New Yorker makes a case for women to skip the MBA in favor of pushing forward in their careers while they’re still young and living relatively uncomplicated lives. One interesting data point in favor of passing over the frat-house culture of B-school — female Booth School graduates were 22 percent more likely to take a break from work in the decade after earning their degree. Sarah Collins

How Jim Henson sold out — on his own terms

Jim Henson knew art and business didn’t have to be mutually exclusive, and he proved it with the Muppets. Meg Graham

Four reasons cheaper coffee beans don’t mean cheaper lattes

Commodity prices may be falling for coffee beans, but that doesn’t mean your morning cup of joe is getting any cheaper. Businessweek explains why making coffee at home is getting cheaper and buying it from a cafe is getting more expensive. Madeline Skaggs

Conflict-free computers

Your electronics might still be bankrolling violence in the Congo. National Geographic attempts to visit one of the mines where rebel militias sit on top of the precious materials that go into computer chips consumed halfway around the world. Meg Graham

A thimbleful of compassion

Five months after a building in Dhaka collapsed and killed more than 1,100 garment workers, the American companies that contract with Bangladeshi clothing factories don’t appear to be doing much more than paying lip service to their goal of improving safety and working conditions. On the New Yorker’s Currency blog, Grid contributor Amy Merrick examines the efforts of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety — a consortium of 20 companies, including Wal-Mart, Gap and Macy’s — and finds little to get excited about. Matt Present

3 ways to make the boring parts of your day bearable

Even the most exciting jobs have dull parts. Fast Co. found three ways to make it a little more bearable when skipping them altogether isn’t an option. Madeline Skaggs