In a certain sense, the practice of mediation to resolve business disputes was born of the notion that “there has to be a better way” – a better way than going to court to settle a business dispute. Litigation is expensive, time-consuming and probably the most surefire way to sever a business relationship. Mediation, on the other hand, proponents say, is cheaper and quicker than litigation and allows disputing parties to talk through their problems in an environment which ideally would foster a “we can work it out” mentality rather than the “winner take all” sentiment fostered by the litigation process.
“Mediation essentially is a method of negotiation,” says Joanne Sznaider, owner of Eastside Collaborative Solutions, a Shorewood-based mediation firm. “The point of mediation is to facilitate conversation between disputing parties with the goal of getting those parties to come together to a solution that will be good for both parties while avoiding a costly legal battle in the process.”
Mediation has been a popular method of dispute resolution on the coasts for quite a while, said Sznaider, and recently has begun to catch on in the Midwest and here in Wisconsin. Bill Jennaro, a retired Milwaukee Circuit Court judge who currently is an attorney with the Milwaukee law firm of Cook & Franke, and also a practicing mediator, says that mediation has been a viable alternative to litigation in Wisconsin for about five years now, but of the more than 500 mediations he has been involved with in the past five years, only a handful took place the first couple years. “Mediation is catching on like prairie fire here,” Jennaro said.
Mediation: how it works
Mediation may be self-prescribed by the disputing parties or can be court-ordered if a dispute already has entered litigation – mediation can take place at anytime during the litigation process. In either case, the disputing parties choose a mediator who meets with the parties together and individually so the mediator can learn the facts of the issue. Then the mediation sessions begin, which typically involve members of the disputing parties and their attorneys if the parties so choose to include them in the process.
If the sessions lead to a solution, the mediator writes up a contract that becomes legally binding only after both parties and their attorneys have signed it. If a solution is not reached, the dispute then can continue on to trial. Even if mediation is court-ordered, the parties do not have to come to a solution via mediation. If mediation is unsuccessful, the case may go back to the court system, or remain unresolved.
“There really is no risk involved in mediation,” says Roy Nelson, an attorney with Petrie & Stocking in Milwaukee, a director at Conflict Resolution Services, a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution arm of the State Bar and a practicing mediator and arbitrator. “You never are required to settle and you always have the option of entering into litigation if you think that is the best way to resolve the dispute.”
Though it is difficult to place price tags on mediation and litigation for comparison’s sake – costs vary greatly on a case-by-case basis – Sznaider maintains that a typical mediation costs about 50% less than what it would cost to take a case through trial.
To mediate a dispute that has not yet entered into litigation, the disputing parties would incur mediator fees and possibly attorney fees if the parties choose to have their attorneys present at the sessions or receive counsel regarding the mediation. If a dispute already is in litigation, the parties would have to pay mediator fees in addition to attorney and court proceedings fees. But even with the added fees, local mediators and attorneys argue that mediation still is cheaper than litigation because the mediation process takes less time than the litigation process.
Jennaro uses this example to put the mediation versus litigation cost comparison in this perspective.
Say there is a case in which Company A has a contract with Company B to market Company A’s product. Company A does not get the response it desires from the market and blames Company B for not doing a good job of marketing the product. Company B counters by accusing Company A of not manufacturing a product of the quality promised in the contract.
Both companies accuse each other of causing them to lose money, and they sue each other. The case enters into litigation, but the judge orders the parties to try mediatation. The case is settled after only two days of mediation, while a trial would have lasted at least 10 days and would have cost the disputing parties – each of which already had spent $50,000 to get the case to court – an additional $50,000 to $75,000 each, Jennaro says.
“The business of business is business,” Jennaro said. “It’s not about spending time in court.”
Nelson claims that while disputing parties may spend several thousands of dollars to mediate a dispute to resolution, to get a case through trial will cost at the very least $50,000. A patent infringement case, for example, can cost a half-million dollars per side to get through trial, he says.
Saving a business relationship
Perhaps even more important than the price difference between mediation and litigation is the belief that mediation provides an opportunity to save a business relationship. Because mediation in theory is a way for both disputing parties to meet, get to the heart of the issues, share their points of view and agree to a solution that in some way benefits everyone, the disputing parties could come out on terms civil enough to allow a business relationship to continue.
“The conversations that take place in mediation sessions often get to the root of the problem which may stem from personal or emotional issues that wouldn’t come up in court,” Nelson says. “The court hears the case, applies the law and makes a decision. Mediation is broader in scope. It can consider other issues at play than just the legal ones. In mediation, business owners have the opportunity to come up with business solutions rather than being handed a legal solution by the courts, a third party.
“The litigation process is ugly,” Nelson continues. “It brings out the worst in people. Mediation provides the opportunity to come to a collaborative business solution rather than nuking someone you will probably see again in the marketplace.”
Sznaider notes also that, in mediation, business owners keep control of the situation. The mediator, Sznaider says, basically is a facilitator. While the mediator can suggest solutions or offer advice, typically the mediator encourages conversation with the goal of steering that conversation toward a solution upon which both parties can agree.
“Never in the mediation process do the disputing parties give up control,” Sznaider said. “Even down to the very end, if the parties cannot agree on a solution, they are not forced into anything. The dispute simply goes on to court.”
Furthermore, all mediation proceedings are confidential, whereas cases that go to trial become matters of public record. Even if mediation is unsuccessful, all information released during the mediation sessions remains confidential. The attorneys for the disputing parties simply submit to the court that mediation was unsuccessful and that the case should proceed to litigation.
Should you mediate?
As with any new method of doing something, mediation has its skeptics. Critics point to the fact that when mediation is court-ordered, the disputing parties have already spent money on attorney fees and court proceedings and now will be forced to incur the additional cost of mediator fees. But often the judicial discovery process uncovers facts needed for a successful mediation to occur. The court proceeding of discovery involves obtaining sworn testimony and requesting documents that the courts can compel the parties to present. The mediation process itself cannot demand anything of either party. Nelson admits that one of mediation’s weaknesses is that it is premised on full disclosure by both parties, and that without all the facts, mediation will not work.
Bill Katt, a principal in the Milwaukee law firm of Leib & Katt, refers to a case between a construction company and a business that housed its products in a warehouse built by the construction firm. Defects in the construction of the warehouse led to high humidity inside the structure, and the business using the warehouse believed that humidity damaged the products kept in the facility. The parties submitted the case to mediation, which was a complete failure, Katt said. Without enough information about all the parties involved and any underlying issues, mediation was ineffective.
But once discovery took place, the parties were able to settle before trial.
“The idea of mediation is good but it doesn’t work in all cases,” Katt said. “It depends heavily on the specific case whether mediation should be attempted. If you don’t have all the information needed, you could be wasting your time.”
Katt also argues that there are instances in which one side might want its case to be heard by a jury. He uses the example of a small company in suit against a large corporation – the small business might get sympathy from the jury and either be awarded a handsome settlement or not be required to pay what the large corporation demands.
“If you want to take a principled stand and feel a jury should hear your case, then I would advise litigation,” Katt said. “If you want to prove your innocence in court as an indication that you clearly were right in the situation, then you should go to court.”
Cost vs. benefit analysis
The flip side to that argument, Nelson says, is that the jury may not agree with you. “It’s a matter of cost-benefit analysis,” he says. “Is it worth what you will spend in court costs to try and prove you’re right when the judge or jury might not find you to be right?”
Ed Harness, director of the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin’s Dispute Resolution Center and owner of E-Mediate, a Milwaukee-based dispute resolution firm, says one of the reasons business owners may be reluctant to mediate rather than litigate is they perceive mediation as a compromise in which they will have to give something up.
“Mediation is not a compromise at all,” Harness said. “It actually gives you a chance to tell your side of the story, speak up about what you deserve, and do all of this without being cross-examined as you would in court. Your side of the story won’t be stomped on by any evidentiary standard.”
There also is the fear that because mediation is not bound by the law, rights may be forfeited during the process. To that, Harness reminds that no party to a mediation can be coerced into agreeing to a settlement, attorneys can be present at all times during the mediation process and a dispute can always return to trial if mediation is not successful.
The Better Business Bureau offers mediation services to both members and non-members. Any business wanting to use the service is charged a $100 administrative fee, and members are charged an additional $50 per hour for mediation, while non-members are charged $75 per hour.
“Dispute resolution is at the core of better business,” said Randall Hoth, president of the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau. “It’s only natural that we’d offer these services.”
Harness, a former officer with the Milwaukee Police Department, compares taking a dispute straight to court rather than trying mediation to an incident he experienced during his law enforcement career. A mother called the police to come to her house and make her son apologize to her. Harness was the officer sent to scene, which the mother had deemed a “domestic dispute.” In most legal disputes, Harness says, one side really just wants an apology.
“Many times you can resolve a dispute simply by apologizing,” Harness said. “It’s absurd to jump into litigation without trying to solve the problem through mediation, just like it was absurd for a mother to call the police to come over and make her son apologize to her.”
Arbitration:
A final decision
Another form of dispute resolution, arbitration is more similar to litigation in that the process calls for each side to tell its story, then the arbitrator – chosen by the disputing parties – returns a decision that is legally binding. Unlike a trial decision, however, there virtually is no chance for appeal. But like court decisions, arbitration judgments, once signed by both parties, become court documents and thus a matter of public record. Although the courts cannot demand arbitration, today many businesses write arbitration clauses in their contracts which state that any contractual disputes will be resolved via arbitration.
Katt believes arbitration is a compromise process. “If a case is brought against my client, even if it is frivolous, the arbitrator in almost all cases will award something to the plaintiff,” he says. “You have no real chance to appeal the arbitrator’s decision.”
Nelson said he would only advise a client to arbitrate if the client does not have the time to go through a lengthy court trial or simply wants closure to a dispute. Arbitration is not much cheaper than litigation, he says, because the discovery process also is part of arbitration. The way in which arbitration might cost a bit less is in that the process typically is faster than the litigation process, Nelson says.
“In all cases I would advise my client to try mediation first,” Nelson said. “If that doesn’t work, then we would proceed based on the circumstances.”sbt

Tax changes would favor in-state producers with out-of-state sales
Is the corporate-tax glass half full or half empty in Wisconsin? The answer depends on who you are and what you do and whether or not one of the biggest changes in the way corporations report income to Wisconsin passes in the state Legislature.
The change involves how a corporation’s income is allocated, or apportioned, to the state. Under the current system, a company’s physical assets – land, buildings, equipment and inventory, payroll and sales – are divided among the states in which the company does business. Under Wisconsin’s current formula, the sales factor is double weighted, counting for half of the percentage allocated to Wisconsin.
The proposal before the Assembly and Senate would eliminate the property and payroll portions of the formula, making sales the only factor used to calculate Wisconsin’s share of corporate taxable income.
The single sales factor has received attention in the recent months mainly because it was seen as an offset to the combined reporting proposal pushed by Gov. Tommy Thompson. Under combined reporting, any corporation doing business in Wisconsin and all of its affiliates would have been required to file the state’s equivalent of a consolidated tax return. Wisconsin has separate company returns under its current system which means only the businesses with operations within the state are required to file returns.
The governor had packaged both the single sales factor and combined reporting as an all-or-nothing deal, but the combined reporting provision was killed in the Joint Finance Committee and Thompson has softened on the idea of single sales factor.
“Any Wisconsin company that has a significant portion of its sales outside of the state and a large investment in property and payroll in the state will like it,” Jon Skavlem of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, says of the single-sales factor proposal. Skavlem is a director of state tax consulting and also serves as the chairman of the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Wisconsin Taxation Committee. “The businesses that will not likely be in favor of it will be out-of-state businesses that have very little property and payroll here but a large volume of sales, relatively speaking.”
‘Not an issue
for small firms’
“It’s probably not an issue for small businesses,” Dr. Michael Schadewald, associate professor and director of UW-Milwaukee’s Deloitte & Touche Center for Multistate Taxation, says because small businesses tend to sell in only one state.
While the announcement of the single sales factor was cheered by many in the corporate world, recent press coverage has given small business owners and other taxpayers a sense of doom and gloom over their taxpaying future.
“People who say this is a loss for taxpayers in general, I think they’re looking down the road and making some assumptions that may not necessarily happen,” Skavlem says. “Are you assuming there’s not going to be any economic growth? Or that there’s going to be an economic crash such that you’re going to need to raise revenue elsewhere?
“And another thing that gets overlooked by businesses and practitioners a lot is the idea that businesses and corporations are only tax collectors,” Skavlem says. “Ultimately, business isn’t like an individual. If I pay corporate income tax, what do I do with it? I feed it into my product costs. I feed it into lower wages that I pay my workers. I cut dividends to my stockholders.”
Schadewald says there are two ways corporations with multistate sales could view the move to a single sales factor.
“They could look at it as a tax incentive to locate their factories in Wisconsin if they apportion their income,” Schadewald says. “If Wisconsin doesn’t change to single sales factor, they could look at it as a disadvantage and locate their plants in other [single sales factor] states.”
Schadewald notes that states surrounding Wisconsin – Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan and Minnesota -are either 100% sales or close to it.
Change would level playing field for state
Skavlem says it’s a competitive issue for Wisconsin and the change in apportionment factor was needed to level the playing field with its neighbors.
“Large businesses are very, very mobile,” Skavlem says. “Every day they’re looking at where to deploy their capital, where to keep their people and where to make their investments. And they do look at things like taxes.”
Skavlem, who used to work in the Wisconsin Department of Revenue as an economist, also points out that the models the department uses to project revenues do not factor in economic growth and other intangibles that may affect the business climate in Wisconsin. And small and medium-sized businesses should consider some of those factors, too, before coming out against the single sales factor proposal.
“I guess I’m not so sure I would think this is a bad thing because I’m thinking now my corporate neighbors down the road that I sell to and do business with are going to pay less tax,” Skavlem says. “Their effective tax rate is going to go down in this state so that means that they’re potentially healthier. They’re going to stay here. They’re not going to export jobs. They’re going to invest and they’re going to be there five years from now when I want to continue to sell them my products and services.”

As business managers, we are overwhelmed with raw data. Not only that, but we’re inundated with statistics about the quantity of information we have. And then to top it all off, we’ve even got “meta-information” – information about information. Welcome to the information age.
So how do we harness the power of what we know and what we have access to? How do we keep from getting lost in the quantity of information we are supposed to digest? How do we make profit-minded decisions about the information we need and how best to use it?
The irony is that information is the currency of our times – and we have way too much of it.
The world of business is evolving faster than ever, and information management is the key to taking advantage of this opportunity. We cannot afford to ignore this important resource, because how well we manage information determines our position in the food chain – and whether we’re even around to be a part of it. How do we see through the “data smog” and find the runway lights?
Ignore the information
you don’t need
The answer is information strategic planning. That’s information – not information systems. It’s an important distinction because systems only facilitate the process of getting, keeping, disseminating and using the information we need. The real key is to decide what information we need, how we need it, and where we can get it. Then, we need to design the processes by which we collect, store and use it. That includes taking into account what you have today and the best way to get from where you are to where you want to be.
Keep it simple. Focus not on the information you have, but on the information you actually use and the information you want. To get started, ask yourself these questions:

Management and staff must buy in to the need to continuously improve the operation
Roadblock:
A self-managed staff of dedicated and knowledgeable customer service reps was resentful over a new tracking system developed by IS. The number and the average length of their inbound calls, as well as how many calls each of them handled, were being measured for the first time. They viewed that new monitoring system as a criticism of their work pace and as a method for “checking on us.”
These reps had established and maintained long-term relationships with the company’s distributors whom they serviced. This “new emphasis” on how quickly they handled calls flew in the face of their long-standing approach for solving and preventing problems for customers. The message this new system sent to the customer staff was, “You’re not working as hard or as fast as you should.” As a result, the already stressful environment became more so and the previously committed reps felt less so.
Problem:
The company and its leaders depend on this group to function autonomously in handling the daily tasks at hand. Because of their knowledge and experience, the team members know how to get the job done without a supervisor or team leader. What they don’t know how to do is to think proactively and work toward continuous improvement. Therefore, the tracking system – established to provide a baseline for future planning and staffing – appears as a threat to them personally and to the group’s identity as a self-managed team.
Solution:
The senior manager’s first task is to coach the team on the need for continuous improvement in the department’s operation. The same problem-solving skills they use with their customers should be directed toward their own department. How can the job be done differently? What tasks could be handled by others? What additional responsibilities might be appropriate? What resources are needed to work “smarter and not harder?”
Next, he must help them understand that the company expects more than “just doing the best job we can do each day.” Expectations should be set for proactively addressing procedural problems or obstacles. Measurements should be established, not to “catch” nonperformance, but to measure progress toward mutually agreed-upon goals and to provide a means for gaining and giving recognition for jobs well done.
The manager should engage his people in designing the measurements and tracking results on their own. The team members’ involvement is the best approach for gaining their commitment.
If the senior manager is unable to coach these dedicated customer service professionals because of other demands on his time, an alternative solution is required. The human resource department or other company leaders could encourage them to “step up to the plate” and to view this as an opportunity to function autonomously. Each one of them will have to stretch and grow. Training in decision-making, creative thinking and time-management could be provided. Because they lack position power in the organization, training to develop their abilities to influence others would also be beneficial.
If neither the manager nor the team members are able or willing to implement changes to bring about continuous improvement the company is left with two choices: be satisfied with the status quo or replace these committed people with others who are more tuned into today’s business realities. Change in work habits and methods can be difficult, but not as wrenching as dealing with the aftermath of lost opportunity.
Solutions to Roadblocks identifies situations that are true obstacles to the performance of people. This series is provided by Performance Consulting, a Brookfield training and consulting firm. Small Business Times readers who would like a “roadblock” addressed in this column can contact the author, Lois Patton, at 781-7823 or via e-mail at lorapat@aol.com.

T1 – The Cadillac option is a T-1 connection – a direct, high-speed connection to the Internet that, depending on the details, can run after set-up costs anywhere from $600 a month well into the
thousands of dollars.
ISDN – ISDN service uses a separate telephone line and connects
at twice the speed of 56 kps modems. It gains speed by transmitting data as digital, rather than analog, signals. Providers quote prices ranging from $30 to $40 a month for the ISDN connection, plus a roughly equal amount for the separate ISDN telephone line, to as much as $175 a month.
DSL – DSL service runs from $200 to $300 a month, plus an
$850 set-up charge. In return, the user gets a connection up to
eight times faster than the 56k dial-up, and one that can serve
several work stations, unlike a dial-up service.
Cable Connection – Cable modems, not yet available here,
will cost an estimated $40 a month and offer speeds faster than
ISDN service, but generally slower than DSL. Providers have so far primarily marketed the service to residential consumers rather than
to businesses, and plan to keep their focus there.

When Racine quality consultant Jay Warner connects to the Internet to update his World Wide Web page or research solutions for a client, he still dials up at 56 kps per second.
It’s not fast, but it is cheap: For about $10 a month, Warner gets a fixed amount of surfing time each month when he dials up his Internet service provider’s local port. Unlimited time wouldn’t cost much more, but Warner doesn’t need it for his work.
“I spend a fair amount of time in the Internet dealing with inquiries from around the world,” Warner says. Not long ago, on a search for equipment needed by a client in Taiwan, “because of the speed, the thing bottlenecked.”
The experience, combined with recent publicity about newly available high-speed connections to the Internet, has Warner wondering. Is he better off paying more for faster service? If so, which one? And might something less expensive and almost as good be just around the corner?
“I could easily see I could be much more efficient if I had a link to a high-speed line,” says Warner, principal scientist at Warner Consulting. “I’m willing to pay more if I can perceive a real improvement.”
Warner isn’t alone. Lots of other small businesses – especially, but not only, home-based offices – still rely on the 56k connection standard. Alternatives have never been more numerous – and the choices are about to broaden.
Cadillac option
is now T1 line
The Cadillac option is a T-1 connection – a direct, high-speed connection to the Internet that, depending on the details, can run after set-up costs anywhere from $600 a month well into the thousands of dollars. AT&T, for instance, charges about $25,000 a month for a T-45 hookup that connects at an astonishing 45 megabits per second, says Donn Heltsley, an Internet marketing specialist for AT&T in Brookfield.
But because of its cost, T-1 hookups are mostly of interest to much larger companies, Internet providers acknowledge. Instead, providers tout other choices: Digital Subscriber Lines – DSL, and ISDN – short for Integrated Services Digital Network. Another option lurks around the corner: cable modem service. Cable modems won’t be available here until sometime next year, however, and even then will likely be marketed mainly to consumers for home shopping and entertainment.
ISDN service uses a separate telephone line and connects at twice the speed of 56kps modems. It gains speed by transmitting data as digital, rather than analog, signals.
Providers quote prices ranging from $30 to $40 a month for the ISDN connection, plus a roughly equal amount for the separate ISDN telephone line, to as much as $175 a month. ISDN providers generally charge extra for every minute of use.
DSL far surpasses modem connection
The new glamour option, however, is DSL, which can offer connections eight times as fast as a dial-up modem.
“No small business should still be using a dial-up modem,” says Dave Cowen, director of new product development at ExecPC, the Milwaukee ISP recently bought by Voyager.Net. “Dial-up modems, simply put, operate at much too slow a speed to allow efficient use of the Internet for research or for data transfer” – sending huge files, such as manufacturing drawings or computer-based presentations, for instance.
ExecPC is currently the only provider marketing DSL service in the Milwaukee area. Cowen says charges for the service run from $200 to $300 a month, plus an $850 set-up charge. In return, the user gets a connection up to eight times faster than the 56k dial-up, and one that can serve several work stations, unlike the dial-up service.
AT&T also hopes to offer DSL service in markets around the country by the end of the year, Heltsley says, although just when it would enter the Milwaukee market isn’t yet clear.
Not all Internet providers hear the demand from their customers for the speed that DSL provides, however.
Mike Falaschi, president of Wisconsin Internet in Racine, says that at currently quoted rates for DSL, “to my mind the price is stiff for small business.” Frugality, not speed, seems to be the top topic for his small business customers. “Our No. 1 question is, ‘Why don’t you offer a limited plan for $10 a month?'” Falaschi says.
Cable connections
are on the horizon
Finally, there’s cable modem service – or will be, in about a year. AT&T and Time Warner Cable have formed a partnership to provide cable modem Internet connections. The companies expect service to arrive in the Milwaukee area sometime in 2000. AT&T already provides cable Internet service in partnerships with cable providers in other communities.
At an estimated $40 a month and offering speeds faster than ISDN service, but generally slower than DSL, cable modems might seem to be an ideal solution for small businesses.
Providers, however, have so far primarily marketed the service to residential consumers, and plan to keep their focus there. With a total of 80 million to 100 million potential homes for cable modem service, says Tom Sharrard, president of Time Warner Cable’s Milwaukee division, “there’s an incredible market out there.” Marketing to small businesses will come second.
Moreover, it’s still not clear whether cable modem service providers such as Time Warner will offer services such as domain-hosting, enabling a business with its own proprietary Internet domain to use a cable Internet connection. “That’s something that’s still being sorted out in terms of the levels of service offered,” Sharrard says.

have an identity all their own
Sandwiched between the Illinois state line and Oak Creek, Racine and Kenosha stand as a separate, independent state, of sorts. Not really a part of metro Milwaukee, yet, still within southeast Wisconsin’s southern border, Racine and Kenosha have an identity all their own.
Some say that the two cities are more oriented toward Illinois. Many native Kenoshans root for the Chicago Bears and favor The Chicago Tribune. That phenomenon has only increased with the influx of Illinoisans in search of better housing values north of the state line.
Racine has a similar quality all its own. Not really oriented to Milwaukee, yet, not quite part of Illinois either, Racine stands on its own, thanks, in large measure, to the presence of S.C. Johnson & Son and major manufacturers like Modine and Case Corp.
While residents of each city prefer to point out the differences between them, Kenosha and Racine are more similar than they are different according to Russ Weyers, executive vice president of Johnson Bank who moved from Appleton 10 years ago. Still, competition between the two cities runs deep.
“I use the high school analogy,” Weyers says. “If I played sports against your high school, I will be competitive against you forever. They [Racine and Kenosha] are very competitive.”
Regional rivalries aside, a building boom has been going strong in the area in recent years. And with the latest developments like Harborpark in Kenosha and the redevelopment of Downtown Racine set to take off, the two communities north of the Illinois border are gearing up for even bigger economic growth.
But will the respective downtown developments leave residents wishing for the good old days? Will it change the gritty, blue-collar character of the two communities that defined it for the better part of the 20th century?
“I think you’re going to continue to get the small-town feel,” says Brian Kult, president of Johnson Bank’s Kenosha market and a Kenosha resident of five years. “You have a lot of people who have a lot of pride in the community and I think that’s going to continue. The growth will come, but I think it’s really the people that make up the environment or the culture of the community. That dynamic hasn’t changed.”
Kult, who moved from Waukesha, says other residents in the Kenosha area are very accepting of newer residents. “I think that’s really what fosters a feeling of community and a sense of community,” Kult says. “So, as long as that remains and the people are committed to continuing that, even with growth, I think the culture will remain.”
Johnson Bank’s Weyers agrees, suggesting that it’s important for the two cities to foster a sense of community within neighborhoods while still pursuing growth.
“If they lose the sense of their neighborhoods, they lose the sense of their whole town,” Weyers says. “Their neighborhood is what they see everyday. If the city does it right, they develop neighborhoods and that creates the city as opposed to trying to create the city.”
K-town:
The comeback kid
Kenosha’s rise from the ashes of it’s past as an automaking town has been well documented. The city’s major lakefront development project, Harborpark, is located on land formerly occupied by the AMC/Chrysler plant. Chrysler’s exodus in 1987 kick started the city’s economic development efforts to diversify its economy and find work for the 5,000-plus workers who lost their jobs when Chrysler Corp. pulled up stakes.
“It was scary,” recalls Barb Riley, co-owner of Riley Construction in Kenosha. “We didn’t want to be like so many other towns that had collapsed after the major employer moved out.”
One decision currently paying dividends in the form of new and expanding businesses was to take the infrastructure – sewer, power and other utilities – west to Interstate 94.
“If you go back and look at it, the decision of Chrysler to close the manufacturing plant forced the community to make some pretty tough decisions,” Weyers says. “They banded together, laid the infrastructure and they’re really reaping the benefits of that right now.”
According to an estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, Kenosha’s popultion grew by 9.2 percent from 1990 to 1998 to 87,849.
Racine’s
downtown plan
Conversely, Racine has been slower to move on development for lack of a the kind of economic rebirth Kenosha has experienced, Weyers says. The Census Bureau estimate indicates that Racine lost 3.8 percent of its population from 1990 to 1998 down to 81,095. The City of Racine also suffers from being landlocked on the west, with its city limits halting at Highway 31. The city of Kenosha, by contrast, extends west of I-94.
Racine leaders view revitalization of the city’s downtown area as a linchpin to growth. The plan, as managed by the Downtown Racine Corporation, is comprehensive in its approach to the city versus previous piecemeal attempts at development in specific areas of the city.
“The community’s excited [about the development], but at the same time, they’re reserving their judgment until they actually see something,” Matt Wagner, executive director of Downtown Racine Corporation, says. “I can’t blame them. They’re skeptical. They’ve heard about plans in the past and nothing’s really come of it.”
Wagner believes that the heart and soul of any city is its downtown, adding that when potential clients or employees come to an area the first thing they look at is the downtown.
“So if it’s dilapidated or rundown, it reflects on the health of the community,” Wagner says.
Part of the natural attraction of the area is its location between Milwaukee and Chicago. Lake Geneva is just 45 minutes away.
“Major selling points for drawing Illinois companies up to Kenosha were the lower cost of utilities, the labor pool and the accessibility,” says Riley, who worked in Chicago for five years before joining the family business 10 years ago. “You can get around. Try to get in or out of Chicago. Good luck.”
The smaller, more accessible size of the two communities has contributed to the rapid growth of both areas, too.
“The size of the community – from a professional standpoint – makes you feel you can have an impact on the community,” Wagner says of Racine.
“It’s a very good place to raise a family,” Kult adds. “The educational system is very strong. There’s just a very strong commitment to education. There’s a lot of people who have grown up and lived in Kenosha for a long time. They have a lot of pride in the community. And I think you see that in how they take care of their homes, to the low crime rates adding to the quality of life issues from a family perspective.”
Life in the slow lane?
But living and working in a smaller city requires adjustments in at least one more thing: pace. As progressive as Kenosha’s development seems now, change still comes slowly according to Riley. She notes that development of the old AMC site was kicked around for at least 10 years before the city and its residents were finally ready for it.
“I just think the vision, the ability to cause a development is much easier in Milwaukee than it is here,” Riley says. “People tend to be complacent – they want things to stay as they always have been. Whereas in Milwaukee you’ll see a lot more rapid change. People have to just absolutely adjust to it or get out. Here, they can stagnate development.
All the same, things are moving forward, such as at the Kenosha lakefront, where Harborpark is taking shape. As bulldozers and construction teams work the land, Carol Jake, co-owner of Ski & Sports Chalet just north of Harborpark, is optimistic.
“I think the tourism will help develop the whole area and draw more people into downtown,” Jake says. “We rent Rollerblades and bikes for the tourists so I’m sure that it will help business.
“I’m just looking forward to it,” Jake continues. “I think not only will it bring in more tourism, it will get the people of Kenosha to come down and see the lakefront and enjoy it more. What they’re going to do in this area can only help business.”

Network security is an integral part of any well-designed computer system
Question:
Can our enterprise network be safely connected to the Internet? Are there security issues that require consideration?
Answer:
We have all heard about the so-called dangers of connecting an organization to the Internet. There are frequent stories in the press of hackers gaining unauthorized access to Web sites and to sensitive enterprise computing and knowledge assets. What the stories often do not tell is that relatively safe connectivity to the Internet is possible. The concept is similar to any business venture, that is, managing risks in order to capture the advantages of Internet access.
First let’s define some terms. The internal or private network is referred to as the “trusted” network. The rest of the world or the Internet is the “untrusted” network. Those concepts hold whenever two networks owned by separate organizations are to be connected. Unsecured connectivity between them is risky business. Network security is an integral part of any well-designed computing system.
Securing the trusted network requires the establishment of a security perimeter that separates the trusted network from the untrusted network. The security perimeter is designed to provide a controlled single point of access to the trusted network. The requirements of the security perimeter are established by an enterprise security policy and security policy enforcement mechanisms and methods. There are many complex issues to be addressed before an effective security system can be designed and implemented. The starting point is the development of an enterprise network security policy. The security policy prescribes security mechanisms and methods to be implemented to form the security perimeter.
Question:
What is a firewall?
Answer:
A firewall is essentially a security enforcement point that separates a trusted network from an untrusted one. A firewall’s basic function is to separate networks and enforce the security policy with a set of rules. It screens all connections between two networks, determining which traffic should be allowed and which should not. A firewall may be one of the mechanisms and part of the implementation of perimeter security.
Question:
Are there differences
in the various products
marketed as firewalls?
Answer:
Yes, and the differences are considerable. Incorporating the wrong firewall into the security perimeter can have serious implications for the security of the organization’s computing and knowledge assets. Because each organization’s security requirements are unique there is no one correct answer to which is the best firewall. In firewalls, as in the rest of computing, the old adage of one-size fits all does not apply. There are some general guidelines on the level of security provided by the various types of firewalls. Those guidelines follow:
Packet filters: Packet filters are the most basic type of firewall. Packet filters are fast because they operate at the network level. They function by examining the header of the IP packet, source, and destination IP addresses. Packet filters examine the header of each packet as it enters the firewall and compares the address and port against a rule set. If the port and address are permitted, the packet is passed on directly to its destination. If a packet fails this test it is dropped at the firewall.
Packet filtering firewalls have been criticized by many security experts because they allow a direct connection between endpoints through the firewall. They are considered the least secure type of firewall because the direct connection can easily be exploited to gain access to the network.
Application proxy firewalls: All incoming packets are examined at the application layer of the protocol stack. Because it has visibility at the application layer, it can easily see the details of each attempted connection, and implement security at a more granular level.
It also has a built in application proxy function. It provides this functionality by terminating the connection from an untrusted host at the firewall and initiating a new connection to the internal protected network. For example, if a user on the trusted network wishes to download a file from a Web host, he enters the URL in his browser and the browser connects to the application proxy firewall. The proxy then forwards the request to the Web host, which downloads the file to the application proxy, which in turn terminates the connection to the Web host. The application proxy initiates a connection with the trusted users browser and downloads the file. Because there is no direct connection between the trusted and untrusted networks, security is enhanced greatly. Most security experts consider application proxies to be the most secure type of firewall.
Not all products marketed as firewalls live up to the name. They have to be designed and configured into the security system to provide optimal levels of security and cost/benefit performance. There are many complex issues to be addressed in securing the organizations’ data and knowledge assets from unwanted intruders. When implementing a firewall it is best to consult someone with expertise in this area that can help you understand the issues and design the proper system to meet your requirements.
Tech Q&A is provided by EntrÃ&Copy; of Brookfield. Small Business Times Readers with questions can contract EntrÃ&Copy; at 414-938-2139 x3022, or via e-mail at dschm@pcsentre.com.

New downtown Marriott set to open
When Milwaukee civic and business leaders agreed to convert a good chunk of the city’s downtown into a mall nearly 20 years ago, there were thoughts that the center could include a hotel.
After all, the site of the Grand Avenue Mall is on the site of a building which once housed the Plankinton Hotel.
While the mall was developed and opened in 1982, the hotel plans laid idle – until Burt Cohen came along in 1995.
Cohen, a native New Yorker who’s lived in the Midwest since 1974 and who now lives in Chicago, saw the potential for a Grand Avenue hotel during his eight years in Milwaukee working in hotel operations and in commercial development.
He isn’t the only person who saw the financial potential of a downtown Milwaukee hotel development. But Cohen was the only one to make it happen in the mall, thanks, in part, to his persistence and the help of the city.
“I knew there was a need for this,” Cohen said during a recent walk-through of the downtown Courtyard, which he plans to open this month. He didn’t want to develop a high-end hotel in the class of the Pfister, but he wanted a well-respected name.
Cohen praised the efforts of the city, particularly Dan McCarthy of the Department of City Development, in helping make the project happen, and in directing him to the Grand Avenue. “I said to Dan, ‘I need dirt.’ And he said, ‘Call the mall.'” That led to a contact with the Rouse Corp., developer of the mall, and the Michigan at Third streets site – ironically a courtyard – was selected for the hotel which would become a Courtyard by Marriott, a brand marketed toward business travelers.
Marriott, meanwhile, had been looking at another project in downtown Milwaukee, seeking to expand its presence into the city in addition to its suburban presence. The connection was made, and Marriott agreed to work with Cohen on a Courtyard hotel, with a few extras.
While protecting its brand, Marriott authorized Cohen to upgrade the downtown Courtyard, to the tune of a couple of hundred thousand dollars above normal Courtyard development costs. The building’s development costs have been estimated at $13.25 million.
“This is not your typical Courtyard,” Cohen says, noting its urban setting, its 2,700 square feet of meeting space, which is 2-1/2 times more than usual, its 70-seat three-meal restaurant, and other amenities.
The building’s façade also varies from the typical courtyard, with architectural features that complement the historic Wisconsin Electric Power Co. building across the street, notably that building’s columns. “Nothing on the exterior is standard other than the color,” Cohen points out.
Inside, Cohen was able to come up with space in the six-story building for 169 rooms. Ten of the rooms have functional, walk-out balconies and Jacuzzis; 10 are suites; 91 are king-bed rooms; 51 are double-queen-bed rooms, and five are executive king-bed rooms with wet bars. There’s also a conference suite which has a Jacuzzi and a conference table in the suite’s second room.
Just off the restaurant is the signature courtyard which also serves as the hotel’s access point into the Grand Avenue Mall. The first floor is also the site of the hotel’s exercise room and swimming pool.
Marriott, explains hotel general manager Kevin Osborn, wants to make a good first impression with its downtown Courtyard. And he and Cohen see pent-up demand for a Marriott in downtown, and note that Marriott patrons will now have the option of a downtown Milwaukee location in addition to Brookfield.
“They really get it,” said Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, praising Marriott’s move into downtown Milwaukee.
The mayor, noting a recent Equitable Insurance study which shows a real estate trend toward urban projects, called the hotel development “a good marriage for the mall. “It’s the future of the mall – mixed use,” Norquist said, adding that existing mall stores should benefit from the presence of the hotel.
Cohen holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration with a major in hotel and restaurant management from the University of Denver, and holds a certified hotel administrator designation from The American Hotel and Motel Association. He now owns the HEDA Group in Chicago.
US Bank, which has its Milwaukee headquarters in the Grand Avenue, is participating in the financing of the project along with the city.

Jolted to a new focus on life, Bayside man now aims to help others realize ambitions
Everyone has a secret ambition in life, notes Bayside’s Mark Patton. Country music superstar Garth Brooks had a try with Major League Baseball’s San Deigo Padres earlier this year. For NBA superstar Michael Jordan, it was the Chicago White Sox a few years back.
Of course, not all such ambitions are sports related. For Patton, who had a career in marketing, the dream was to have a direct-response business involving marketing which would noticably impact individual lives.
But first he had to make sure he had a life – literally.
Patton, a St. Louis native who ended up in Milwaukee for marital reasons, was diagnosed in 1991 at age 41 with an incurable form of cancer. Doctors didn’t give him long to live, but he didn’t give up hope, opting for an aggressive treatment program that included low- and high-dose chemotherapy, multiple sessions of total body irradiation, two bone marrow transplants, and two stem cell transplants.
And that was only half of it.
Patton and his wife were in Arkansas for a treatment program which involved testing his wife’s blood to see if her blood platelets were compatible with Mark’s blood, so she could be a donor.
“Unbelievably, her blood tests revealed she had leukemia,” said Patton in a recent interview. “We said to each other, ‘How much worse can it get?'”
But Patton has beaten the odds, living far beyond the number of years a doctor said he could expect. The couple now shares “a profound understanding of making the most of every single day,” Patton says.
With his own life refocused, Patton decided he wanted to help others refocus their lives – and maybe find a way to realize their own secret ambitions. He thus started MGC Publications, named after his wife, to produce Ultimate Careers and Businesses. The self-published guide now has listings of about 350 trade associations, government agencies, Web sites, private enterprises, books and other resources that can help people start a new career or advance one they’re already in.
The listing data in Ultimate Careers and Businesses includes dues, benefits of membership, contacts, and number of members. For example, the listing for the National Restaurant Association notes that members receive subscriptions to Restaurants USA and Washington Weekly, discounts on materials, seminars and publications, a free Internet listing, and a toll-free hotline.
The directory, which first came out in 1998, has received national publicity, and has brought some income to Patton, and to the Leukemia Society of America to which he donates a portion of the proceeds for research costs.
With a self-employment revolution taking place there’s demand for directories such as Patton’s. Last year he distributed more than 100 copies of Ultimate Careers and Businesses, but he’d like that number to multiply in the coming years. “If we could get thousands, tens of thousands of them, distributed, we’d could help a lot of people.”
Ultimate Careers and Businesses is available for $12.95 plus $5 shipping and handling, by calling 1-800-531-9874.

Former ESPN VP helping Milwaukee design firm get most of team structure
A year after the Milwaukee design firm Hanson, Dodge + Sutter restructured to create workplace teams, a survey of clients showed a marked increase in satisfaction with customer service.
“I think everybody here sees team structures as a positive,” says Rusty Borkin, who joined the firm in February to help the 60-person firm as vice president of operations and organizational development.
Teams aren’t the answer to everything, notes Borkin, who was born in Chicago but reared on Milwaukee’s North Shore. “But there’s a lot to suggest that they can play a positive role in a firm’s success.”
Borkin was director of human resources for ESPN, the Connecticut-based sports information media company, when a dinner meeting with the visiting Ken Hanson in New York led to a job offer.
Growth at Hanson, Dodge + Sutter had prompted Hanson and co-owner Tim Dodge to look at new ways of doing business – of managing people. Or, rather, of not managing them. It abandoned the command-and-control method of operation, repositioning itself as a company of self-directed work groups.
The teams, which each has a name such as “High Rollers” and “Mission Control” and which have leaders, are given a breadth of responsibility. Within certain parameters, the teams determine what resources they need to service an account, what budget they need and what the design plan will be. Still, they work under company-wide goals and have restrictions. They can’t, for example, go out and hire as many people as they want to, Borkin notes.
But the team is seen as an integral factor in the continued growth and success of the design firm, says Hanson, who serves as the firm’s CEO and executive creative director. “We have incredible talent, but to continue our growth, Hanson, Dodge + Sutter needs to be the place for highly creative people to work,” he says, adding that programs being developed by Borkin will enforce that position.
It’s all client-related, Borkin says, stressing that teams can only be successful if they are formed and maintained with the customer in mind. “The main thing that keeps the team together is the customer,” advises Borkin. “We’re a studio, not just a group of teams. You can’t be locked into teams; customer needs are continually changing, and thus teams must be continually changing.”
The ability to accept and deal with that change, Borkin believes, will be the hallmark of successful companies in the coming years. “Flexibility in organizational structure will be the future, not locking onto one method or another.”
Even the team-based system at Hanson, Dodge + Sutter has changed since its inception a year and a half ago. “We’re realizing that we need to be incredibly flexible,” Borkin says. “The whole goal always is, what’s best for the client?”
Borkin sees team structure as more customer friendly on a number of fronts. Beside fostering a feeling of ownership among the team for the client’s project and offering the client a group of people who become experts on the account, the system increases the number of contact points with the customer. Those contacts, which formerly were primarily between the client and an account executive, “are the real key to success.”
Not to say that multiple points of contact can’t happen otherwise. “But this makes it easier for it to happen,” Borkin says.
How do you develop and decide upon a team structure? There’s no cookie-cutter approach. At Hanson, Dodge + Sutter, the partners looked at how other firms were handling teams and benchmarked against the successful ones. “But it’s a lot like talking about bread,” Borkin adds; “there are a lot of different kinds and each has a different ingredient.”
Teams must be customized to each firm’s needs and the needs of its clients.

Roadblock:
The atmosphere in the department was decidedly different on the rare days when Jean wasn’t at work. People were in a better mood, customers seemed easier to deal with, and more work was accomplished.
On the other hand, Jean’s very presence seemed to invite conflict. She complained about management, about the customers and the other employees, and about the amount of work she had to do. Often she completely ignored the presence of those working near her. She concerned herself only with her own assigned responsibilities and prided herself on her attendance record and “work ethic.” When a change in procedure or job responsibilities was called for, Jean’s reaction was predictable: negative. When group problem solving was called for, her response was predictable as well: uncooperative.
While no one would complain about Jean’s work, everyone in the department resented her demeanor and lack of teamwork. Two of the employees were actively looking for other positions because of the constant tension in the department.
Problem – Company management is focusing only on the quantity and quality of Jean’s work. Because both are above “satisfactory,” her manager has failed to address her behavior. What is not being recognized is the negative effect of Jean’s actions. Department productivity, employee job satisfaction and ultimately customer satisfaction, are being sacrificed because of her behavior.
Solution:
The focus is solely on performance and productivity; behaviors are being overlooked. The mission statement hanging on the wall in the reception area of Jean’s company incorporates values the company believes in: mutual respect, teamwork and positive “can do” attitudes. But in practice, those values are being ignored.
This company must clearly identify and reinforce its values – because values drive behavior. The value statement is the basis for establishing company behavioral standards. Those standards must then become part of each person’s job description and performance appraisal.
Even with a written value statement, senior management is communicating the company’s true values through the managers’ own behaviors and their responses to the behaviors of their people.
Nowhere is the truism “actions speak louder than words” more pertinent.
If standards for behavior are not established throughout the company, an effective approach may be for Jean and her coworkers to meet with a facilitator and agree on their “code of conduct” – a list of what they expect from each other. You can be sure this list will include such behaviors as “professional courtesy,” “positive attitudes,” “taking complaints directly to the person involved,” “mutual respect” and “willingness to help each other.”
Ideally, department members will hold themselves and each other accountable to that agreed-upon code. If not, the manager or supervisor must monitor individual and department behaviors. Coaching and counseling Jean to meet these behavioral expectations will create a more positive work environment for everyone and improve productivity as well.
Solutions to Roadblocks is provided by Performance Consulting, a Brookfield training and consulting firm. Small Business Times readers who would like a “roadblock” addressed in this column can contact the author, Lois Patton, at 781-7823 or via e-mail at lorapat@aol.com.