(WisBusiness) THURS News Summary — 7 May 2009

— Kohl’s Corporation reported today that total sales for April decreased 2.3 percent compared to the same time span in 2008. On a comparable store basis, sales decreased 6.2 percent.

For the quarter and year-to-date period, total sales increased 0.4 percent and comparable store sales decreased 4.2 percent.

See the Kohl’s release for more: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090507005175/en

— The companies that emerge strongest from the current recession won’t be those that simply slash their payrolls to save money.  

Rather, says author and former Yahoo executive Tim Sanders, the winners will be those that continue to innovate and take steps to become more sustainable and environmentally benign.  

Companies must “rethink the manufacturing process to reduce the impact on our environment and to create a business that can grow indefinitely,” said Sanders, who will speak May 19 at the Manufacturing Matters conference in Milwaukee.

The conference, hosted by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership, will feature two keynote speakers (including Sanders) plus 20 workshops offering insights and best practices on a wide range of topics, including business transformation leadership, export opportunities, lean manufacturing, marketing, online collaboration and talent management. New this year is a workshop track devoted to sustainability in products and processes.

Sanders said it’s wrong to think sustainability is a “cost driver and a profit reducer.”

“If done bluntly, and you try to buy sustainability off the shelf, that’s true,” said Sanders, author of “Saving The World At Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference.”

Read more from a new WisBusiness interview with Sanders: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=157893

— Earmarks and lobbying may sound like dirty words, but they can be useful tools to companies seeking to get a slice of the trillions of dollars the U.S. government spends annually. much of it through contracts and grants.

That was the message Stephen Moffitt, a lobbyist with Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek Government Affairs, shared with attendees at a BioForward Milwaukee breakfast meeting Wednesday morning, as some in the group prepared for a June Washington D.C. excursion.

Moffitt stressed that procurement decisions in government agencies are made by people, and in most cases, those people want to know who they’re dealing with personally. Moffitt said companies can get a leg up on winning government business by meeting those people in person and being prepared, polite, honest and persistent in their dealing with those representatives.

Read more from the meeting: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=157883

— State Sen. Fred Risser, who has long pushed for a statewide smoking ban, says the compromise worked out by the Tavern League and anti-smoking forces is a good deal.

The deal, which lawmakers announced at a Wednesday news conference, would go into effect July 5, 2010, and include all public workplaces, including bars and taverns. Exceptions to the ban would be granted to existing cigar bars that receive a majority of their income from tobacco sales and tobacco retailers who derive 75 percent of their income from tobacco sales.

Business owners who fail to provide a smoke-free environment for employees and patrons would face a fine of between $100 and $250. The fines would not be imposed if business owners made attempts to get patrons to stop smoking. The deal also includes language to ensure taverns could have outdoor smoking areas.

Speaking at the press conference, Risser said that that while, “no legislation is perfect and no compromise will satisfy everyone, but [this] compromise is a good one.”

The changes on the implementation date, fines and outdoor smoking areas addressed concerns raised by Tavern League members.

Rob Swearingen, the group’s president, said the change will be “an adjustment to my members” but said he is hoping the economy will turn around prior to the implementation date.

“We’re hoping it will not be too much of a hardship on them,” he said.

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WPS to lay off 39 : Executive vice president Bill Bathke confirmed Wednesday that the downsizing would take effect July 2. He said the terminated workers would receive severance pay consideration.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/450180