Viewpoints

Southeastern Wisconsin business executives are more optimistic about the direction of their companies in the second half of the year than they were when the year began, according to the latest BizTimes Business Dashboard Survey.

Northern Trust Bank has appointed Carl Tannenbaum, a banking industry leader in economics and risk management, as its chief economist.

Dennis Ellmaurer recently wrote an article that appeared in the May 14–27 edition of Biz Times entitled, “You Can’t Help But Ask: Are CEO’s idiots?” Talk about an attention grabber! Mr. Ellmaurer went on to cite several examples of once highly-successful companies that failed…companies like Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, and Midwest Express Airlines to name a few. The balance of his article stated several reasons why these companies failed including “Bad Strategy, Rotten Execution”, and “People (in wrong jobs).” However, the caption “The Reality Check” caught my eye and provided the spark to write this article. In this caption, Mr. Ellmaurer states, “my guess is the CEO’s of some of these failed companies would have been better served with a strong board of directors that knew when and how to challenge the strategic thinking of the CEO.”

Hartland-based Town Bank plans to open a new office in a freestanding building in The Woodlands Market retail center in Menomonee Falls. The bank will hold a grand opening in the late summer or early fall.

Hot Water Products, a Milwaukee water heating products company, has acquired American Mechanical Services, a Milwaukee steam products company.

The median asking price for Milwaukee companies listed on BizBuySell.com dropped to $259,500 in the second quarter, down 5.6 percent from a year ago.

Palermo's Pizza workers will vote July 27 on whether to form a union, the NLRB decided last week.

Milwaukee-based Koss Corp. announced a partnership with Mossy Oak.

Racine-based Johnson Outdoors Inc. unveiled a plan to improve the profit profile of its Watercraft business.

Bradley Corporation has opened its new Germantown plant, a 190,000-square-foot facility in Germantown Business Park.