The Salvation Army of Milwaukee County has launched its annual Red Kettle Christmas Campaign with a goal to raise $2.7 million this year to sustain its Toy Shop, Christmas Family Feast, emergency shelter, medical, food pantries and meals to the homeless and care to veterans.

Differentiation from competitors is key when it comes to business. What started out as a hobby for Michael Haubrich, president of Racine-based Financial Service Group Inc., has become a way for him to differentiate his company from his competitors.

The Internal Revenue Service is generally not regarded as exhibiting a great deal of common sense in its application of tax law. However, the IRS recently exhibited admirable clarity and common sense in a notice regarding company-provided cell phones. This interpretation comes almost a year after the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 created the original law regarding company-provided mobile phones.

Milwaukee-based WiRED Properties recently begun construction of Ravenna, a four-story, mixed-use development with 20 apartments and 8,100 square feet of retail space, on a vacant lot at 4521-37 N. Oakland Ave. in Shorewood.

In an age of austerity and limited fiscal resources, what should be southeastern Wisconsin's priorities for commercial real estate and development?

Technology has transformed the way people consume information. People can access entire libraries of information just by opening an application on their smart phone or tablet or by wirelessly accessing the web. Dr. Sundaram Hariharan at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa has taken advantage of that trend and created a digital reference guide for health care professionals taking care of renal (kidney) transplant patients.

As the weak economy continues on a gradual recovery path, one of the few bright spots has been a healthy manufacturing sector.

My last Dispatch gave you some information about China's direction. This time, the idea is to talk about what opportunities there may be for Wisconsin businesses in China.

Steve Robinson, emerging media manager at Core Creative Inc., a Milwaukee-based advertising agency, joined the Army National Guard in 1999 because he saw the military as an opportunity to learn new skills and broaden his horizons.

Milwaukee business incubator Veteran Entrepreneurial Transfer Inc. was launched in March to assist veterans who want to start their own companies, and it already has 120 budding entrepreneurs.

In 2009, Heidi Plach, a mental and occupational health professor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, conducted a study of 30 young veterans between the ages of 20 and 29 about their daily life challenges, including work.

Wisconsin servicemen and servicewomen returning home in hopes of a smooth transition from service to society are faced with the worst economy in decades, shrinking or closed businesses and few, if any, employment opportunities.