Businesses in the metro Milwaukee area see continuing gains in key growth indicators for 2007, according to the new first-quarter Business Outlook Survey conducted by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC). The metro area finished 2006 with a solid job trend. The local area has posted seven consecutive months of year-over-year job gains and is likely to post overall annual employment gains for the third consecutive year.

Suppliers to the Big Three U.S. automakers, including Milwaukee-based Strattec Security Corp., have had to get leaner and leaner in recent years. Two of the Big Three, Ford and General Motors, have been hemorrhaging money and losing market share to foreign competitors for years. Through the third quarter of 2006, Ford had net losses of about $7 billion, and GM had net losses of about $3 billion.

Over the past 13 years, Berbee Information Networks Corp. has evolved into a $390 million information technology provider that thrives by delivering cutting-edge solutions for its customer. Last September 2006, the Madison-based company was acquired by CDW Corp., a technology products and services provider based in Vernon Hills, Ill., for $175 million.

John Koss Sr., a trumpet player in a big band and an entrepreneur who went on to invent the first stereo headphone, launched Koss Corp. in 1953 as a television rental service catering to Milwaukee-area hospitals. By 1973, the company had grown to provide headphone jacks in all portable electronics and to create the industry standard high-fidelity headphone.

Most of Milwaukee’s merger and acquisitions and investment banking firms had record years in 2006, and they anticipate similar levels of activity for 2007. Relatively low interest rates, the willingness of banks and other lending institutions to fund acquisitions and the appetites of both strategic and private equity buyers have fueled the robust market, industry insiders say.

Brady Corp. acquires Italian manufacturer Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. announced it has acquired wire-identification manufacturer Modernotecnica SpA of Milan, Italy....

The declining value of the U.S. dollar is providing a needed boost to many Wisconsin manufacturers. Manufacturers that sell to Europe, China, India and other emerging markets are benefiting from the weak dollar because it makes the U.S.-made products less expensive for foreign buyers. However, for Wisconsin manufacturers that rely on foreign markets for outsourced production and machinery, a weak dollar has the opposite effect – it raises their costs.

Employers will soon face dramatic changes in how they hire and manage their workforce in China. After 11 years, the Chinese government and people felt that the People’s Republic of China’s current labor contract law did not provide the necessary protections and stability for its employees and employers, especially under China’s reformed economic system.

For the Milwaukee-area commercial real estate industry, 2007 could be the year of the hotel. There are at least 11 hotel developments that are being planned in or near downtown Milwaukee. In the suburbs, at least 11 hotel projects are in various stages of development. Plus, several existing hotels in southeastern Wisconsin have already completed, or are planning, renovations to keep up with the new competition.

Health insurance costs are expected to increase again in 2007, although not by as much as in some recent years, local health insurance brokers say. Still, as health care costs continue to escalate, more businesses are asking their employees to shoulder a greater share of their health insurance costs. Many firms are creating health benefits packages with high deductibles, often combined with a health savings account (HSA) or a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA). That trend is also expected to continue in 2007, health insurance brokers say.

Some small- and medium-sized business owners are combating rising health insurance benefit costs with the help of an online tool launched by Humana Inc.
The Louisville, Ky.-based insurance company has created the Broker Benefit Utilization Director, or Broker BUD.

Wisconsin business owners, homeowners and drivers can expect to see either modest increases or reductions in their property and casualty insurance premiums in 2007. P&C insurance in Wisconsin and its surrounding states, including Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa, had premium decreases of 1 percent in the past nine months and a decrease of 0.2 percent in 2005, said Genio Staranczak, chief economist for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, based in Des Plaines, Ill.