Category: Business/Technology

Quoted: Marianne Smukowski, a dairy safety application coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, says that the non-toxigenic E. coli can serve as an “indicator organism” that may show the presence of harmful pathogens in food. She says 95 percent of raw milk cheeses checked in one FDA test did not show them, which is why in part she’s unclear as to why the FDA is using that as a new testing issue.

“I don’t know why the FDA is pushing for it,” Smukowski said. “They decided to implement it based on some of the results they have seen in their assignment.”

Quoted: Jon Eckhardt, executive director of the UW-Madison Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship and a co-founder of gener8tor, said he thinks programs like gener8tor are spurring more cooperation between Madison and Milwaukee.

Quoted: “I know the privilege of being recognized in front of your peers is a big incentive for companies to continuously improve,” said Tom Eggert, who teaches sustainable business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and serves as executive director of the council. “The competitive nature of staying at the front of the pack causes Wisconsin companies to rise above their peers from other states.”

Noted: The Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) also reappointed Trustee Terry D. Warfield, PwC Professor in Accounting and chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Mr. Warfield’s new term will end on December 31, 2018.

Quoted: Jerry O’Brien [executive director, The Kohl’s Center for Retailing Excellence], says this trend of “online and not in-line” has been revving its engine for a while now. Online shopping may not be beating regular old shopping in person, but it’s getting there.

“The growth has been consistent. The past four years it’s had dramatic growth, so there’s obvious a trend where we have more people every year, and this past weekend it looks like more than 20 percent of the people took advantage of it so it’s a growing trend,” explained O’Brien.

Quoted: Jerry O’Brien, who leads the Kohl’s Center for Retailing Excellence, said the Kroger buyout could bring more development to the area in the future.”They may use that as an opportunity to have a northern headquarters,” said O’Brien. “We really are a unique part of the country for them.”

Quoted: Jerry O’Brien, executive director of the Kohl’s Center for Retailing at UW-Madison, questioned whether Kroger will keep the well-known grocery names used by Roundy’s or convert the stores to Kroger or some other brand already associated with the company.

An architect who helped lead implementation of green building practices and the founder of a statewide sustainable business organization have won top honors from the Wisconsin affiliate of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Quoted: Oscar Mayer has not confirmed what type of severance packages or benefits they will provide to the displaced workers, Barry Gerhart, University of Wisconsin professor of management and human resources, said. But regardless of the compensation, the closure will be a major challenge for displaced employees.

Quoted: New technologies such as “sharing economy” companies such as Airbnb and Uber tend to create windows of opportunity for new business models during which the old regulatory regime no longer fits and new regulations will be needed, said Hart Posen, a professor of business at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.