(Inventory cost management) Randomly select annual reports for ten publicly traded manufacturing companies. On the balance sheet, or in the related footnotes, for each firm, find the amounts for the three inventory accounts: raw material, work in process, and finished goods. Then, calculate the following for each firm, and the average for the 10 firms:

Ratio of Raw Material Inventory to total assets

Ratio of Work in Process Inventory to total assets

Ratio of Finished Goods Inventory to total assets

Ratio of total inventory to total assets

a. On average, how large is total inventory as a percentage of total assets for your ten firms?

b. On average, which inventory component comprises the largest percentage of total inventory?

c. Do your answers to parts (a) and (b) suggest that effective inventory management is crucial to the success of these 10 firms? Discuss.