The industry-low, industry-average, and industry-high branded operating benchmarks on p. 7 of each issue of the Footwear Industry Report

a) are only of value to the managers of companies having EPS, ROE, and stock prices that are below Investor Expectations in the prior year.

b) are worth careful scrutiny by the managers of all companies because when a company's distribution and warehouse costs, costs of branded pairs sold, marketing expenses, and/or operating profits for one or more of the regional benchmarks are deemed out-of-line, managers need to initiate corrective actions in the next decision round.

c) are of little value to the managers of companies whose cost benchmarks and operating profit benchmarks are below the industry average.

d) have great value only to the managers of companies whose operating profits per branded pair sold are negative in one or more geographic regions.

e) are of little value to company managers in making decisions to improve company performance in the upcoming decision round, although they may have interest to managers who are curious about last year's results.