Computing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Return on Equity and Return on Assets Following are summary financial statement data for Nordstrom Inc. for fiscal years ended 2014 through 2016.

$ millions 2016 2015 2014 Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14,095 $13,110 $12,166 Net income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 720 734 Total assets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,698 9,245 8,574 Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871 2,440 2,080 Required

a. Compute return on assets and return on equity for fiscal years ended 2015 and 2016 (use average assets and average equity), together with the components of ROA (profit margin and asset turnover).

What trends, if any, do we observe?

b. Which component, if any, appears to be driving the change in ROA over this time period?