Table $2\mathrm{.}1($in the Grant text$)$ compares companies according to different profitability measures.

a$.$ Which two of the six performance measures do you think are the most useful indicators of how well a company is being managed?

b$.$ Is return on sales or return on equity a better basis on which to compare the performance of the companies listed?

c$.$ Several companies are highly profitable yet delivered very low returns to their shareholders during $2017.$ How is this possible?

TABLE $2\mathrm{.}1$ Profitability measures for some of the world's largest companies, $2020$

$\backslash$table$[[\backslash$table$[[$Compan$],[$y$]],\backslash$table$[[$Market$],[$capitalizationa $(],[$$ billion$)]],\backslash$table$[[$Net$],[$incom$],[$e $($$$],[$billion$)]],\backslash$table$[[$ROS susp$]],\backslash$table$[[$ROE$]],\backslash$table$[[$ROAd$]],\backslash$table$[[$Return to$],[$shareholders $(],[\%)]]],[$Apple$,2150,57\mathrm{.}4,23\mathrm{.}8,73\mathrm{.}7,17\mathrm{.}3,+185],[$Amazon$,1580,21\mathrm{.}3,5\mathrm{.}9,27\mathrm{.}4,7\mathrm{.}8,+107],[$Alibaba$,655,21\mathrm{.}5,18\mathrm{.}7,23\mathrm{.}9,13\mathrm{.}1,+24],[\backslash$table$[[$JPMorga$],[$n Chase$]],459,29\mathrm{.}0,28\mathrm{.}7,10\mathrm{.}7,0\mathrm{.}9,+27],[\backslash$table$[[$Roche$],[$Holding$],[$AG$]],281,15\mathrm{.}6,30\mathrm{.}4,41\mathrm{.}4,16\mathrm{.}9,+34],[$Walmart$,371,13\mathrm{.}5,4\mathrm{.}0,17\mathrm{.}3,5\mathrm{.}5,+25],[\backslash$table$[[$Toyota$],[$Motor$],[$Corp$.]],208,19\mathrm{.}6,7\mathrm{.}9,10\mathrm{.}3,4\mathrm{.}0,+8]]$

Notes: