The industry$-$low, industry$-$average, and industry$-$high cost benchmarking data on p$.6$ and p$.7$ of each issue of the Footwear Industry Report

are of little value to company managers in making decisions to improve company performance in the upcoming decision round, although they may certainly be of interest to those managers who are curious about how their company fared on the various reported benchmarks.

have the greatest value to those company managers who are desperately searching for ideas on what they can do to improve their company's EPS and ROE.

are especially valuable to the managers of companies whose branded footwear has an S$/$Q rating below $4$ stars or above $7$ stars.

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aid managers in assessing whether their company's costs and$/$or operating profits for the benchmarked items are adequately competitive$--$when such is not the case, the company's managers are well$-$advised to promptly address how best to correct the high$-$cost or low$-$profit problems$)$ in the upcoming decision round.

are particularly valuable to the managers of companies looking for ways to increase their company's market share of branded footwear sales in one or more geographic regions.

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