Internet Exercise #1

As you know, a company's return on investment (or ROI) is the product of its margin and turnover. Financial analysts often compute and analyze a company's ROI by obtaining the required data from its annual report. Unfortunately, the analyst is usually unable to determine the precise amounts of the company's operating and nonoperating assets. Although this obstacle is a limitation, the information is still useful to some extent.

Search the Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR corporate filings data base at http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm for the annual report on Form 10-K of each of the two companies listed below.

• Google Inc. (choose the one with the Standard Industrial Code (SIC) of 7370)
• Yahoo Inc. (choose the one with the Standard Industrial Code (SIC) of 7373)

Using data from the two most recent annual reports of these two companies, compute the margin, turnover, and ROI for each company for the two most recent fiscal years. After reviewing the ratios, briefly discuss each company's performance, and then compare and contrast the performances of the two companies.

Internet Exercise #2

A company that provides training, certification and consulting services to commercial, government, and non-profit organizations in applying best practices in balanced scorecard (BSC), strategic performance management and measurement, and transformation and change management has a customer success story on its website at http://www.balancedscorecard.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx. Click on the Award for Excellence link (on the right-side of the page) and read the story about Mecklenburg County, which successfully transformed the county government and positioned it for tough times. Then, write a brief paper (3 - 5 paragraphs) that summarizes the success story.

Internet Exercise #3

Perform an Internet search using the term, economic value added. Select and read a case study or article from the results of your search. (Make sure that you do not select an instructor's lecture notes or a class assignment from the results of your search.) Then, write a brief paper (3 - 5 paragraphs) that summarizes the case study or article. (Your paper should provide the appropriate citation. If necessary, you may wish to refer to the following website, which includes information about citations: http://www.cod.edu/library/research/citenet.htm.)