The industry-low, industry-average, and industry-high cost benchmarks on p. 6 of each issue of the Footwear Industry Report are of considerable value to the managers of companies considering building additional facility space and/or adding more footwear-making equipment to boost production capabilities. are worth careful scrutiny by the managers of all companies because they help managers determine the degree to which their company's costs for the benchmarked cost categories are competitive with those of rival companies. are sometimes historically interesting but are of little or no value to managers when it comes to making decisions in the upcoming decision round. only have value to the managers of companies whose costs are below the industry averages. are of little value to company managers in making decisions to improve company performance in the upcoming decision round, unless a company is losing money and its managers do not understand why.