Last wednesday we discussed the financial performance of Apple. And it became clear how leadership and market position lead to strong financial performance, especially in the key indicator of ROI. I am sure that Steve Jobs does not sit around thinking too much about ROI though as an investor you should since Book based ROIC, I believe, is correlated with stock price. And as you listen to Steve Ballmer next week, you should reach a similar conclusion.

ROI is the sum of a company's activities and not an end in itself. Of course mature companies operating in mature spaces focus much of the energy in determining capital allocation and expected ROIC. But this is less of an issue for innovation-based companies. Rather the key is people -- their recruitment, direction, and engagement. By engagement I mean their involvement with and for the Company.

Take a look at the interview with the CEO of Nokia in 2004 and his financial management philosophy.

On the internet side, our principal topic for next week, there is no doubt that the capabilities provided by the on-line world are changing consumer behaviour and, accordingly, competive positioning. See how online payments are changing the banking industry. And one last article on how EBay could be getting into the blog and wiki side of net publishing as a way of tieing their auction/commerce activities with social media. Give some thought to this.

And as one last addendum to our Apple session, please take a look at Apple and gaming.