decline and fall of IBM? IBM transformed itself from a manufacturing company to one of the largest services company in the world. HP, Dell, everyone is getting out of the hardware business (low margin, etc.) and following IBM's lead (HP bought EDS and is trying to get rid of their hardware business. Dell bought Perot Systems 4 years ago and is in the process of going private so it can transform itself into a mini-IBM).

IBM's return on invested capital grew from 14.92 (2003) to 31.39 (2012).

HP from 9.98 (2006) ROIC to 14.97 (2012)

DELL from 43.33 (2003) to 11.32 (2012)

GOOG from 30.56 (2003) to 15.29 (2012) <=== going into the hardware business (MOTOROLA) is a bad idea for GOOG

MSFT from 17.66 (2003) to 22.66 (2012)

AAPL from 1.55 (2003) to 42.84 (2012)

If you noticed, IBM's ROIC is higher than other tech companies except Apple.