Weaknesses:
-Comparing apples and oranges. Each investment center has different nature of activities and is in a different business cycle. For example, Consumer Products is in a mature market while Professional Services is in an emerging market.
-Total sales are equally divided by division. More useful would be to see how much each division is actually selling.
-Comparing investment centers ROA using depreciable assets is tricky. Industrial division could have a higher ROA (as mentioned) if their equipment was older (lower book value).
-Professional services should not be operating as an investment center. The manager does not make decisions regarding fixed assets. On the other hand, human capital(the people doing the services) is their main asset.
-The allocation method used for corporate assets skews the results in favor of professional services division. Since professional services has less earnings, their allocation of assets is lower.
-Profitable projects are being rejected because their ROA is lower than 15%