In addition to selling electronic books, Barnesandnoble.com hopes to use them to keep its customers coming back, another area where the company has lagged behind Amazon.com.

Study after study has shown that companies issuing shares lag behind the market for several years thereafter.

If the board still wanted to give bonuses to executives even when a company lagged behind, she said, investors would at least know what was happening.

The company still lags behind Haagen-Dazs, the leader in the super-premium category.

And the companies lag behind their more experienced big business allies.

The companies lag behind the overall market in the share of mortgages they buy from low-income borrowers, and the new goals would change that, he said.

But companies that relied mostly or exclusively on stock options actually lagged behind the other two groups.

These companies would not only lag behind in total sales, but would also lack the full complement of products that their three larger rivals will have.

The company still lags behind its peers in many important efficiency measures.

"The 25 companies least active in alliances lagged the Fortune 500, with an average return on equity of only 10.1 percent."