Welcome! Check out our free B-School Guides to learn how you compare with other applicants.
Login or Register
 

A new greenville times question?

This topic has 2 expert replies and 3 member replies
Bookmark
Previous Topic Next Topic
fangtray Really wants to Beat The GMAT! Default Avatar
Joined
08 Sep 2011
Posted:
273 messages
Followed by:
3 members
Thanked:
4 times
A new greenville times question? Post Sun May 06, 2012 4:11 pm
Elapsed Time: 00:00
  • Lap #[LAPCOUNT] ([LAPTIME])
    Following several years of declining advertising sales, the Greenville Times reorganized its advertising sales force. Before
    reorganization, the sales force was organized geographically, with some sales representatives concentrating on citycenter
    businesses and others concentrating on different outlying regions. The reorganization attempted to increase the
    sales representatives’ knowledge of clients’ businesses by having each sales representative deal with only one type of
    industry or of retailing. After the reorganization, revenue from advertising sales increased.


    In assessing whether the improvement in advertising sales can peoperly be attributed to the reorganization, it would be helpful to find out each of the following EXCEPT:

    a. two years ago, what proportion of the greenville times'' total revenue was generated by advertising sales

    b. has the ciruclation of the greenville times increased substantially in the last two years?

    c. Has there been a substantial turnover in personnel in the advertising sales force over the last 2 years?

    d. before the reorganization, had sales representatives found it difficult to keep up with relevant developments in all the types of businesses to which they were assigned?

    e. has the economy in greenvile and the surrounding regions been growing rapidly over the last 2 years?

    Need free GMAT or MBA advice from an expert? Register for Beat The GMAT now and post your question in these forums!

    GMAT/MBA Expert

    Bill@VeritasPrep GMAT Instructor
    Joined
    29 Mar 2012
    Posted:
    1002 messages
    Followed by:
    139 members
    Thanked:
    392 times
    Target GMAT Score:
    800
    GMAT Score:
    780
    Post Sun May 06, 2012 4:23 pm
    Before reorganization: salesforce divided by region

    After reorganization: salesforce divided by industry

    Result: Ad revenue increased

    We're looking for the answer that would NOT allow us to determine whether the reorganization led to the increase in ad revenue. The other four choices will help us make that determination.

    A--We don't particularly care about the paper's total revenue, so this is the correct answer.

    B--If the circulation has gone up, advertisers will pay higher rates, leading to more ad revenue.

    C--Perhaps poor salespeople were replaced with better salespeople and this led to an increase in ad revenue.

    D--This could mean that ad revenue was lagging due to the salesforce's lack of knowledge; addressing that problem may have lead to increased revenue.

    E--If the economy has improved, then perhaps the increased ad revenue is due to that rather than the reorganization.

    _________________
    Take your GMAT prep on the go!

    For the first time, you can complete a full GMAT prep course on your mobile device. Download each of Veritas Prep’s 12 GMAT lessons directly on your iPad and iPhone.

    Download the Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand App Free

    Access The Veritas Prep GMAT Simulator™- for FREE! Veritas Prep has launched their new GMAT Practice Test. Sign up to access the realistic testing environment and challenge yourself today! Get Started Now.
    fangtray Really wants to Beat The GMAT! Default Avatar
    Joined
    08 Sep 2011
    Posted:
    273 messages
    Followed by:
    3 members
    Thanked:
    4 times
    Post Sun May 06, 2012 7:21 pm
    Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:
    Before reorganization: salesforce divided by region

    After reorganization: salesforce divided by industry

    Result: Ad revenue increased

    We're looking for the answer that would NOT allow us to determine whether the reorganization led to the increase in ad revenue. The other four choices will help us make that determination.

    A--We don't particularly care about the paper's total revenue, so this is the correct answer.

    B--If the circulation has gone up, advertisers will pay higher rates, leading to more ad revenue.

    C--Perhaps poor salespeople were replaced with better salespeople and this led to an increase in ad revenue.

    D--This could mean that ad revenue was lagging due to the salesforce's lack of knowledge; addressing that problem may have lead to increased revenue.

    E--If the economy has improved, then perhaps the increased ad revenue is due to that rather than the reorganization.
    Hi Bill, thank you for helping me. I am still somewhat confused however, if we say that substantial sales force turnover suggests poor slaes people were replaced with better sales people, isn't that a bit out of scope? I can't seem to find the correlation between employee turnover, and the termination of poor sales people. Even if we could suggest that it was poor sales people who were laid off, how do we know good sales people were hired?

    For A, if 2 years ago, total revenue was generated by advertising sales was...say 10% before the reorganization, and after the reorganization, it was about 30%, then we could say that there was an increase in sales due to reorganization..in other words, i'm trying to justify it like this.. However, I even feel this is somewhat stretching too far...but it appears to me as if it stretches less than C.

    if we want to find out if X leads to Y, then answer A asks the question: if there was no X, would Y occur?

    But obviously I am wrong, since this was an OG question. Please let me know where I am going wrong with my thinking.

    vk_vinayak GMAT Destroyer!
    Joined
    04 Jun 2008
    Posted:
    502 messages
    Followed by:
    20 members
    Thanked:
    97 times
    Post Mon May 07, 2012 3:28 am
    I chose A.

    c. Has there been a substantial turnover in personnel in the advertising sales force over the last 2 years?

    My thinking: If there is substantial turnover, (massive recruitment) in the ad-sales force (of Greenville Times), then I assumed that more people will bring more business. So, reorganization might not have helped here.

    _________________
    - VK

    I will (Learn. Recognize. Apply)

    GMAT/MBA Expert

    Bill@VeritasPrep GMAT Instructor
    Joined
    29 Mar 2012
    Posted:
    1002 messages
    Followed by:
    139 members
    Thanked:
    392 times
    Target GMAT Score:
    800
    GMAT Score:
    780
    Post Mon May 07, 2012 8:43 am
    We don't know that poor salespeople were replaced with good salespeople, but it is a definite possibility. "Useful to evaluate" questions like this tend to be a bit more abstract than traditional strengthen and weaken questions. We don't know the actual answers to the questions in the answer choices, but we need to consider various possibilities and how they would affect the conclusion.

    For A, we don't care about the proportion of overall revenue that ad revenue makes up. The end result given in the stimulus is that "revenue from advertising sales increased." The proportion of overall revenue could increase even if ad revenue went down (say overall revenue decreased by 30% and ad revenue decreased by 5%) or it could decrease if ad revenue went up (overall revenue increased by 30% and ad revenue increased by 5%)

    _________________
    Take your GMAT prep on the go!

    For the first time, you can complete a full GMAT prep course on your mobile device. Download each of Veritas Prep’s 12 GMAT lessons directly on your iPad and iPhone.

    Download the Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand App Free

    Thanked by: fangtray
    Access The Veritas Prep GMAT Simulator™- for FREE! Veritas Prep has launched their new GMAT Practice Test. Sign up to access the realistic testing environment and challenge yourself today! Get Started Now.
    Gaurav 2013-fall Really wants to Beat The GMAT! Default Avatar
    Joined
    22 Feb 2012
    Posted:
    296 messages
    Thanked:
    10 times
    Test Date:
    2012
    Target GMAT Score:
    800
    GMAT Score:
    700
    Post Mon May 07, 2012 8:49 am
    great one! thanks

    Best Conversation Starters
    1 vipulgoyal 32 topics
    2 hemant_rajput 23 topics
    3 guerrero 18 topics
    4 abhirup1711 17 topics
    5 sana.noor 16 topics
    See More Top Beat The GMAT Members...

    Most Active Experts
    1 image description Brent@GMATPrepNow

    GMAT Prep Now Teacher

    		 211 posts
    2 image description GMATGuruNY

    The Princeton Review Teacher

    		 137 posts
    3 image description Jim@StratusPrep

    Stratus Prep

    		 60 posts
    4 image description Jon@Admissionado

    Admissionado

    		 49 posts
    5 image description David@VeritasPrep

    Veritas Prep

    		 31 posts
    See More Top Beat The GMAT Experts