Manufacturer of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on pencil leads rather than on the pencils themselves. The write company, which can not sell its leads as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its mechanical pencil so that it will accept only a newly designed write company lead, which will be sold at the same price as the write company's current lead.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the write's company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of pencil leads?
A) First time buyers of mechanical pencils tend to buy the least expensive mechanical pencils available.
B) Annual sales of mechanical pencils are expected to triple over the next five years.
C) A write company executive is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing pencil leads.
D) A rival manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a mechanical pencil that would accept only the leads produced by that manufacturer.
E) In extensive test marketing, mechanical-pencil users found the new write company pencil markedly superior to other mechanical pencils they had used.
OAE
Please explain
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Manufacturer of mechanical pencils
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The question asks us to support the projection that the "plan will lead to an increase in its sales of pencil leads."
What's the situation? Most of the money is made from selling leads to fill mechanical pencils rather than from sales of the mechanical pencil itself. The write company proposes to modify its pencil so that the pencil will only take leads produced by the write company.
What's the assumption? The write company seems to assume that people want to use its mechanical pencil but are using leads from competitors. Which of the following choices supports this assumption?
(A) does not support because there is no reason to believe that write's pencil is the cheapest.
(B) does not support because we are concerned with sales of leads not with sales of pencils.
(C) does not support. Just because an executive is studying ways to reduce the costs does not mean that he will succeed.
(D) does not support. Just because a competitor hopes to do the same thing does not mean that either plan will succeed.
(E) supports. If a write company pencil is superior, then people will presumably want to use it. To do so, they will need to buy leads from write company.
What's the situation? Most of the money is made from selling leads to fill mechanical pencils rather than from sales of the mechanical pencil itself. The write company proposes to modify its pencil so that the pencil will only take leads produced by the write company.
What's the assumption? The write company seems to assume that people want to use its mechanical pencil but are using leads from competitors. Which of the following choices supports this assumption?
(A) does not support because there is no reason to believe that write's pencil is the cheapest.
(B) does not support because we are concerned with sales of leads not with sales of pencils.
(C) does not support. Just because an executive is studying ways to reduce the costs does not mean that he will succeed.
(D) does not support. Just because a competitor hopes to do the same thing does not mean that either plan will succeed.
(E) supports. If a write company pencil is superior, then people will presumably want to use it. To do so, they will need to buy leads from write company.
Elias Latour
Verbal Specialist @ ApexGMAT
blog.apexgmat.com
+1 (646) 736-7622
Verbal Specialist @ ApexGMAT
blog.apexgmat.com
+1 (646) 736-7622
