Hi,

Here is the detailed solution:

The question asks us to find an option statement which is most strongly suggested by the passage. Therefore, the question is very similar to an inference question.

Facts of the case:
"¢ Decline in manufacturing sets off a chain reaction.
"¢ Decline in manufacturing -> Non-maintenance of Process-engineering expertise -> Difficulty in conducting research on next generation process technologies -> Inability to develop new products.

Prethinking:

The passage talks about a sequential cause-effect relationship in the form: A->B->C->D.

In this case, an inference of the form X->Y can be built from the information given, where X can be any event which precedes Y in the above chain reaction.

Analysis of Answer choices:

A. In the long term, an economy with a deteriorating infrastructure for advanced process engineering and with declining manufacturing activity will likely lose its ability to innovate. - Correct choice.We don't know for sure what a decline in "advanced process engineering" could lead to, since the passage talks about "process engineering" in general. However, a declining manufacturing activity will necessarily lead to inability to develop new products or innovate. Therefore, this statement is supported by the information given in the passage.

B. To develop new products a company must never cut down its manufacturing. -The passage talks about manufacturing in a region, not a company, which may be spread over multiple regions. Thus, this option is incorrect.

C. An increase in the manufacturing activity in a region leads to increase in innovation within the region - While a decrease in manufacturing activity leads to decrease in innovation, we cannot infer what effect an increase in manufacturing activity will have. Thus, incorrect.

D. To develop new products, a company needs to frequently change its processes. - Without the word "frequently", this option could have been attractive. Note that "frequent" change of processes as a prerequisite to develop new products cannot be inferred from the passage. Thus, incorrect.

E. An economy that has growing manufacturing capabilities will churn out more new products than other economies. - Again, like option D, we cannot infer about the effect of increasing manufacturing activity. Thus, Incorrect.

Hope this helps

Thanks,
Chiranjeev

challenger63 wrote:Really difficult question. I hope I answered it correctly.

e-GMAT wrote:The decline of manufacturing in a region sets off a chain reaction. Once manufacturing is outsourced, process-engineering expertise can't be maintained, since it depends on daily interactions with manufacturing. Without process-engineering capabilities, companies find it increasingly difficult to conduct advanced research on next-generation process technologies. Without the ability to develop such new processes, they find they can no longer develop new products.

Which of the following is best supported by the passage?

>> So, this is an inference question. We are looking for something which must be true.

e-GMAT wrote: A. In the long term, an economy with a deteriorating infrastructure for advanced process engineering and with declining manufacturing activity will likely lose its ability to innovate.

>> This is a right answer. The argument talks about negative forecast for ability to innovate.
This is answer MUST be true because of "likely". This keyword kills all potential critique.

e-GMAT wrote: B. To develop new products, a company must never cut down on its manufacturing.

>> MUST do something? It is obvious that there may be some situations in which companies have to do cut down of their manufacturing.

e-GMAT wrote: C. An increase in the manufacturing activity in a region leads to increase in innovation within the region

>> We cannot guarantee innovation. It is possible that there are some other issues which put obstacles in region's innovations.

e-GMAT wrote: D. To develop new products, a company needs to frequently change its processes.

>> Frequency is out of scope. It is possible that frequent changes in processes may damage long-term product innovations.

e-GMAT wrote: E. An economy that has growing manufacturing capabilities will churn out more new products than other economies.

>> Ability of Economy to innovate is out of scope. Meanwhile, the statement is too broad and economies with a mature manufacturing which is not growing can still innovate more than the countries where manufacturing is just started to grow.

Hi Challenger63,

Awesome job! Right on the track. Thanks given

-Chiranjeev