gmatprep CR-evaluate EXCEPT

The conclusion is that two years ago the newspaper company reorganized its sales strategies and that led to increase in advertising sales.

A--In the past two years advertising sales have increased, therefore, net revenue from sales must have increased also. What would be helpful is to measure the proportion of net sales revenue prior to the reorganization that took place two years ago with revenue generated in the past two years.

B--increase in net advertising sales. This is direct measurement of how well your sales strategy is doing. If you read the question, the effort of the newspaper company was to increase its sales by reoragnizing its sales force and restructuring its sales strategies. What could be a better indicator then this?

C--OK, here's the trap that GMAC has set for us. However, if you read the choice, it is a logical alternative explanation that perhaps old non-productive sales people left and now they've been replaced with new productive people. Trust me I almost went for this one. Remember this is a weaken the arguement and strengthen the arguement question in disguise. Whenever you come across a question like this, look for logical alternative explanations. If there is one, then it usually strengthens the questions, such as this case.

D--Again, this is a direct measurement of what worked and what didn't work before the reorganization effort. Highly relevant to understanding increase in sales.

E--Growing economy means people have more money and they want to buy more products, therefore, businesses will advertise more. This can be an alternative explanation to why sales increased. Therefore, it's relevant to the arguement.

I hope this helps.

Andrew

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vkb16: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 122; Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:03 am; Thanked: 2 times

by vkb16 » Wed May 06, 2009 3:43 am

oh ok.. that cleared most of my doubts.. I think in the heat of the test, smetimes u jus panic and the question becomes tougher than it is!

Btw, I didnt quite understand your reason for why A isnt relevant...
Can u elucidate a bit?
thanks

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mharv: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 36; Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:14 pm; Location: Bangalore; Thanked: 2 times; GMAT Score:390

another approach for this EXCEPT qn

by mharv » Thu May 07, 2009 3:40 am

Conclusion: Re-org has increased sales because of advertising
Premise: Adv sales were declining 2 years back.
Before re-org people were aligned by geography and city/region
After re-org people were aligned by industry domain

Find answer choice does not help in assessing the re-organization of sales force

:arrow: A does not help us assess the re-organization, just a number that indicates proportion of sales before re-org.

:arrow: B if circulation has increased, re-org was successful

:arrow: C if there has been a large turn-over or attrition, then re-org was not very successful.

:arrow: D before re-org people did not have domain knowledge, now they do. re-org was successful.

:arrow: E if economy has been growing and adv sales has increased, re-org was successful.

Regards,
Arvind