Simplify the sentence; at its core it says: "Because of the R&d required ____ in the industry,..., such firms tend to be large."

The right answer must contain the antecedent (aka the referent) to which "such firms" refers. Only one answer does. The answer is B. I go through the question in detail in the full solution below (taken from the GMATFix App).



-Patrick

LulaBrazilia wrote:Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.

(A) to survive

(B) of firms to survive

(C) for surviving

(D) for survival

(E) for firms' survival

Hi LulaBrazilia,

If you look at the last part of the sentence "such firms tend to be very large.", you will realise that the sentence is about some kind of firms, but no such mention is present anywhere else in the sentence about any firm. This means the correct option should contain something related to these firms. This leaves us with only option B and E.
Now E is again ruled out because it doesn't quote firms but firms' survival
Hence, the correct answer should B

Hope this helps.

Priyank
GMAT Instructor

www.pythagurus.com

Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.

Isn't the bolded part of the above sentence,causing comma splice???
Regards,
Mukherjee[/b]

[email protected] wrote:Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.

Isn't the bolded part of the above sentence,causing comma splice???
Regards,
Mukherjee[/b]

no .for making it a comma splice it need to be an independent clause .in fact the bolded portion in ur text is not even a clause !