Critical Reasoning

Sales of telephones have increased dramatically over the last year. In order to take advantage of this increase, Mammoth Industries plans to expand production of its own model of telephone, while continuing its already very extensive advertising of this product.
Which of the following, if true, provides most support for the view that Mammoth Industries cannot increase its sales of telephones by adopting the plan outlined above?
(A) Although it sells all of the telephones that it produces, Mammoth Industries’ share of all telephone sales has declined over the last year.
(B) Mammoth Industries’ average inventory of telephones awaiting shipment to retailers has declined slightly over the last year.
(C) Advertising has made the brand name of Mammoth Industries’ telephones widely known, but few consumers know that Mammoth Industries owns this brand.
(D) Mammoth Industries’ telephone is one of three brands of telephone that have together accounted for the bulk of the last year’s increase in sales.
(E) Despite a slight decline in the retail price, sales of Mammoth Industries’ telephones have fallen in the last year.

whats wrong with A

The answer should be C

refer the below statement-
Mammoth industries relies on advertising.. so if advertisement of the product is weak then we can point out the statement that weakens the plan.
Mammoth Industries plans to expand production of its own model of telephone, while continuing its already very extensive advertising of this product

IMO E.

IMO E..

IMO E. What is OA?

Here we need to find an answer that proves that Mammoth industries cannot increase sales by increasing the production of its models.

A- As it sells all telephones, if it produces more, it may sell those also. This can support Mammoth's plans

B- Here, its more of a supply-chain management issue. irrelevant.

C- Mamoth may not care for the brand as long as its product sells.

D- No flaw here. May support Mammoth's plans instead

E- Here, even though the price went down, sales of Mammoth ndustries telephones went down. So increasing the production will not help here as they are not even selling their current production of telephones. This is a flaw in what Mammoth plans to do. Hence E.

Its really a tough choice between A and E. When constrained with time at test taking I would go for E but can not offer wise explanation why E instead of A. Just a hunch.
Can someone offer some better explanation?

Musicolo wrote:Its really a tough choice between A and E. When constrained with time at test taking I would go for E but can not offer wise explanation why E instead of A. Just a hunch.
Can someone offer some better explanation?

A) Although it sells all of the telephones that it produces, Mammoth Industries’ share of all telephone sales has declined over the last year.
==> It implies that MI is selling all the inventory of that telephone but still market share declined. So that means if MI increase the inventory (as per plan) then also it can sell the telephone and increase the market share.
So it doesn't weaken but strengthen the argument.

Vemuri wrote:IMO E.

please explain why u didn't select A..

Musicolo wrote:Its really a tough choice between A and E. When constrained with time at test taking I would go for E but can not offer wise explanation why E instead of A. Just a hunch.
Can someone offer some better explanation?

“Although it sells all of the telephones that it produces, Mammoth Industries’ share of all telephone sales has declined over the last year. “

Nothing above suggests that Mammoth’s telephone sales cannot increase the next year. Remember, Mammoth is doing extensive advertisement as stated in the passage, so just b/c sales fell last year doesn’t mean they cannot rise next year.

In E. Mammoth has already lowered price. Does it have to sell at price 0 before it makes profit? You have a strong reason to believe that despite advertisement, sales will not increase, since with lower price sales still has not increased. This price information separates A and E.

dtweah wrote:

Musicolo wrote:Its really a tough choice between A and E. When constrained with time at test taking I would go for E but can not offer wise explanation why E instead of A. Just a hunch.
Can someone offer some better explanation?

“Although it sells all of the telephones that it produces, Mammoth Industries’ share of all telephone sales has declined over the last year. “

Nothing above suggests that Mammoth’s telephone sales cannot increase the next year. Remember, Mammoth is doing extensive advertisement as stated in the passage, so just b/c sales fell last year doesn’t mean they cannot rise next year.

In E. Mammoth has already lowered price. Does it have to sell at price 0 before it makes profit? You have a strong reason to believe that despite advertisement, sales will not increase, since with lower price sales still has not increased. This price information separates A and E.

thanks for a nice explanation.. I overlooked this detail, ahh what was i thinking!!
OA is E

dtweah wrote: “Although it sells all of the telephones that it produces, Mammoth Industries’ share of all telephone sales has declined over the last year. “

Nothing above suggests that Mammoth’s telephone sales cannot increase the next year. Remember, Mammoth is doing extensive advertisement as stated in the passage, so just b/c sales fell last year doesn’t mean they cannot rise next year.

dtweah,

I want to add. As already wrote earlier in above it is not implying the sales have fallen but rather the share of sales has declined.
e.g. where sales can rise even when share of sales has fallen.
2 years back : total sales: 100 MI sales: 50 ==> share (50%)
1 year back : total sales: 150 MI sales: 60 ==> share (40%)

My intuition whispers that it is A