Solutions
Get detailed explanations to advanced GMAT questions.
Question
Printwell’s Ink Jet Division manufactures ink-jet printers and the ink cartridges they use. Sales of its ink-jet printers have increased. Monthly revenues from those sales, however, have not increased, because competition has forced Printwell to cut the prices of its printers. Unfortunately, Printwell has been unable to bring down the cost of manufacturing a printer. Thus, despite the increase in printer sales, the Ink Jet Division must be providing the company with much smaller than it used to.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
Option A:
Ink-jet printers in regular use frequently need new ink cartridges, and Printwell’s printers only accept Printwell’s ink cartridges.
Option B:
Unlike some competing companies, Printwell sells all of its printers through retailers, and these retailers’ costs account for a sizable proportion of the printers’ ultimate retail price.
Option C:
Some printer manufacturers have been forced to reduce the sale price of their ink-jet printers even more than Printwell has.
Option D:
In the past year, no competing manufacturer of ink-jet printers has had as great an increase in unit sales of printers as Printwell has.
Option E:
In the past year, sales of Printwell’s ink-jet printers have increased more than sales of any other type of printer made by Printwell.
Difficulty Level
HardSolution
Option A is the right answer.
Option Analysis
Question type: Weaken the argument
Summary of the argument: The argument concludes to say that the Ink Jet division is providing lesser profits to the company that it used to earlier. We will need to weaken this argument and say that this might not be the case.
A) Correct Answer
B) This doesn’t weaken the argument by saying that there are more profits than what is being calculated.
C) This doesn’t talk anything about PrintWell’s plan
D) Again, this option doesn’t affect the logic of what happened with PrintWell.
E) This doesn’t mean that the profits of PrintWell also increased.
Related Questions
- Today’s technology allows manufacturers to make small cars more fuel-efficient now than at any time…
- A manufacturer of workstations for computer-aided design seeks to increase sales to its most important…
- TrueSave is a mail-order company that ships electronic products from its warehouses to…
- Unearthed in China, fossils of feathered dinosaurs offer the most dramatic evidence yet discovered…
- Humans have been damaging the environment for centuries by overcutting trees and farming too intensively…