Question: Shelby Industries manufactures and sells the same gauges as Jones Industries. Employee wages account for forty percent of the cost of manufacturing gauges at both Shelby Industries and Jones Industries. Shelby Industries is seeking a competitive advantage over Jones Industries. Therefore, to promote this end, Shelby Industries should lower employee wages.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
(A) Because they make a small number of precision instruments, gauge manufacturers cannot receive volume discounts on raw materials.
(B) Lowering wages would reduce the quality of employee work, and this reduced quality would lead to lowered sales.
(C) Jones Industries has taken away twenty percent of Shelby Industries' business over the last year.
(D) Shelby Industries pays its employees, on average, ten percent more than does Jones Industries.
(E) Many people who work for manufacturing plants live in areas in which the manufacturing plant they work for is the only industry.
“Shelby Industries Manufactures and Sells the Same Gauges as Jones Industries” - is a GMAT critical reasoning topic. This GMAT critical comes with five options and candidates need to choose the one which is correct. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic has been taken from the book “The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review 2015”. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. Candidates get 65 minutes to answer 36 MCQ questions in the critical reasoning section of the GMAT.
Answer: B
Explanation: This is Weaken the argument type GMAT critical reasoning question. Here we need to either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or logical flaws in the argument.
Let us check the given assumption to see the one option that most weakens the argument above:
Conclusion: Shelby Industries should lower employee wages, to seek a competitive advantage over Jones Industries
Weaken: To achieve a competitive advantage over Jones Industries, Shelby industries must not necessarily lower employee wages
(A) Because they make a small number of precision instruments, gauge manufacturers cannot receive volume discounts on raw materials.
-Option A is irrelevant because it is suggesting alternative reasons to lower the prices.
(B) Lowering wages would reduce the quality of employee work, and this reduced quality would lead to lowered sales.
-Option B suggests reducing the quality as the reason for lower sales. Hence this implies that the wages should not be lowered. Hence option B is the correct answer.
(C) Jones Industries has taken away twenty percent of Shelby Industries' business over the last year.
-Option C is a neutral statement. It implies reasons for the current market. Hence option C is incorrect.
(D) Shelby Industries pays its employees, on average, ten percent more than does Jones Industries.
-Option D is irrelevant because it is only a statement about the current pay scale of Shelby industries.
(E) Many people who work for manufacturing plants live in areas in which the manufacturing plant they work for is the only industry.
-Option E is a neutral statement Hence option E is incorrect.
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