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Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri

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Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   28 Apr 2012, 21:20
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Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft drink had a good chance of commercial success. A sample of consumers was asked to compare the flavor of the new soft drink to that of an established brand without knowing the true identity of either beverage. Overwhelmingly, the consumers preferred the taste of the proposed soft drink to that of the established brand. Clearly, Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?


A) Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand.

B) The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X.

C) The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market.

D) Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink.

E) The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand.

Main CR Qs link - Main link - https://gmatclub.com/forum/cr-qs-600-700 ... 31508.html
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   11 Apr 2021, 02:45
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GetThisDone wrote:
Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft drink had a good chance of commercial success. A sample of consumers was asked to compare the flavor of the new soft drink to that of an established brand without knowing the true identity of either beverage. Overwhelmingly, the consumers preferred the taste of the proposed soft drink to that of the established brand. Clearly, Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?


A) Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand.

B) The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X.

C) The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market.

D) Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink.

E) The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand.

Main CR Qs link - Main link - https://gmatclub.com/forum/cr-qs-600-700 ... 31508.html


OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



The correct answer is C.

The conclusion of the argument is "Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink." Why? Because most consumers in the taste test preferred its flavor to that of an established brand. In order to weaken this argument, all we need to do is show that there may be some reason to doubt that the flavor will be enough for the drink to be successful. Choice C states that the new drink will be much more expensive than any other on the market. This does not prove that the drink will not be successful, but it does give a reason to suspect that it might not be.
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   03 May 2012, 23:44
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Since the new soft drink costs thrice as much as the established brand, to manufacture, even though the new soft drink is a success, the profit margin would be low for any given quantity sold.
Quantity wise sales is a sure thing according to the study but it wont convert to commercial success.

Here Commercial success is the key word.

Hence C is the correct answer.
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   05 Sep 2013, 04:57
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This argument uses the reasoning pattern that because people say they prefer something then that product will be successful. It assumes that preferring the product will lead directly to purchasing the product. To weaken this type of argument, find a reason why people would not purchase the product, even if they prefer it over similar products.

Of the available answer choices, only C provides a different criteria (price) by which consumers could judge the product than thus decide not to purchase it.
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   16 Nov 2013, 06:20
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GetThisDone wrote:
Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft drink had a good chance
of commercial success. A sample of consumers was asked to compare the flavor of the new
soft drink to that of an established brand without knowing the true identity of either
beverage. Overwhelmingly, the consumers preferred the taste of the proposed soft drink to
that of the established brand. Clearly, Company X has a good chance of commercial success
with its new soft drink. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the
argument above?
A) Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand.
b) The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X.
c) The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the
market.
d) Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink.
e) The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand.

Main CR Qs link - Main link - cr-qs-600-700-level-131508.html


Although I understand C, I question why not B:
The conclusion is that the company will have success with the new drink.
What if the company is already successful with the old drink, and hence, with the new drink, the old one's sales drop whilst the new one's rise? Then the company will be even.
Hence there will be no actual change in the company's success.
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Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   05 Oct 2018, 00:10
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Skag55 wrote:
GetThisDone wrote:
Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft drink had a good chance of commercial success. A sample of consumers was asked to compare the flavor of the new soft drink to that of an established brand without knowing the true identity of either beverage. Overwhelmingly, the consumers preferred the taste of the proposed soft drink to that of the established brand. Clearly, Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?
A) Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand.
b) The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X.
c) The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market.
d) Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink.
e) The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand.

Main CR Qs link - Main link - https://gmatclub.com/forum/cr-qs-600-700 ... 31508.html


Although I understand C, I question why not B:
The conclusion is that the company will have success with the new drink.
What if the company is already successful with the old drink, and hence, with the new drink, the old one's sales drop whilst the new one's rise? Then the company will be even.
Hence there will be no actual change in the company's success.


Though it's too late to answer your query, I think that it can be helpful for someone with the same doubt. :)

The conclusion of the given argument is that Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink. It does not discuss about overall profits of the company and is only concerned about the probability of success of its new drink.
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   12 Mar 2019, 11:55
The reasoning partern and hence the conlusion is drawn on the basis of "Taste Test" . So can some one explain, how something out of scope can weakan the argument.

As some Q? (certainly not remebered, that's why not mentioned) are get cancelled as "weakener" because they described as out of scope.

Really Get confused....
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   13 Mar 2019, 02:59
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rinkumaa4 wrote:
The reasoning partern and hence the conlusion is drawn on the basis of "Taste Test" . So can some one explain, how something out of scope can weakan the argument.

As some Q? (certainly not remebered, that's why not mentioned) are get cancelled as "weakener" because they described as out of scope.

Really Get confused....



Hey,it's absolutely okay to have doubts. I'll try to help you out with this.

Let's take an example. If I say that Mercedes Benz have good safety features and hence is the best car in the market.

If I have to weaken this conclusion,then I can do it by two ways:
1) to prove that MB's safety features are not effective. Let's say maximum casualties.

2) provide additional info that can surpass our conclusion. For example: Jaguar attained 5star rating in collision tests however MB have 4star rating.

Basically,second info is an outside information but is definitely not out of scope.

If u find this helpful then don't forget to press the kudos button :)

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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   18 Mar 2019, 10:49
Skywalker18 wrote:
Skag55 wrote:
GetThisDone wrote:
Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft drink had a good chance of commercial success. A sample of consumers was asked to compare the flavor of the new soft drink to that of an established brand without knowing the true identity of either beverage. Overwhelmingly, the consumers preferred the taste of the proposed soft drink to that of the established brand. Clearly, Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?
A) Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand.
b) The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X.
c) The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market.
d) Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink.
e) The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand.

Main CR Qs link - Main link - https://gmatclub.com/forum/cr-qs-600-700 ... 31508.html


Although I understand C, I question why not B:
The conclusion is that the company will have success with the new drink.
What if the company is already successful with the old drink, and hence, with the new drink, the old one's sales drop whilst the new one's rise? Then the company will be even.
Hence there will be no actual change in the company's success.


Though it's too late to answer your query, I think that it can be helpful for someone with the same doubt. :)

The conclusion of the given argument is that Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink. It does not discuss about overall profits of the company and is only concerned about the probability of success of its new drink.


Skywalker18 here in option C we are forcefully considering that the price of product have direct correlation with the sales of the product. I guess the assumption is flawed.
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   18 Mar 2019, 23:10
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LoneSurvivor wrote:
Skywalker18 wrote:
Though it's too late to answer your query, I think that it can be helpful for someone with the same doubt. :)

The conclusion of the given argument is that Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink. It does not discuss about overall profits of the company and is only concerned about the probability of success of its new drink.


Skywalker18 here in option C we are forcefully considering that the price of product have direct correlation with the sales of the product. I guess the assumption is flawed.


LoneSurvivor,
Knowing that it is three times as expensive is a pretty strong reason why the drink may fail to sell very much although people like its' taste.
None of the other options are better than this one.
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   07 Aug 2019, 07:47
Hey i chose E in this assuming that the sample could have got confused with the name since both are very similar and ended up picking the new one when they wanted to pick the old one. Where am i going wrong ? why cant that be a possible scenario
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Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   07 Aug 2019, 08:03
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Anirudh134 wrote:
Hey i chose E in this assuming that the sample could have got confused with the name since both are very similar and ended up picking the new one when they wanted to pick the old one. Where am i going wrong ? why cant that be a possible scenario


Please note the conclusion:
"Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink." - > that is, the net sales/revenue of the company's product portfolio will increase.
had it been only relevant to "the new product", then your logic would have been perfect.

if you look at option C -> "as any other soft drink on the market" gives a clear indication that no one will possibly buy this new drink.


Cheers ! :)
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Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   07 Aug 2019, 08:11
LoneSurvivor wrote:

Skywalker18 here in option C we are forcefully considering that the price of product have direct correlation with the sales of the product. I guess the assumption is flawed.


In weaken/strengthen problems, you don't validate or destroy the argument.
You just make them more or less likely to be true.

Raise your criteria for elimination while dealing with Assumptions and Flaw questions, reduce it for St/wk questions and reduce it even further for "except" questions.

Cheers ! :)
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   21 Nov 2019, 00:15
Can someone explain why B is not the correct choice ?
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   15 Apr 2020, 04:05
Rumsus wrote:
Can someone explain why B is not the correct choice ?


The argument is centered on the reasoning that "overwhelming preference to the new soft drink over the established brand indicates that there are good chances of commercial success of the new soft drink"

Here you need to weaken this. A possible weakener might be
1. The people in the taste test are not representative of the overall consumers.
2. There can be other factors which author has not taken into account and such factors may come in the way of commercial success. (and this is were correct answer goes in line with our thought)

Option B is not directly affecting the reasoning. The reasoning doesn't depend on whether the established brand is of company X or any other company but does depend on the preference of consumers.
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Re: Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft dri [#permalink] New post   17 Oct 2022, 06:06
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