Cross-border collaboration is experiencing a modest

Cross-border collaboration is experiencing a modest renaissance among smaller international oil cartels based in South America, even if business from a joint venture by several cartels is less brisk and profitable than by a monopoly. One upside of international cooperation is that a combined effort may allow these cartels to jointly win government subsidies in overseas markets where they would not have been able to operate.

Which of the following statements by a South American cartel accountant best fits the situation of South American cartels as described in the passage above?

A. “We would rather earn better percentage of a modest profit than zero percent of a potentially larger profit.”

B. “Our management believes that it is in the best interests of investors that we earn only a percentage of total profits and risk only a percentage of possible losses rather than assuming the entire risk of loss.”

C. “We should cooperate and build goodwill, rather than turn customers against us with unsupervised competition.”

D. “We would prefer to have Middle Eastern cartels work with us here in South America rather than having to participate in joint ventures in their home countries.”

E. “We would rather use our full resources to penetrate a territory than receive lesser profits in joint ventures.”