Leviathan, a company based in the United States, is planning to only

Leviathan, a company based in the United States, is planning to only hire American candidates, trained in marketing and sales, who speak 2 or more languages fluently. The reasoning behind the decision is that these bilingual or multilingual employees will help the company move easily into emerging markets, where English is usually not the first language of consumers.

Which of the following is an assumption of the author?

A Language is the only major obstacle blocking Leviathan from entering emerging markets.


Easily the assumption is that to penetrate the emerging market , the only obstacle is the language otherwise those same hired employees are not on point or i.e. unuseful.

I hope now is more clear.,

I do not think in the actual GMAT Focus we will have such questions. It looks like a questions of 10 years back

Think of it this way:

If I exercise, I will get fit.

Here the assumption is exercising is the only thing stopping me from being fit (wrt the question, exercise is the only entry barrier to fitness). I am not accounting for diet, sleep, stress etc. May be that's already taken care of but that's not mentioned.

Hope it helps!

Pretty straightforward. Although, the correct option might be a bit iffy (considers necessary condition as a sufficient one), but elimination leaves with only one option.:

A Language is the only major obstacle blocking Leviathan from entering emerging markets. Keep As can be seen from the passage, this is clearly the intention behind hiring multilingual candidates, so that company grows market in geographies where English is not the first language.
B Other companies have successfully implemented this strategy in recent years. Eliminated Success of other companies is irrelevant to the subject company (There may be various factors affecting the market expansion), hence this could not have been the assumption for conclusion.
C Many American employees would resist being transferred to emerging markets. Eliminated This is completely out of context. further, there might be no need to transfer employees at all, it may be a BPO type company requiring only internet/telephonic interaction with customers.
D Leviathan would have to provide language courses to its employees to prevent their language skills from becoming atrophied. Eliminated This has not been assumed, as no training related conclusions have been made.
E Leviathan would pay for the cost of transferring American employees to developing countries. Eliminated This is completely out of context. further, there might be no need to transfer employees at all, it may be a BPO type company requiring only internet/telephonic interaction with customers.

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

This is a Supply the Assumption question. The argument is that in order to move easily into emerging markets, where English is not the first language, U.S.-based Leviathan should hire multilingual Americans. The assumption must support or strengthen the plan, as well as fill the gap in the logic. The argument suggests that by hiring multilingual Americans, all the company's problems will be solved in terms of moving into emerging markets. This implies that language is the main impediment to Leviathan's expansion into emerging markets. Therefore, A is correct.

C actually weakens the plan by suggesting some employees would resist the move to emerging markets. And there is no evidence or information to suggest that B, D, or E are necessary or relevant to the argument.