Among the one hundred most profitable companies

I cannot elaborate C or D. Both seem correct, right?

Yeah! I see. Good explanation. Thanks a lot ~.~

Official answer by VeritasPrep:

Choice A is incorrect because it goes beyond the scope of the given information. You are only told that some companies on the list are socially responsible and others are not, but you cannot make an inference about the average profitability.

Choice B also goes beyond the scope of the given information, as there is no evidence in the argument about consumer preference.

Choice C is very close to being correct, but for the word "any." The prompt does logically lead to the idea that some companies can be both socially responsible and profitable, but that may not be true for any company. Think of a hypothetical like a company in a very low-margin, high-volume industry. Such a company might not be able to remain profitable while sacrificing that preciously-thin margin on responsible employment or environmental practices.

The correct answer is D. Because many of the companies on the "most profitable" list are not considered socially responsible, those companies are proof that a company does not have to be socially responsible to be profitable.

And choice E is "probably" true but cannot be concluded based on the premises. All you know is that some socially responsible companies are considered very profitable; you do not know from the premises about any company that is not on the most-profitable list.

solution:

Among the one hundred most profitable companies in the United States, nearly half qualify as “socially responsible companies,” including seven of the top ten most profitable on that list. This designation means that these companies donate a significant portion of their revenues to charity; that they adhere to all relevant environmental and product safety standards; and that their hiring and employment policies encourage commitments to diversity, gender pay equality, and work-life balance.
understand:
1. 100 most profitable comapanies (MPC) >> almost 50 of 100 socially responsible
2. 7 of top 10 of MPC - socially responisble\
3.socially responsible :
a) donate significant rev
b) comply with rules
c) hiring and emp unbiased diverse and bla bla

question:
Which of the following conclusions can be drawn based on the statements above?
- inference (NOT MUST BE TRUE. )

possible inferences:
addition of premises :
we re given that some MPC are profitable and Socially resp. so bascically a comapny CAN be both profitable and socially resp given that the comap donates, adheres and bla bla bla which may seem to affect the profits of comapny
1st inference: a comapny can be profitable , even though it is SR

we are also told some of the MPCs are not SR but still profitable:
2nd inference - to be SRis not a requirement to be profitable



A) Socially responsible companies are, on average, more profitable than other companies.
: do we know anything about OTHER companies? nope. Also, we have too little data to calculate AVERAGE

B) Consumers prefer to purchase products from socially responsible companies.
Consumer preference is not discussed

C) It is possible for any company to be both socially responsible and profitable.
ANY COMPANY? cannot say this . can be impossible to some comapnies.

D) Companies do not have to be socially responsible in order to be profitable.
CORRECT: inference 2

E) Not all socially responsible companies are profitable.
we are just talking about MOST profitable (this is group does not include ALL profitables) . cannot infer.

great question - chose D in 1:50

C is wrong because it mentions "any" company, which is not a feasible conclusion based on the argument. D is completely supported and the best choice.

Yes !

Had option (C) been phrased like this
C) It is possible for a (any) company to be both socially responsible and profitable.
there would have been change in meaning and it would have been perfect, "any" changes many things