Brand management in the personal care industry, like any industry, is

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION





THE PROMPT

Meaning?
The sentence defines what "brand management" is.
→ Essentially, brand management [u]is "the art of defining" how consumers perceive both the product line and the company.

The sentence also sets up a comparison: the options use like, similar to, or as in, all of which are comparison markers.

Comparisons must be logical and parallel.
→ Options A, B, and C are not comparing logically parallel things.
→ Options D and E solve the comparison problem by using as to compare how brand management is in one industry to how brand management is in any industry.
Something else is wrong in option D.

• Brand management should logically be compared to some kind of management, but instead, brand management is compared to any industry.
• Not parallel.
Eliminate option A.

• (B) substitutes similar to for like but still does not compare management to management.
• the phrase similar to how any industry does it is clunky and inelegant.
• the "how" clause may sound like a parallel comparison, but it is not
→ jargon: how any industry does it is called a nominal or substantive clause (and sometimes a noun clause)
-- the whole thing is noun despite its having subject and a verb
-- the "how" clause is not clean parallelism because what brand management consists of and how brand management is done (is executed) are not the same thing
• If you are worried, keep B and compare to E. Option B is inferior to E. OR
ELIMINATE B

• (C) starts with like as (A) does, but (C) solves the comparison problem by inserting the term
"brand management" into the second part of the comparison.
However, when one thing IS another noun, the two things must be expressed in parallel form.

Brand management and the artistic defining are not parallel.
→ The first, management, is a dedicated noun. The second, defining, is a gerund [a verbING].Finally,
ELIMINATE C

• As mentioned, Options D and E solve the comparison problem by using as to compare how brand management is in one industry to how brand management is in any industry.
• However, option D breaks parallelism after the comma because it states, "brand management . . . is artfully defining."
→ Brand management" is a regular (dedicated) noun whereas defining is a verbal (an ___ING word) acting as a noun.
GMAC prefers dedicated nouns if possible.
KEEP but compare carefully to (E).

• Option E uses the same noun form in both parts of the linking verb structure (IS): brand management . . . is the art of ...
• Management and art are the same kind of noun.

Option E is the best answer.

COMMENTS

I wrote what's below in the OE for today's other question.
In English, when a Very Large and Uncomfortable Topic is hanging around and not being discussed, we say that there is "an elephant in the room."

I think this one is bigger than an elephant.
More like a brontosaurus.
Wait. I like that kind of dinosaur.
How about a pterodactyl or T-Rex?

Many (most?) of us are under quarantine or stay-in-place orders because COVID-19 is on a rampage.

So I thought I'd include something to balance the scales just a little and more importantly, to say thank you.

It is good to remember that even a lethal virus is no match for the human spirit—or at least for the human spirit that rallies by conscious choice rather than by political calculation.

I'm fairly sure that Spain was the first country whose citizens decided to go outside on their balconies at 8 p.m. each night.

The Spaniards bang pots and pans.
They clap.
And they shout "¡Viva los médicos!" [Long live the doctors!]
Other countries followed suit.
Take a look at this short clip, here.

To anyone, anywhere, who is helping:
Thank you.

Be safe, everyone.