The reason most new ventures fail within a year of their launch is

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



The reason most new ventures fail within a year of their launch is because the founders spend most of their efforts on formulating strategy rather than implementing it.

(A) [The reason . . . is] because the founders spend most of their efforts on formulating strategy rather than [ON]

(B) [The reason . . . is] because the founders are spending most of their efforts towards strategy formulation rather than

(C) that the founders spend most of their efforts on formulating strategy rather than on

(D) that the founders have spent most of their efforts on strategy formulation instead of [on]

(E) that most of the efforts of the founders are spent towards formulating strategy rather than towards[/quote]

• POE

Split #1: Redundancy

The reason . . . is and because are redundant.
Essentially we are saying that, "The reason is the reason."

Options A and B incorrectly state, "The reason . . . is because . . ."
Eliminate A and B

Split #2 - VERB TENSE

The sentence is a statement of general fact. We use present tense to state general facts.

Option D incorrectly states, ". . . .founders have spent. . ."
Eliminate D

• Split #3: ACTIVE v PASSIVE and concision

Compare C and E
E: most of the efforts of the founders are spent
C: founders spend most of their efforts

Passive voice is not automatically wrong. In this case, though, active voice IS better.
in reality, the founders actively do something. That active stance is reflected in C.
Further, option E adds unnecessary prepositional phrases. Option C demonstrates that the unnecessary parts can be avoided.
Option C is more forceful and more concise than option E is.

Eliminate E.

The answer is C

OTHER ISSUES

• IDIOM: spend efforts ON
spend energy ON, spend resources ON, spend time ON [if the time is used to do something]

spend energy towards is not correct in options B and E

• Parallelism
In the construction X rather than Y, the X and Y elements must be parallel.
. . . spend efforts [on formulating] rather than [on implementing]
Spending efforts on X rather than on Y is correct.
Options A and D probably need to repeat the word ON before implementing it.
(I say "probably" because I have a vague memory of an official question without the preposition, but at the moment I do not have time to find it. Eliminate A for redundancy and D for the wrong verb tense. Or compare to C. Neither A nor D is as good as C.)

• INSTEAD OF is okay
Almost always, GMAC prefers rather than to instead of.
Not always. Instead of is a preposition that requires a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.
In option D, instead is followed by a noun phrase.
-- implementing is a gerund (a verbING). The preposition is followed by a noun phrase.

• Notes on redundancy

On the GMAT and in good writing generally, "the reason is" and "because" are redundant.
GMAC prefers concision. "The reason is" and because repeat the same idea.

The reason tells us why something happened.
Because also tells us why something happened.
-- The reason already announces that we are about to hear a causal explanation. Because indicates the same idea.
-- This site, here discusses the construction at issue. Essentially we are saying that "the reason is the reason.”
-- Native speakers frequently use "the reason . . is because" (and "the reason why," which is also redundant) in speech.
GMAC follows the typical rule for formal writing: "because" and "the reason is" are redundant, and concision is important.

Redundancy is not necessarily fatal; make sure a correct answer without redundancy exists.
When redundancy arises, see whether you can find a better answer—one that does not repeat ideas.

-- Takeaway: Compare options. Which is better? Which is worse? Pick the better one.
The reason that he arrived late to the party is because the subway broke down. [WORSE]
He arrived late to the party because the subway broke down. [BETTER]

COMMENTS

utkarshg97 and taniad , welcome.

As always, I am happy to see familiar posters.

Next week I will post Butler questions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

These answers range from very good to outstanding. Everyone gets kudos.