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705-805 Level|   Resolve Paradox|                              
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This question provides a great opportunity to utilize the "tell yourself a story about the question, and put yourself in the middle of it" method—and to consider the IMPLEMENTATION category of assumption.

In this case, imagine that YOU are the veterinarian. You derive some of your income from selling product X—which is NOT sold in supermarkets and pet stores—at your office. Someone offers you some free promotional materials for your clients, representing product Y, which is equal in quality to product X, and IS sold in supermarkets in pet stores.

Why would you not take them up on the offer? After all, product Y is equal in quality to product X, and buying product Y at these locations would be more convenient for your clients, right? Most people go to the supermarket about once a week, but the veterinarian only every few months.

Well, the answer is obvious, right? Because even when they have perfect information, humans rarely act completely altruistically / logically (implementation). You don't think, "oh, these products (Y) are equal to the ones I carry at my office (X), AND more convenient for my clients, so I should send out these materials and let my clients buy product Y elsewhere instead."

Rather, you are likely to push your clients toward your own products—not because these products are better, but because 1) they are not worse, and 2) unlike product Y, which can be bought elsewhere, you derive income from the sales of product X, which is bought in your office. In this case, self-interest (more income) trumps altruism (more convenience for your clients).

Also notice that respective price points for products X and Y are not mentioned here—so cost should be unrelated to the correct answer.

Bonus: a good analogy for this question would be hairstylists and hair products.
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Quote:
­Veterinarians generally derive some of their income from selling several manufacturers' lines of pet-care products. Knowing that pet owners rarely throw away mail from their pet's veterinarian unread, one manufacturer of pet-care products offered free promotional materials on its products to veterinarians for mailing to their clients. Very few veterinarians accepted the offer, however, even though the manufacturer's products are of high quality.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the veterinarians' reaction to the manufacturer's promotional scheme?

(A) Most of the veterinarians to whom the free promotional materials were offered were already selling the manufacturer's pet-care products to their clients.

(B) The special promotional materials were intended as a supplement to the manufacturer's usual promotional activities rather than as a replacement for them.

(C) The manufacturer's products, unlike most equally good competing products sold by veterinarians, are also available in pet stores and in supermarkets.

(D) Many pet owners have begun demanding quality in products they buy for their pets that is as high as that in products they buy for themselves.

(E) Veterinarians sometimes recommend that pet owners use products formulated for people when no suitable product specially formulated for animals is available. 
As a solver, the very first step is to understand what the examiner requires you to do. Clearly, the examiner wants you to select an answer option that most helps to explain the veterinarians' reaction to the manufacturer's promotional scheme. Now that you know what you are supposed to do, you shall figure out the scheme and the reaction of the veterinarians. 

SCHEME: Free promotional materials on its products to veterinarians for mailing to their clients.

REACTION: Very few veterinarians have accepted the offer even though the manufacturer's products are of high quality.

The right answer must actually be stating the reason for a majority of veterinarians rejecting the offer. Also, it is essential to keep in mind that the reaction of the veterinarians has got nothing to do with the quality of the products. When you read the very first sentence of the para, it tells you that ­veterinarians generally derive some of their income from selling several manufacturers' lines of pet-care products. However, the promotional materials in the mentioned scheme are free. This means the right answer must state that the scheme is either going to negatively impact the income of the veterinarians or not going to have any impact at all. Now, you shall eliminate the answer options that do not help explain the reaction. 

 (A) Most of the veterinarians to whom the free promotional materials were offered were already selling the manufacturer's pet-care products to their clients. - If they were already selling the manufacturer's pet care products, why would they now not accept the offer? - ELIMINATE

(B) The special promotional materials were intended as a supplement to the manufacturer's usual promotional activities rather than as a replacement for them. - If they were intended as a supplement, why should the veterinarians reject the offer? - ELIMINATE

(C) The manufacturer's products, unlike most equally good competing products sold by veterinarians, are also available in pet stores and in supermarkets. - HELPS EXPLAIN THE REACTION - If the products are available in pet stores and supermarkets, the customers may actually purchase the products from the pet stores or supermarkets, and their doing so may impact the income of the veterinarians - KEEP

(D) Many pet owners have begun demanding quality in products they buy for their pets that is as high as that in products they buy for themselves. - Not worried about quality since the products are of high-quality anyway - ELIMINATE

(E) Veterinarians sometimes recommend that pet owners use products formulated for people when no suitable product specially formulated for animals is available. - Not worried about what veterinarians SOMETIMES recommend - ELIMINATE

Therefore, C is the right answer. ­
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I am having a reason to not choose option C, i.e. we don't know the price at which the product is being sold that the stores. It can be high or low compared to the sell price of the vet. One of which will lead the vet to accept the offer.(If store price is very high comparatively). Correct me what is wrong here.
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Veterinarians generally derive some of their income from selling several manufacturers' lines of pet-care products. Knowing that pet owners rarely throw away mail from their pet's veterinarian unread, one manufacturer of pet-care products offered free promotional materials on its products to veterinarians for mailing to their clients. Very few veterinarians accepted the offer, however, even though the manufacturer's products are of high quality.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the veterinarian's reaction to the manufacturer's promotional scheme?


(A) Most of the veterinarians to whom the free promotional materials were offered were already selling the manufacturer's pet-care products to their clients.

(B) The special promotional materials were intended as a supplement to the manufacturer's usual promotional activities rather than as a replacement for them.

(C) The manufacturer's products, unlike most equally good competing products sold by veterinarians, are also available in pet stores and in supermarkets.

(D) Many pet owners have begun demanding quality in products they buy for their pets that is as high as that in products they buy for themselves.

(E) Veterinarians sometimes recommend that pet owners use products formulated for people when no suitable product specially formulated for animals is available.


Show SpoilerOfficial Explanation
Pets & Vets

Step 1: Identify the Question

The words helps to explain in the question stem indicates that this is an Explain the Discrepancy question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

Vets get $ from pdts

mnf wants ads for pdt in mail

↑ qual pdt

BUT

vets refuse ads for pdt

Note: pdt stands for product and mnf stands for manufacturer.

Step 3: Pause and State the Goal

On Discrepancy questions, the goal is to find an answer choice that makes the unexpected result less surprising. In this case, why would veterinarians refuse to do something that could increase their profit, especially when the products in question are of high quality?

On Discrepancy questions, the most common trap answer will heighten the discrepancy. This is not the goal. Rather, you are trying to find something that will make the situation less surprising.

Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right

(A) If the veterinarians are selling these products already, then advertising could lead to more sales. This would increase the financial incentive to comply with the manufacturer's request, exacerbating the discrepancy.

(B) More promotional activity is likely to lead to more sales and therefore more profit for the veterinarians. If anything, this makes the discrepancy worse.

(C) CORRECT. If these products are sold in stores, pet owners could opt to buy them in regular stores, not vet offices. This explains why an increase in advertisement might not lead to an increase in profits for the veterinarians, in turn explaining why the vets would refuse to include the advertisements.

(D) The argument indicates that this product is high quality, so it would seem that the veterinarians would want to promote these high-quality products to their customers. If anything, this choice makes the discrepancy worse.

(E) The products in the argument are described as pet-care products. Products made for people are not relevant to this argument.

Evaluation of a Plan

Situation
Veterinarians generally derive some income from selling various manufacturers' pet-care products, but very few veterinarians accepted free promotional materials from one such manufacturer to mail to their clients.

Reasoning
What would most help explain why so few veterinarians accepted the free promotional materials to mail to their clients? The passage says that veterinarians generally derive income from selling pet-care products, which suggests that it should have been in many veterinarians' financial interest to accept and mail out the free promotional materials to increase sales. Any evidence that mailing out these specific promotional materials from this manufacturer would not actually have been in many veterinarians' financial interest could help explain why so few veterinarians accepted the materials.

(A) This suggests that most of the veterinarians should have had a financial interest in accepting and mailing out the promotional materials in order to increase their sales of the manufacturer's products.

(B) Even if the promotional materials supplemented the manufacturer's usual promotional activities, they could still have increased the veterinarians' sales of the manufacturer's products and thus generated more income for the veterinarians.

(C) Correct. If this manufacturer's products are available in pet stores and supermarkets but most other products sold by veterinarians are not, then distributing the manufacturer's promotional materials could have encouraged customers to buy this manufacturer's products from pet stores and supermarkets rather than to buy competing products from the veterinarians. Thus, the veterinarians may have been concerned that the promotions would reduce their profits.

(D) The passage says the manufacturer's products are of high quality, so we have no reason to suppose that clients' demand for quality products would discourage veterinarians from accepting the manufacturer's promotional materials.

(E) Presumably the manufacturer's products are specially formulated for pets, so any products veterinarians recommend only when no specially formulated pet-care products are available would not reduce the veterinarians' interest in promoting the manufacturer's products.


GMAT® Official Guide 2018

Practice Question
Question No.: CR 656
Page: 541


Solution

Passage Analysis

• Veterinarians generally derive some of their income from selling several manufacturers' lines of pet-care products.
o A part of the income of veterinarians in general are from selling pet care products from many manufacturer’s lines.
• Knowing that pet owners rarely throw away mail from their pet's veterinarian unread,
o A manufacturer of pet-care products knows that pet owners seldom throw away their pet’s veterinarian’s mail unread. (i.e. they read it)
• one manufacturer of pet-care products offered free promotional materials on its products to veterinarians for mailing to their clients.
o So, they offered free advertising materials to veterinarians for mailing to their clients.
• Very few veterinarians accepted the offer, however, even though the manufacturer's products are of high quality.
o The offered products are of high quality.
o But not many veterinarians took the offer.


Question Stem Analysis
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the veterinarian's reaction to the manufacturer's promotional scheme?
Even though high-quality materials are offered, veterinarians did not accept the offer. We need to resolve the paradox here.

Prethinking

We need to find some reason that will make the veterinarians reject the offer even though the offered materials were of high quality.
One reason could be that mails are sent only for important purposes and as doctors, the veterinarians stayed away from sending promotional materials/mails in general.
Another reason may be that even though the promotion is done through veterinarians, the product is sold through other channels, thus not benefitting the veterinarians.
With this prethinking in mind, let us check the answer choices.

Answer Choice Analysis

(A) Most of the veterinarians to whom the free promotional materials were offered were already selling the manufacturer's pet-care products to their clients.
INCORRECT
If this statement is true, then the vets will benefit from advertising that manufacturer. This worsens the paradox.

(B) The special promotional materials were intended as a supplement to the manufacturer's usual promotional activities rather than as a replacement for them.
INCORRECT
Whether the materials are a supplement or a replacement for the manufacturer does not impact the veterinarian’s behaviour. Therefore, this is an incorrect answer choice.

(C) The manufacturer's products, unlike most equally good competing products sold by veterinarians, are also available in pet stores and in supermarkets.
CORRECT

If the veterinarians advertise these products through mail, chances are that the pet owners purchase these products from nearby stores, unlike the other products advertised by the vets. Hence, they will not receive the good effect of the promotion. Therefore, this is a valid reason for the behaviour.

(D) Many pet owners have begun demanding quality in products they buy for their pets that is as high as that in products they buy for themselves.
INCORRECT
The promotional materials are of high quality as stated; hence this option aggravates the paradox.


(E) Veterinarians sometimes recommend that pet owners use products formulated for people when no suitable product specially formulated for animals is available.
INCORRECT
This option has nothing to do with the stated paradox. It is completely out of scope.
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raj-boro
I am having a reason to not choose option C, i.e. we don't know the price at which the product is being sold that the stores. It can be high or low compared to the sell price of the vet. One of which will lead the vet to accept the offer.(If store price is very high comparatively). Correct me what is wrong here.
The question is this: "Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the veterinarian's reaction to the manufacturer's promotional scheme?" This is very, very different from, say, "Which of the following PROVES that veterinarians would not benefit from accepting the free promotional materials?"

You've described a scenario in which (C) is true and yet veterinarian's still might benefit from accepting the materials. That would be a reason to eliminate (C) IF we were trying to answer the second question above.

But we are not trying to prove that the materials won't do any good for veterinarians. Instead, we're just looking for the choice that most helps to explain the veterinarian's reaction. Why send out materials that MIGHT encourage clients to shop at the other stores rather than buying competing products at the vet's office?

(C) is a solid reason to turn down the free materials, even if we can come up with scenarios like yours that might counter the vets' thinking. For more on that, check out this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/veterinarians-generally-derive-some-of-their-income-from-selling-sever-242306.html#p2778311.
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Hi GMATNinja
The issue I felt with C is that even if people go and buy from supermarkets, it does not mean the source of income will reduce. It will certainly reduce from what they would have obtained if supermarkets were not available, but it overall if only 10% of the people purchase form the veterinary directly, it will result in an overall increase in income.
I had chosen A since there is no additional income to be derived from the promotion since most doctors are anyway selling the products.
Can you explain if this makes sense and why it might be wrong?

Thanks in advance
GMATNinja
Neelaksh
Hi GMATNinja egmat and experts
I would be really grateful if you could help.

As per the above mentioned explanations, I do understand that "C" is the best answer available BUT from more generalized point of view, is it not wrong to associate assumptions with the options, just as we are doing in this case with "C". for e.g. we are assuming here that (1) people prefer going to pet stores and supermarkets to veterinarians (2) promotional materials are distributed at all levels to attract people (3) even if promotional materials are distributed at all levels, customers would be encouraged to buy it from stores and supermarkets rather than to buy products from veterinarians.

Thanks :)
To conclude that (C) is the correct answer choice, we do not need to assume that people actually WOULD go to other stores rather than buy the products at the veterinary clinic -- we only need to show that this is a possibility that COULD occur, and that therefore (C) provides information that most helps to explain the vets' reaction.

Using POE for the other answer choices (which can be found in the OE and in this post by @CrackVerbalGMAT), it is clear that (C) is the only option that offers a potentially valid reason for veterinarians to refuse the promotional materials. So, we can say that (C) "most helps explain the veterinarians' reaction," even if it is not absolutely certain that people prefer to purchase the products at a pet store.

I hope that helps!
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Option C is the answer

Lets say this manufacturer sends free promotional material to all the veterinarian's clients, and this material is available in malls and other supermarkets-->> now the clients won't come back to the vet to purchase and thus the sales for vet will decrease
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