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jamifahad
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 06 Sep 2011, 05:34
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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77% (01:45) correct 23% (02:05) wrong based on 894 sessions

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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit on staples rather than on the staplers themselves. The Office Supply Company, which cannot sell its staples as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept a newly designed Office Supply Company staple, which will be sold at the same price as the Office Supply Company's current staple.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Office Supply Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of staples?

A. First-time buyers of staplers tend to buy the least expensive staplers available.
B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years.
C. An Office Supply Company cost analyst is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing staples.
D. A competing manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a stapler that would accept only the staple produced by that manufacturer.
E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.

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I do not agree with OA but then again this question shows we need to pick "best" answer among the answer choices.
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E
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 06 Sep 2011, 05:54
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jamifahad

I do not agree with OA but then again this question shows we need to pick "best" answer among the answer choices.
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Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Office Supply Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of staples?

E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.

Well the new stapler will only work with newly designed office supply staple. The new stapler as pointed in E has been found to be of NOTICEABLY SUPERIOR quality by stapler users. so the new stapler will have a great demand. But to use this stapler one will need to buy the newly designed staples too. so even the sale of newly designed staple will increase, and that is exactly the intent of the Office Supply Company. so E bolsters the plans of the company. Why don't you agree with the OA ?
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 06 Sep 2011, 06:09
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jamifahad
E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.
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Aren't we making assumption here that users who find new staplers of superior quality will eventually buy them on merit of their quality only? What if they are cost-conscience?
The reason i am not agreeing with OA is because if OA is correct then according to that reasoning, answer B
jamifahad
B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years.
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should hold good. Stapler sales will increase so will the sales of staple.


Noticeably, Knewton got noticably wrong. :lol:
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit Updated on: 06 Sep 2011, 07:24
Originally posted by Aj85 on 06 Sep 2011, 06:34.
Last edited by Aj85 on 06 Sep 2011, 07:24, edited 1 time in total.
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jamifahad
E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.

Aren't we making assumption here that users who find new staplers of superior quality will eventually buy them on merit of their quality only? What if they are cost-conscience?
The reason i am not agreeing with OA is because if OA is correct then according to that reasoning, answer B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years. should hold good. Stapler sales will increase so will the sales of staple.
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In strengthen and weaken questions we are permitted to rely on outside infos and make them additional premises unless they dont contradict with original premises. 'Which of the following, if true' tells us this additional info of users finding the newly modelled staplers superior can be taken as true and also this additional premise contradicts nowhere with original premises. so we can take it as true.

option (B) tells us that the industry sales will increase. Industry sales will increase does not makes it evident that 'this' company's sales will increase too. After all the company right now cannot sale its product as cheaply as other companies and has not got any quality advantage. from original premises we do not know about quality of this newly developed stapler or staple and so we cannot predict that just making a new product the sales increase are guaranteed. the new product may be even less effective than present product of Office Supply Company. ONLY E points out that the new product has quality advantage.



jamifahad


Noticeably, Knewton got noticably wrong. :lol:
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[/quote]

noticeably I wish I had spell checker in AWA too :)
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 06 Sep 2011, 06:49
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From my POV OA is B not E because marketing team has found that people like stappler but that diesnt mean they will buy also, might be because of cost or other factor.
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 06 Sep 2011, 08:14
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jamifahad
Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit on staples rather than on the staplers themselves. The Office Supply Company, which cannot sell its staples as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept a newly designed Office Supply Company staple, which will be sold at the same price as the Office Supply Company's current staple.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Office Supply Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of staples?

A. First-time buyers of staplers tend to buy the least expensive staplers available.
Perhaps the newly designed stapler is one the most expensive staplers. Also, the sales don't bank on the first time buyers alone.

B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years.
Annual sales of staplers in the entire stapler industry and not in Office Supply Company(OSC) alone will double. This doesn't mean those sales will include majority of the OSC's staplers.

C. An Office Supply Company cost analyst is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing staples.
Yeah, and the other companies' cost analysts are sleeping. Studying doesn't mean implementing perfectly. Also, the case in point is to make the new design work for the sales, not cost cutting by using cheaper manufacturing methodologies. Way out of scope.

D. A competing manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a stapler that would accept only the staple produced by that manufacturer.
Perhaps the sales of its current staples are due to some advantage of its own staples over those produced by its competitor. Thus, the plan of creating a newly designed stapler is not ill-conceived. This plan may work just good enough to safeguard its sales to a degree once its competitor switch the design, yet it won't guarantee an increase in its sales. The sales can go either way if such a thing happens. Inconclusive.

E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.
This at least gives us a reason to consider that people may switch or buy its new staplers and obviously its staples. Let's say this is the best among the lot. It at least talks about the advantage of its new design. Correct.

I do not agree with OA but then again this question shows we need to pick "best" answer among the answer choices.
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Ans: "E"
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 28 Dec 2011, 09:01
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E is clearly the best answer here. Others are pretty much out of scope.
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 31 Dec 2011, 03:05
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E.In testing it is proved that the company's stapler is superior to the rest in market hence it will sell but there is no connection to staples in this option....?
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 01 Jul 2015, 00:05
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jamifahad
Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit on staples rather than on the staplers themselves. The Office Supply Company, which cannot sell its staples as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept a newly designed Office Supply Company staple, which will be sold at the same price as the Office Supply Company's current staple.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Office Supply Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of staples?

A. First-time buyers of staplers tend to buy the least expensive staplers available.
B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years.
C. An Office Supply Company cost analyst is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing staples.
D. A competing manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a stapler that would accept only the staple produced by that manufacturer.
E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.

I do not agree with OA but then again this question shows we need to pick "best" answer among the answer choices.
Show more

Responding to a pm:

There is no ambiguity in this question. The answer is definitely (E).

Manufacturers make the majority of their profit on staples not staplers.
The Office Supply Company, with expensive staples plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept its own new stapler with same cost as market.

Don't you see a flaw in their plan?

Why will anyone buy their stapler in the first place then? It is the same cost as others but takes only one kind of expensive staples. There has to be something only it will do for which there is a market. It doesn't matter how much the demand for staplers will increase. Why will anyone buy it. Wouldn't they prefer to buy the current ones which can take any cheap staples?

Choice (E) tells you why. The new staplers are superior to the current staplers. This could be a reason why people might buy it despite the more expensive staples. No other option gives you a reason to believe that the company's plan might succeed.
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 16 Nov 2015, 02:47
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jamifahad
Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit on staples rather than on the staplers themselves. The Office Supply Company, which cannot sell its staples as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept a newly designed Office Supply Company staple, which will be sold at the same price as the Office Supply Company's current staple.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Office Supply Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of staples?

A. First-time buyers of staplers tend to buy the least expensive staplers available.
B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years.
C. An Office Supply Company cost analyst is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing staples.
D. A competing manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a stapler that would accept only the staple produced by that manufacturer.
E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.

I do not agree with OA but then again this question shows we need to pick "best" answer among the answer choices.

Responding to a pm:

There is no ambiguity in this question. The answer is definitely (E).

Manufacturers make the majority of their profit on staples not staplers.
The Office Supply Company, with expensive staples plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept its own new stapler with same cost as market.

Don't you see a flaw in their plan?

Why will anyone buy their stapler in the first place then? It is the same cost as others but takes only one kind of expensive staples. There has to be something only it will do for which there is a market. It doesn't matter how much the demand for staplers will increase. Why will anyone buy it. Wouldn't they prefer to buy the current ones which can take any cheap staples?

Choice (E) tells you why. The new staplers are superior to the current staplers. This could be a reason why people might buy it despite the more expensive staples. No other option gives you a reason to believe that the company's plan might succeed.
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Then why not C is the answer for this question. If we reduce teh cost, the whole solution becomes more applealing and hence more sales?
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 31 Mar 2016, 11:44
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If an user find the new company's stapler superior then s/he will buy the stapler from same company and it will lead to the success of company's plan.
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 31 Mar 2016, 22:22
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jamifahad
Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit on staples rather than on the staplers themselves. The Office Supply Company, which cannot sell its staples as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept a newly designed Office Supply Company staple, which will be sold at the same price as the Office Supply Company's current staple.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Office Supply Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of staples?

A. First-time buyers of staplers tend to buy the least expensive staplers available.
B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years.
C. An Office Supply Company cost analyst is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing staples.
D. A competing manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a stapler that would accept only the staple produced by that manufacturer.
E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.

I do not agree with OA but then again this question shows we need to pick "best" answer among the answer choices.

Responding to a pm:

There is no ambiguity in this question. The answer is definitely (E).

Manufacturers make the majority of their profit on staples not staplers.
The Office Supply Company, with expensive staples plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept its own new stapler with same cost as market.

Don't you see a flaw in their plan?

Why will anyone buy their stapler in the first place then? It is the same cost as others but takes only one kind of expensive staples. There has to be something only it will do for which there is a market. It doesn't matter how much the demand for staplers will increase. Why will anyone buy it. Wouldn't they prefer to buy the current ones which can take any cheap staples?

Choice (E) tells you why. The new staplers are superior to the current staplers. This could be a reason why people might buy it despite the more expensive staples. No other option gives you a reason to believe that the company's plan might succeed.


Then why not C is the answer for this question. If we reduce teh cost, the whole solution becomes more applealing and hence more sales?
Show more

(C) An Office Supply Company cost analyst is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing staples.

This is irrelevant to our question.

The plan is to make new staplers which will only accept our expensive staples. We need to show why it may work.
An analyst studying ways to reduce the cost doesn't mean that she will be able to find a way.
IF she is able to find a way to reduce manufacture costs of staples, it doesn't mean it will be implemented. And even if it is implemented, this changes our plan. Then, there will be a new plan.

We have to support why this plan will work. (E) does that. IF staplers are superior, people may want to buy them and then be forced to buy the expensive staples.
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 09 Apr 2016, 14:11
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options b,c,d are out of scope options.option a is actually a weak weakener.So correct answer -E
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 16 Jun 2017, 04:47
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jamifahad
Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit on staples rather than on the staplers themselves. The Office Supply Company, which cannot sell its staples as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its stapler so that it will only accept a newly designed Office Supply Company staple, which will be sold at the same price as the Office Supply Company's current staple.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Office Supply Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of staples?

A. First-time buyers of staplers tend to buy the least expensive staplers available.
B. Annual sales of staplers are expected to double over the next three years.
C. An Office Supply Company cost analyst is studying ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing staples.
D. A competing manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a stapler that would accept only the staple produced by that manufacturer.
E. In extensive test marketing, stapler users found the new Office Supply Company stapler to be noticably superior to other staplers they had used.

I do not agree with OA but then again this question shows we need to pick "best" answer among the answer choices.
Show more

This is a ditto copy of another official questions :
https://gmatclub.com/forum/manufacturers-of-mechanical-pencils-make-most-of-the-profit-49439.html#p1870812

My understanding :
https://gmatclub.com/forum/manufacturers-of-mechanical-pencils-make-most-of-the-profit-49439.html#p1870812
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Manufacturers of staplers make the majority of their profit 03 Feb 2026, 23:34
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