Mall owner: Our mall's occupancy rate is so low that we are barely mak

Question

Mall owner: Our mall's occupancy rate is so low that we are barely making a profit. We cannot raise rents because of unacceptably high risk of losing our tenants. On the other hand, a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there stands empty. Clearly, therefore, to increase profits we must sign up new tenants.

Which of the following, if true, weakens the argument?

(A) The mall's operating costs could be cut by consolidating currently rented spaces in such a way that an entire wing of the mall could be closed up.

(B) The mall is located in a geographic area where the costs for air conditioning in the summers far exceed the cost of heating during the mild winters.

(C) The mall's occupancy rate though low, has been relatively stable during the last few years.

(D) The mall lost tenants as a result of each of the two drastic rent increases that have occurred here.

(E) None of the established tenants is likely to need additional floor space in the near future.

GMATPrep Code : VCR 00379

The conclusion of the argument is that to increase profits, the mall should sign up new tenants. 
We must find something that says that even after the addition of new tenants, the profits will not go up.
 
However, after scanning the answer choices, I could not find any which could weaken this conclusion. However, choice A, an alternate means to achieving this goal is the correct answer.
 
Could you explain why this is so? Clearly this is not a causal argument

egmat · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Narenn has very aptly explained the reason why choice A is the answer. The keyword here is "must" - the conclusion says that there is only way to increase profits i.e. by signing up new tenants. Now, in this case. anything that suggests another way to increase profits would be valid weakener. Option A does the same by focusing on reduction of costs. Another way to weaken is by suggesting a way to increase revenues without signing up new tenants.

The key to solving all CR questions is the ability to fully understand the conclusion of the argument. If you rejected option A because it is presenting an alternate way to achieve the result and the argument is not causal, then you are depending too much on frameworks and rules. You need to think on your feet. Think smartly. Think what exactly the conclusion is saying. The most important word here was "must" and if you had grasped that, the question of rejecting option A would not have arisen.

If the conclusion had been:

We can increase profits by signing up new tenants.

In such a case, option A would not be the correct answer, as my article on Alternate cause explains.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Chiranjeev

Narenn · Answer

While concluding that to increase profits we  must sign  up new tenants, it is assumed that signing new tenants is the only way to increase the profits. To weaken the conclusion we need to attack this assumption. The choice that would suggest any alternate way of increasing profit would be correct.

A) By consolidating rented spaces we can cut down the operating cost, thereby can increase the profit - no matter by what proportion will it be. So this choice is suggesting an alternate way to increase profits. This can undermine the conclusion. CORRECT

B) Cost of air conditioning the mall is more than heating it. Irrelevant. INCORRECT

C) Mall's occupancy rate has been consistently low. Hence minor profit. INCORRECT

D) This choice suggest that you can not increase the profit my increasing the rate but does not suggest any alternate way to do so. INCORRECT

E) Existing tenants will not sign new contracts for additional floor space. Out of Scope. INCORRECT

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

Mall's occupancy rate is low that we are barely making a profit. We cannot raise rents because of unacceptably high risk of losing our tenants. On the other hand,a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there free. Clearly, therefore, to increase profits we must sign up new tenants.
 
Which of the following, if true, weakens the argument:
 
A) The mall's operating costs could be cut by consolidating currently rented spaces in such a way that an entire wing of the mall could be closed up...................... so this option indicates that it is not must to sign up tenants, mall can increase it s profits by decreasing existing costs as well. Thus weakener. 
 
b)The mall is located in a geographic area where the costs for air conditioning in the summers far exceed the cost of heating during the mild winters............. so certain costs cannot be reduced and signing up new tenants is preferred. opposite......i.e., strengthener 
 
C)The mall's occupancy rate though low, has been relatively stable during the last few years............... we need a change or a reason behind the same. This does not affect the conclusion. 
 
D)The mall lost tenants as a result of each of the two drastic rent increases that have occurred here.............. this instance supports the argument info but does not say anything regarding the conclusion. 
 
E)None of the established tenants is likely to need additional floor space in the near future......... floor space is out of concern here.

@p00rv@ · Answer

Can someone help me explain the meaning of "On the other hand,a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there free"??

If a mall is fully occupied how can it have a rental space available at all?

Ekland · Answer

Yes I can.
It means this...
It is the same maintenance cost that you incur if the mall is full that you also going to incur if the mall is not occupied here and there.

Now A said the current occupants could be arranged in such a way that AN ENTIRE WING IS CLOSED UP. Now the here and there problem isn't there anymore. And you don't have to incur any cost on a completely closed up wing. No cleaners. No electricity for it. Water supply etc. You just cut off the cost.
PS: I suggest you face SC section first. Leave CR for now. Come back when you begin to ace SC

Posted from my mobile device

gvvsnraju@12 · Answer

nightblade354  ,  VeritasKarishma 
 
I m unable to decipher the intended meaning of the sentence in the stimulus "On the other hand, a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there stands empty"

Please help me.

Raju

KarishmaB · Answer

Mall owner: Our mall's occupancy rate is so low that we are barely making a profit. We cannot raise rents because of unacceptably high risk of losing our tenants. On the other hand,a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there free. Clearly, therefore, to increase profits we must sign up new tenants.

Occupancy rate is low so profits are low.
Rents cannot be raised because tenants will leave.
Cost does not increase if more tenants come. (cost of running a fully occupied mall is the same as the cost of running a mall with some vacant spaces)

So we should sign up new tenants.

The sentence is considering the cost of the proposal too. If more tenants are signed, cost of running the mall will not increase so we should sign up more tenants.

Raman109 · Answer

Understanding the argument - 
Mall owner: Our mall's occupancy rate is so low that we are barely making a profit. - Fact. 
We cannot raise rents because of unacceptably high risk of losing our tenants. - Fact 
On the other hand, a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there stands empty. - Fact 
Clearly, therefore, to increase profits we must sign up new tenants. - Conclusion. "Must" signifies the minimum or a necessary condition. So the sentence means that "signing up new tenants" is a minimum or necessary condition to increase profits.

Option Elimination - Weaken

(A) The mall's operating costs could be cut by consolidating currently rented spaces in such a way that an entire wing of the mall could be closed up. - This challenges the necessary or a minimum condition or a conclusion in this case. It provides an alternate plan. Ok.

(B) The mall is located in a geographic area where the costs for air conditioning in the summers far exceed the cost of heating during the mild winters. - Out of scope. What is the scope of an argument? To weaken the conclusion, which is "we must sign up new tenants." Is this option in any shape or form related to this conclusion? No.

(C) The mall's occupancy rate though low, has been relatively stable during the last few years. -Out of scope.

(D) The mall lost tenants as a result of each of the two drastic rent increases that have occurred here. - We already know this from an argument that this is not an option. Distortion.

(E) None of the established tenants is likely to need additional floor space in the near future. - What is the scope of an argument? To weaken the conclusion, which is "we must sign up new tenants. Out of scope.

SnorLax_7 · Answer

Hi  KarishmaB   MartyMurray   AnishPassi   ChiranjeevSingh   egmat   GMATNinja

I understood why the option A is correct as its directly attacking the 'necessary conditional conclusion'.

As i know there can be multiple necessary conditions for one goal, so if the option A was framed as - 'one must cut operating costs to increase profits. ' then this option wouldn't be a weakener ? right ? because its just another necessary condition which is not impacting the conclusion(necessary condition given in the arguement).

Kindly can you correct if this reasoning is wrong ?

Thanks !

KarishmaB · Answer

I am not sure I understand your question. The conclusion says "Increasing revenue is necessary to increase profits" (in a way)
Option (A) says that cutting operating costs while keeping revenue same is also possible. Hence increasing revenue is not necessary to increase profits. That is why it weakens the conclusion.

MartyMurray · Answer

Your reasoning is correct. There could be additional conditions that must be met for the mall to be profitable. So, bringing up another condition doesn't weaken the argument.

SnorLax_7 · Answer

Thanks MartyMurray and KarishmaB for the kind responses ! https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=81563 GMAT-Club-Forum-nvur6shb.png

agrasan · Answer

Hi experts  KarishmaB   GMATNinja   MartyMurray 
I got the answer here with correct reasoning, however, wanted to confirm on option B
Option B doesn't matter as we are given as a fact "a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here" so it doesn't matter how much is cost of air conditioning relative to cost of heating as the fact given already comments on total cost to run the mall.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

MartyMurray · Answer

That's a logical way of eliminating (B). It just compares some components of the total that's already mentioned, and it doesn't indicate any way in which the fact it presents could be applied to increasing profits.

MartyMurray · Answer

Mall owner: Our mall's occupancy rate is so low that we are barely making a profit. We cannot raise rents because of unacceptably high risk of losing our tenants. On the other hand, a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there stands empty. Clearly, therefore, to increase profits we must sign up new tenants.

The conclusion of the argument is the following:

Clearly ... to increase profits we must sign up new tenants.

The support for the conclusion is the following:

We cannot raise rents because of unacceptably high risk of losing our tenants.

and

On the other hand, a mall that is fully occupied costs as much to run as one with a rental space here and a rental space there stands empty.

We see that the reasoning of the argument is basically that, since raising rents is not an option and operating a mall with empty spaces interspersed with occupied ones costs just as much as operating a fully occupied mall, the only way to increase profits is to get new tenants.

Which of the following, if true, weakens the argument?

This is a Weaken question, and the correct answer will show that, even though the premises are true, the conclusion may not be.

(A) The mall's operating costs could be cut by consolidating currently rented spaces in such a way that an entire wing of the mall could be closed up.

The premises of the argument are basically that increasing rents is not an option and that operating a mall with empty spaces interspersed with occupied ones costs just as much as operating a fully occupied mall.

So, this choice is interesting because it presents another option, consolidating currently rented spaces in such a way that an entire wing of the mall could be closed up.

The fact that costs could be reduced in that manner weakens the case for the conclusion. After all, in that case, even though the premises are true, it's not true that, to increase profits, the mall must get more tenants.

After all, even without more tenants, if costs are reduced, the mall should earn greater profits.

Keep.

(B) The mall is located in a geographic area where the costs for air conditioning in the summers far exceed the cost of heating during the mild winters.

Although costs and profits are related, this choice does not weaken the case for the conclusion.

After all, to weaken the argument, the correct answer must somehow indicate that it's not the case that the only way to increase profits is to sign up new tenants.

The fact that the costs for air conditioning exceed the cost of heating doesn't indicate anything about how the mall could increase profits. After all, presumably, profitable operation of the mall requires air conditioning and heating.

So, since this choice doesn't indicate that there's a way to reduce the costs of air conditioning and heating, the information provided by this choice has no effect on the strength of the argument.

Eliminate.

(C) The mall's occupancy rate though low, has been relatively stable during the last few years.

This choice mentions a positive aspect of the mall's operation: occupancy has been stable.

At the same time, the conclusion we need to cast doubt on is not that the mall's situation is all bad. It's specifically that, to increase profits, the mall must get new tenants.

The fact that the occupancy has been stable does not mean that there's any way other than getting new tenants to increase profits.

Eliminate.

(D) The mall lost tenants as a result of each of the two drastic rent increases that have occurred here.

If anything, this choice helps to confirm the premise of the argument that "we cannot raise rents."

A choice that confirms a premise of the argument is in line with, rather than weakens, the argument.

Eliminate.

(E) None of the established tenants is likely to need additional floor space in the near future.

This choice strengthens, rather than weakens, the argument.

After all, if none of the established tenants is likely to need additional floor space in the near future, then the mall cannot increase profits by renting additional floor space to established tenants.

So, this choice provides additional confirmation for the conclusion that "to increase profits, we must sign up new tenants."

Eliminate.

Correct answer:   A

VerbalBot · Answer

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Mall owner: Our mall's occupancy rate is so low that we are barely mak

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