Self-study
Early in the development of a new product line, the critical resource is talent. ███ █████████ ████████ ███████ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████████████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ████████████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ █ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes companies should assign their best managers to development projects. Why? Because talented managers are typically assigned to established projects, causing new product lines—which require talent to market—to fail most of the time.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes assigning talented managers to development projects would create a net benefit to companies. This means assuming talented managers would increase the chances new projects succeed, and that the consequent benefit would outweigh any harm caused by removing skilled managers from established project lines.
8.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████ █████████
a
On average, new ████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ █████████████ █████████
This weakens the argument. It suggests assigning talented managers to new products would not make those products more successful on average.
b
For most established ██████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ █ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ████████████
If anything, this weakens the argument. It suggests new product lines are a small part of a company’s overall plan, which means assigning talented managers to those projects carries a larger risk.
c
The more talented █ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █ ███ ███████ █████
If anything, this weakens the argument. It suggests assigning managers to new product lines will result in more of a company’s talented managers working on projects they’re disinterested in.
d
The current revenue ███ █████████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████
This supports the author’s recommendation by ruling out a possible problem. It suggests removing talented managers from established product lines will not substantially harm those product lines.
e
Early short-term revenue █████████ ██ █ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ █ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █ ███████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███
This is irrelevant. The author doesn’t suggest experienced managers be assigned at a particular point in a new product’s development, nor does he suggest early revenue prospects are determined by managerial performance.