Analyst: The pace of technological development brings a

[jagveerbrar]

Hi - I know that I am several years late to this original discussion, but I chose E. Here's why. The argument states that companies should hold off releasing new products until the sales of their old products have slowed. Wouldn't this logic only work if the same people bought products from the same company? For example, let's assume Company A currently has an old product (released and selling) and a new product (unreleased). The only potential downside to releasing the new product would be the potential for it to cannibalize the sales of the current product. IMO, this would only be true if customers were loyal and purchased products from the same company (if consumers did not purchase products from the same company, what is the harm in releasing the new product?).

This is a strengthening the conclusion question. We want a premise that will support the analyst's suggestion that releasing a new product too early may backfire.

Answer choice (E) states that "Consumers tend to be loyal to technology companies whose products they enjoy using." However, loyalty to a company does not necessarily lead to the backfire of strategy.

The argument does not provide additional information about whether the products with respect to same or different companies. You're making additional, unnecessary, and unjustified assumptions to build (E) to strengthen your argument.

Hi,

Is the main assertion of the analyst that the company should delay the announcement or that the announcement may backfire?
If the main assertion is that the company should delay the announcement, then IMO E should be the correct answer. This is because if the customers of the company are not loyal to it then no matter how much the company delays the new announcement, if another company makes a similar announcement the existing customers are likely to switch to the new company and thus the support of delaying the announcement will fall apart.

Please correct me if I have misunderstood something.

Br
Jagveer

[tim]

The author is using the fact that early announcements backfire as evidence to support the conclusion that the company should delay the announcement. So we want to delay the announcement to prevent a backfire, i.e. a drop in sale. Sounds good, right? AS LONG AS that drop in sales actually happens. If media outlets don’t report an announcement (eg. if the company announces the new technology on a bulletin board in their break room but the public doesn’t find out about it), the public won’t have a chance to respond to the announcement. This is why B is the best answer. Your introduction of a new company into the analysis is reading too much into the problem. Customer loyalty itself isn’t going to lead to a drop in sales the way premature media reports will..

[remenyi86]

Aren't you assuming that the only way the media can hear about the release of a new product is if it's directly from the company?

This also seems like an unwarranted assumption.

[jnelson0612]

remenyi, another student asked an identical question on the first page. To address your question, I've quoted the question and Tim's post from the first page. Please read his explanation and let us know if you have further questions.

The student asked:
"Hi,
Isn't the indicated correct choice "B" making the following assumption :
The Media gets its information ONLY from the company and the Customer in turn gets his/her information ONLY from the Media?"

In B, getting information only from the sources you describe is not absolutely necessary. Negating your assertion does not cause the argument to crumble, so your assumption is not absolutely imperative. Take a look at our discussion of the negation technique in our CR book for more on what it takes to make a necessary assumption..

[parthian7]

remenyi, another student asked an identical question on the first page. To address your question, I've quoted the question and Tim's post from the first page. Please read his explanation and let us know if you have further questions.

The student asked:
"Hi,
Isn't the indicated correct choice "B" making the following assumption :
The Media gets its information ONLY from the company and the Customer in turn gets his/her information ONLY from the Media?"

In B, getting information only from the sources you describe is not absolutely necessary. Negating your assertion does not cause the argument to crumble, so your assumption is not absolutely imperative. Take a look at our discussion of the negation technique in our CR book for more on what it takes to make a necessary assumption..

I'm still not convinced. In fact, I think if I look at this questions and the answer choices the way you advocate (which is without any assumptions/outside knowledge), then none of the options are nearly satisfactory.

quoting B:
Media outlets, such as television programs and magazines, often report on the planned introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong.

It's clearly the timing that is focused on here: "while the sales of the old ones are still strong"! simply presented as a fact. It's just talking about a trend within the media, which at best weakens the argument IMO.
What if the media find out about the "planned introduction of new devices" through some other channel than the company itself (which is also not even implied in B as THE source of the news and Tim believes "is not absolutely necessary") and then report on it as they "often" do, "while the sales of the old devices are still strong". Wouldn't that make the company strategy of holding off the announcements less effective to the say the least?

sorry if I'm repeating some of the things that were said before. but this question is really mind boggling. thanks again for your time n effort!

[jnelson0612]

remenyi, another student asked an identical question on the first page. To address your question, I've quoted the question and Tim's post from the first page. Please read his explanation and let us know if you have further questions.

The student asked:
"Hi,
Isn't the indicated correct choice "B" making the following assumption :
The Media gets its information ONLY from the company and the Customer in turn gets his/her information ONLY from the Media?"

In B, getting information only from the sources you describe is not absolutely necessary. Negating your assertion does not cause the argument to crumble, so your assumption is not absolutely imperative. Take a look at our discussion of the negation technique in our CR book for more on what it takes to make a necessary assumption..

I'm still not convinced. In fact, I think if I look at this questions and the answer choices the way you advocate (which is without any assumptions/outside knowledge), then none of the options are nearly satisfactory.

quoting B:
Media outlets, such as television programs and magazines, often report on the planned introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong.

It's clearly the timing that is focused on here: "while the sales of the old ones are still strong"! simply presented as a fact. It's just talking about a trend within the media, which at best weakens the argument IMO.
What if the media find out about the "planned introduction of new devices" through some other channel than the company itself (which is also not even implied in B as THE source of the news and Tim believes "is not absolutely necessary") and then report on it as they "often" do, "while the sales of the old devices are still strong". Wouldn't that make the company strategy of holding off the announcements less effective to the say the least?

sorry if I'm repeating some of the things that were said before. but this question is really mind boggling. thanks again for your time n effort!

parthian, your question does cover some ground that we've covered before in this thread, so let me ask you this . . . which answer choice do you think is better than B? I think that would be a great discussion at this point, and we can compare and contrast answer B and your preferred answer.

[divineacclivity]

You said this is from CAT 1 and I'm assuming you mean our CAT exams. If not, please post the source of this argument.

The conclusion is based upon why the author thinks consumers stop buying the old device: because they have already heard about the new one and are waiting for it to come out.

Answer B explains how consumers might hear about a new device while the old device is still selling well - from the media. If, as the author argues, the company does not release information about its upcoming new product, the media will not have anything to report... and, therefore, the consumers won't know about the new device yet. This supports the author's conclusion that the company should delay the news of new devices - because when the company does announce that info, it will be reported by the media, and consumers will then hear about it.

Answer A may be true in general, but it does not address this particular conclusion - that the company should delay announcements about its new devices until sales of the old one start to decline so that people will still buy the old devices. If anything, an argument can be made that this choice hurts the author's conclusion - if the old and new devices are competing head-to-head in the marketplace and the old device is cheaper (because it has been on the market longer and so has become "less expensive after an initial surge in sales") then it is not a given that consumers will stop buying the old device. The lower price may make it more attractive than the new device at the higher price.

I see your point but the following two things are so contradicting:
1. it should wait until purchases of the old device have begun to decline. - Argument
2. introduction of new
devices while the sales of old devices are still strong - from option B

I chose C which says that the opposite (introduction of old n new technology in parallel would confuse customers and hence could impact sales a confused customer would either delay or not opt for either of the devices if the confusion persists) of the argument is risky for sales, so, it strengthens the argument.

I may be wrong but in one's head it just sounds like the following example:
Argument: A person should open up the parachute when his height is relatively closer to the earth to avoid being lost (ver hypothetical I know but trust me when you're in an exam or a simulation, one would really feel like this one) whereas option B says "open up the parachute when you're still at strong altitudes"
So, on the exam you would just not take this option but go for any other less appropriate options.
I'm not being picky but I was imagining how my thought process would be if I were on the exam with this question.
thanks.

[tim]

you just aren't reading B correctly. B says this is the problem that media companies cause if you make an announcement, and because of that B supports the decision to wait to announce the new product. it sounds like you did not fully internalize the preceding discussion; please go back and read the thread again..

[nksbits]

[b]Media outlets, such as television programs and magazines, often report on the planned introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong.[/b]

AM I the only one who interpreted this as the announcement of new media outlet devices?
If interpreted this way, its contradictory/irrelavant to what is being said in the passage.

[tim]

I don't see how this sentence can possibly be interpreted the way you describe. Take a closer look at the sentence and make sure you understand what all the parts are doing. You certainly cannot process an answer choice using a particular interpretation of a statement if that interpretation is not valid.

[divineacclivity]

I picked C becayse it says: Many consumers are unable to determine whether new technology is superior to current technology & so would happen only if the newer technology is launched/announced soon after the launch of current technology and that is what the analyst tries to say, "Once consumers hear about the new device, they may stop buying the one currently on sale." One reason for customers stop buying the current one is because they're confused between the two.
B: planned introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong
I rejected B altogether because "... while sales of current one are still strong" which contradicts the analysts point: "... purchases of the old device have begun to decline"

Please help me understand the right answer better. Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

I picked C becayse it says: Many consumers are unable to determine whether new technology is superior to current technology & so would happen only if the newer technology is launched/announced soon after the launch of current technology and that is what the analyst tries to say, "Once consumers hear about the new device, they may stop buying the one currently on sale." One reason for customers stop buying the current one is because they're confused between the two.
B: planned introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong
I rejected B altogether because "... while sales of current one are still strong" which contradicts the analysts point: "... purchases of the old device have begun to decline"

Please help me understand the right answer better. Thanks.

The point of choice B is that, if the company announces that a new device is coming, then the press will report on that device while sales are still strong -- i.e., BEFORE the sales have begun to decline.
According to the passage, if consumers hear about the new device, they'll stop buying the current one. It's unlikely that random consumers will hear company announcements, but, if TV shows and magazines announce the device, then the consumers will be more likely to hear about it.
If that's the case, then the company would be best advised to wait until sales are no longer as strong -- i.e., when they have begun to decline -- to make the announcement.

This is basically a restatement of what Stacey wrote in the second post of the thread. Have you read the thread?

[prateek.k.sharma]

I picked C becayse it says: Many consumers are unable to determine whether new technology is superior to current technology & so would happen only if the newer technology is launched/announced soon after the launch of current technology and that is what the analyst tries to say, "Once consumers hear about the new device, they may stop buying the one currently on sale." One reason for customers stop buying the current one is because they're confused between the two.
B: planned introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong
I rejected B altogether because "... while sales of current one are still strong" which contradicts the analysts point: "... purchases of the old device have begun to decline"

Please help me understand the right answer better. Thanks.

The point of choice B is that, if the company announces that a new device is coming, then the press will report on that device while sales are still strong -- i.e., BEFORE the sales have begun to decline.
According to the passage, if consumers hear about the new device, they'll stop buying the current one. It's unlikely that random consumers will hear company announcements, but, if TV shows and magazines announce the device, then the consumers will be more likely to hear about it.
If that's the case, then the company would be best advised to wait until sales are no longer as strong -- i.e., when they have begun to decline -- to make the announcement.

This is basically a restatement of what Stacey wrote in the second post of the thread. Have you read the thread?

Ron,

Doesn't word "often" in option B shows the normal trend of other companies deciding on the introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong. Media outlets are just the source of communication. So, IMO if other companies are very often following this practice, it weakens the author argument. My interpretation could be wrong and need your help to understand it better.

Thanks!!

[RonPurewal]

that doesn't weaken the author's argument. ("everyone else is doing x" is NEVER a valid argument for doing x, unless some sort of collaboration/compatibility with "everyone else" is necessary.)

[Meerak869]

Analyst: The pace of technological development brings a constant stream of new devices to the market, and many of them enjoy commercial success.

But announcing new technology too soon after the introduction of a successful device can backfire.

Once consumers hear about the new device, they may stop buying the one currently on sale.

So, if a company wishes to announce the upcoming sale of a new device, it should wait until purchases of the old device have begun to decline.

I eliminated options to B and E.

B. Media outlets, such as television programs and magazines, often report on the planned introduction of new devices while the sales of old devices are still strong.

This just informs us the way customers get informed of the new products.
But nowhere it says that sales will decline further because of this event.
Even in argument it says that announcement of new technology after the introduction of a successful device can backfire.
It says can but i don't think it is must or will.

E. Consumers tend to be loyal to technology companies whose products they enjoy using.

If customers are not loyal to technology companies then they need not wait until purchases of the old device have begun to decline.
If the customers are loyal then only they will wait since they don't want the sales of their old product to decrease.

I am not able to understand why B is right and E is wrong.