RC: Like many other industries, the travel industry is under

[Khush]

Like many other industries, the travel industry is under increasing pressure to expand globally in order to keep pace with its corporate customers, who have globalized their operations in response to market pressure, competitor actions, and changing supplier relations. But it is difficult for service organizations to globalize. Global expansion through acquisition is usually expensive, and expansion through internal growth is time-consuming and sometimes impossible in markets that are not actively growing. Some service industry companies, in fact, regard these traditional routes to global expansion as inappropriate for service industries because of their special need to preserve local responsiveness through local presence and expertise. One travel agency has eschewed the traditional route altogether. A survivor of the changes that swept the travel industry as a result of the deregulation of the airlines in 1978"”changes that included dramatic growth in the corporate demand for travel services, as well as extensive restructuring and consolidation within the travel industry"”this agency adopted a unique structure for globalization. Rather than expand by attempting to develop its own offices abroad, which would require the development of local travel management expertise sufficient to capture foreign markets, the company solved its globalization dilemma effectively by forging alliances with the best foreign partners it could find. The resulting cooperative alliance of independent agencies now comprises 32 partners spanning 37 countries.

The passage suggests that one of the effects of the deregulation of the airlines was
A. a decline in the services available to noncommercial travelers
B. a decrease in the size of the corporate travel market
C. a sharp increase in the number of cooperative alliances among travel agencies
D. increased competition in a number of different service industries
E. the merging of some companies within the travel industry

OA: E

I just want to make sure that my reasoning below is correct for each answer choice. Please help me out.

A: "service to non-commercial travelers" is not mentioned in the passage

B: I had this as one of the contenders. This is an opposite answer.
Passage says "changes that included dramatic growth in the corporate demand for travel services"
Since heavy increase in corporate demand does not necessarily mean a decrease in the size of the market, i rejected this choice.

C: This was another contender.
Passage does discuss this as a result of an unique attempt of a specific travel agency that survived the changes brought in by the deregulation of airlines and not as a result of the deregulation of airlines itself.

D: This cannot be inferred from the information given in the passage.

Even though we consider this , it will not be a result of "deregulation of the airlines", rather a result of unique globalization strategy of a specific travel agency that survived the deregulation.

E: In initial reading, i had rejected this choice as i thought "merging" is not the same thing as "consolidation"

Then read again:
Passage says "changes that included dramatic growth in the corporate demand for travel services, as well as extensive restructuring and consolidation within the travel industry "
As "restructuring" may be referred to as "merging", i chose D.

The above was also one of the reasons i had a doubt that choice B is the right answer. Consolidation may mean decrease in size. However, it may not be correct always. Hence rejected B.

[RonPurewal]

A and D are invented by pure magic; the passage contains nothing that even resembles evidence for either of them.

Both B and C directly contradict the text.
* B says that there was a "decrease" in a market where, according to the text, there was "dramatic growth".
* "Unique" means "one of a kind". If choice C were true, then "unique" would be a lie.

I'm surprised to see not just one, but TWO wrong answers that say exactly the opposite of what's in the text. The wrong answers are usually just irrelevant, or else they misquote information that's there. It's strange to see choices saying "not X" for a passage that says "X".

[RonPurewal]

This potentially worries me:

B: I had this as one of the contenders. This is an opposite answer.

I hope this means "I thought this might have been a thing, UNTIL I realized it was exactly the opposite of what I wanted." If so, that's fine.

I hope it doesn't mean "Even after realizing it was not-X when I wanted X, I still viewed it as a 'contender' simply because it wasn't completely irrelevant."

[RonPurewal]

E: In initial reading, i had rejected this choice as i thought "merging" is not the same thing as "consolidation"

"Merging" and "consolidation" are identical. Take heretofore separate things; combine them.

As "restructuring" may be referred to as "merging"

Nope. "Restructuring" = take one thing, and change its structure. Unrelated to merging.

(In the U.S., "restructuring" is also a euphemism for bankruptcy, but you obviously won't be expected to know that.)

[Khush]

This potentially worries me:

B: I had this as one of the contenders. This is an opposite answer.

I hope this means "I thought this might have been a thing, UNTIL I realized it was exactly the opposite of what I wanted." If so, that's fine.

yes Ron. This is what i mean.

[Khush]

E: In initial reading, i had rejected this choice as i thought "merging" is not the same thing as "consolidation"

"Merging" and "consolidation" are identical. Take heretofore separate things; combine them.

As "restructuring" may be referred to as "merging"

Nope. "Restructuring" = take one thing, and change its structure. Unrelated to merging.

(In the U.S., "restructuring" is also a euphemism for bankruptcy, but you obviously won't be expected to know that.)

Thank you for clarifying Ron!

[RonPurewal]

Sure.

[samwong]

The author discusses a particular travel agency in the passage most likely in order to
(A) provide evidence of the pressures on the travel industry to globalize
(B) demonstrate the limitations of the traditional routes to global expansion
(C) illustrate an unusual approach to globalizing a service organization
(D) highlight the difficulties confronting travel agencies that attempt to globalize
(E) underscore the differences between the service industry and other industries

The official answer is C.

From my understanding of the passage, travel industry and service industry are two different types of company. So when the passage mention how a travel industry use a method to avoid the traditional routes, I thought the author is using that as an example to show how the travel industry is different from service industry. Hence, I picked E.

The correct answer, C, seems to suggest that travel industry and service industry are the same type of company.

I get a little nervous in RC Purpose questions. I'm not a good mind reader :) How do I know know why the author mention a particular word or concept in the passage? What is the best approach to this type of problem?

Thank you.

[jnelson0612]

The author discusses a particular travel agency in the passage most likely in order to
(A) provide evidence of the pressures on the travel industry to globalize
(B) demonstrate the limitations of the traditional routes to global expansion
(C) illustrate an unusual approach to globalizing a service organization
(D) highlight the difficulties confronting travel agencies that attempt to globalize
(E) underscore the differences between the service industry and other industries

The official answer is C.

From my understanding of the passage, travel industry and service industry are two different types of company. So when the passage mention how a travel industry use a method to avoid the traditional routes, I thought the author is using that as an example to show how the travel industry is different from service industry. Hence, I picked E.

The correct answer, C, seems to suggest that travel industry and service industry are the same type of company.

I get a little nervous in RC Purpose questions. I'm not a good mind reader :) How do I know know why the author mention a particular word or concept in the passage? What is the best approach to this type of problem?

Thank you.

The best way to handle something like this is to just sum up in your mind what is going on.

Here's what I would say to myself:
--a lot of companies/industries have gone global to keep up with demand and effectively compete with competitors
--this is very hard for the service industry to do
--the travel industry is part of the service industry, so thus, it is hard for the travel industry to go global
--there are some possible ways for the travel industry to go global but they are expensive or too difficult
--one successful way was done by a company and involved partnering with other travel companies in other locations

So why does the author tell me about the successful way? To just provide an example of how globalization can be done in the travel industry. Let me eliminate answers and I'll pretty quickly see that the answer is C.

This is the best advice I can give when it comes to why an author does something: resummarize the passage and then look at what an author is doing by including some particular piece of information.

I do think that it's important to realize that the travel industry is part of the service industry to be able to understand this whole thing.