Multiple choice

Directions: The following passage is followed by a question with five options. Choose the best option.

“We must do something about the way we do business in the Power Industry” said the CEO of Enron. “In the last five years of our existence, Enron has not made a single paisa profit despite pumping a couple of hundred million dollars in the business. Every coaching class in the city of Mumbai makes about 10 lakhs of profit in its second year of operation investing less than 1% of that amount”.

The argument of the CEO above can be criticized in all of the following ways EXCEPT that

  1. it introduces an inappropriate analogy

  2. it smacks of unwarranted authority of his being a CEO

  3. it fails to take into account the fact that power companies make huge profit in the later years of existence

  4. it misuses numerical data
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The basic flaw in the argument is unfair comparison i.e. (1), (3) and (4) are specific instances of how the comparison is inappropriate.

However, the CEO is not exercising any of his authority to make that comparison.

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