Logical Reasoning

PT1 · S4 · Q23 Mr. Blatt: Expert consultants

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Mr. Blatt: Expert consultants are sought after by management because they help executives make better decisions.

Curious Fact

Why do executives seek out expensive consultants?

Mr. Blatt's Explanation

Expert consultants are sought after because they help executives make better decisions; that's why they're worth their substantial fees.

Ms. Fring's Explanation

Consultants are hired to enable executives to avoid responsibility. The more expensive the consultant, the more they can be blamed when things go wrong.

Goal

We want an answer to help convince us that executives are seeking out expensive consultants as a way to later blame them if things go wrong.

Or we want to undermine the idea that executives genuinely want the consultants' good ideas / that consultants even offer good ideas.

23.

Which one of the following, if it occurred, would be the strongest evidence favoring Ms. Fring’s position over Mr. Blatt’s position?

A company that is trying
No Impact
This could work with either view. Blatt would say they're paying for good analysis; Fring would say they're paying for someone to blame. This doesn't favor either side.
9% picked this
Two competing companies faced with
No Impact
This only suggests that hiring a consultant might make some difference compared with not hiring a consultant. But we have no insight into the motivation of why one of the companies hired a consultant. Was it to get a good idea or was it to create a scapegoat?
4% picked this
Correct
A successful firm of expert
Why this is right
From this change, it looks like the firm became less desirable when they lowered their prices. Why? Blatt thinks that executives pay high prices because they want good ideas. Are execs now staying away because the lower price point makes them worry there wouldn't be good ideas? No, because it's an already successful firm of experts. People in Blatt's work should be happy to get good ideas at a lower price. But in Fring's world, the expense itself is desirable. "The more it costs, the more they can blame it on the fancy consultant". So in Fring's world, a cheaper consultant is less desirable. Thus this answer fits Fring's world better than Blatt's world.
Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
61% picked this
An expert consultant builds up
Opposite (if anything)
A consultant whose fee is tied to the savings they generate is a results-based pricing model, and so clients who pay this way are paying for results. That's closer to Blatt's "you pay for value" view than Fring's "you pay for blame insurance." If anything, this favors Blatt.
16% picked this
A company follows a consultant’s
No Impact
We could try to stretch this to mean that the ideas offered weren't good ideas, which would feel like it's anti-Blatt. But this is saying "marginally profitable at first". They're still making money, since it IS profitable, and it's just at first. We're talking about new stores. Do you know how many new businesses would be jealous that these new stores are already profitable? It can take years for businesses to start turning a profit. So this doesn't go against Blatt and has nothing to do with Fring. We can't derive any hints that the executives hired the consultant to be a high priced scapegoat.
10% picked this

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