A local coffee shop chain expanded to 15 locations throughout the metropolitan area last year, with each new location maintaining...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
A local coffee shop chain expanded to 15 locations throughout the metropolitan area last year, with each new location maintaining standard operating hours and menu offerings. The company's annual report highlighted the successful opening of all planned locations on schedule. Nevertheless, a business analyst argues that the chain's community impact cannot be evaluated solely by counting the number of locations opened.
Which observation would best support the analyst's argument?
Each new location required hiring and training approximately 12 local employees.
Several locations became regular meeting spaces for local community groups and small business owners.
The company sourced coffee beans exclusively from fair-trade certified farms.
All locations featured identical interior design and branding elements.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'A local coffee shop chain expanded to 15 locations throughout the metropolitan area last year, with each new location maintaining standard operating hours and menu offerings.' |
|
| 'The company's annual report highlighted the successful opening of all planned locations on schedule.' |
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| 'Nevertheless, a business analyst argues that the chain's community impact cannot be evaluated solely by counting the number of locations opened.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: While a coffee chain successfully expanded to 15 locations, an analyst argues that community impact cannot be measured simply by counting the number of locations opened.
Argument Flow: The passage presents a company's expansion success story based on meeting numerical goals, then introduces an analyst who challenges this narrow measure of success. The tension lies between quantitative metrics (number of locations) versus qualitative community impact assessment.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? Which observation would provide the strongest evidence to support the analyst's position.
What type of answer do we need? Evidence that demonstrates community impact involves more than just counting locations - something that shows the difference between quantity and quality of impact.
Any limiting keywords? 'Best support' means we need the most compelling evidence for the analyst's argument.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The analyst argues that counting locations doesn't capture community impact
- The correct answer should show us something about community impact that goes beyond just having X number of stores
- We need evidence that demonstrates actual community engagement, relationships, or meaningful local effects that wouldn't be captured by simply counting how many locations exist
Each new location required hiring and training approximately 12 local employees.
- This focuses on job creation numbers - still a quantitative measure
- While hiring local employees has community impact, it's another way of counting
- Doesn't challenge the analyst's concern about numerical evaluation methods
Several locations became regular meeting spaces for local community groups and small business owners.
- Shows locations serving as community gathering spaces - this is qualitative impact
- Demonstrates community engagement that can't be captured by just counting locations
- Perfectly supports the analyst's point that real community impact involves how businesses function within communities, not just their number
The company sourced coffee beans exclusively from fair-trade certified farms.
- Fair-trade sourcing is about supply chain ethics, not local community impact
- This doesn't address the relationship between the locations and their immediate communities
All locations featured identical interior design and branding elements.
- Identical design actually supports the company's standardized approach
- This reinforces the idea that locations can be counted as equivalent units