During economic downturns, small businesses face a difficult balancing act. They need to reduce operating expenses to survive lean periods...
GMAT Expression of Ideas : (Expression) Questions
During economic downturns, small businesses face a difficult balancing act. They need to reduce operating expenses to survive lean periods without cutting so deeply that they compromise their ability to serve customers effectively. _____ many successful small business owners focus on strategic cost reductions, such as renegotiating supplier contracts rather than eliminating essential services.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Therefore,
Nevertheless,
In contrast,
Similarly,
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'During economic downturns, small businesses face a difficult balancing act.' |
|
| 'They need to reduce operating expenses to survive lean periods without cutting so deeply that they compromise their ability to serve customers effectively.' |
|
| '[MISSING TRANSITION]' |
|
| 'many successful small business owners focus on strategic cost reductions, such as renegotiating supplier contracts rather than eliminating essential services.' |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Visual Structure Map: [PROBLEM CONTEXT] Economic downturns create balancing challenge → [PROBLEM DETAILS] Must cut costs but not compromise service → [MISSING CONNECTOR] → [SOLUTION/RESPONSE] Successful owners use strategic cost reductions
Main Point: Small businesses during downturns must carefully balance cost-cutting with service quality, and successful ones achieve this through strategic reductions.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes a challenge (balancing cost cuts with service quality), then shows how successful businesses respond to this challenge with strategic approaches.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The first part presents a problem - businesses face a difficult balancing challenge during downturns
- They need to cut costs but not hurt their service quality
- After the blank, we see what successful businesses actually do - they focus on strategic cost reductions
- The relationship here is logical consequence or result
- The blank should show that the solution (strategic cost reductions) follows logically from the problem described
Therefore,
✓ Correct
- 'Therefore' signals logical consequence - the strategic approach follows logically from the challenge described
- Perfect fit: because businesses face this balancing act, successful ones therefore focus on strategic reductions
Nevertheless,
✗ Incorrect
- 'Nevertheless' indicates contrast or contradiction - suggests the strategic approach goes against what we'd expect
- Wrong relationship: the strategic approach actually makes perfect sense given the challenge
In contrast,
✗ Incorrect
- 'In contrast' signals opposition between two different things
- Wrong relationship: the strategic approach isn't contrasting with the balancing challenge - it's responding to it
Similarly,
✗ Incorrect
- 'Similarly' suggests comparison or parallel situation
- Wrong relationship: we haven't been given another situation to compare to - this is the response to the same situation