Which country enjoyed a competitive advantage in the automobile industry for…

Concept

Literal-comprehension questions are answered by matching the subject and all qualifying words in the question to an explicit statement in the passage.

Time expressions such as ‘for decades’ and scope terms such as ‘automobile industry’ must both agree; later events should not be substituted for the earlier period asked about.

Application

The passage states that, for decades, the relatively low cost and high quality of Japanese workers created a competitive advantage in durable-goods industries, explicitly including automobiles. Therefore, the country described for that period is Japan.

Contrast

• South Korea is introduced only after the passage says that labour-based advantages shifted away from the earlier Japanese phase.

• Malaysia is named as a later destination in the sequence of shifting labour-based advantages.

• Mexico is also grouped among the later destinations of the labour-based shift.

Cross-check

The transition word ‘Then’ separates South Korea, Malaysia, and Mexico from the preceding decades-long advantage associated with Japanese workers. This confirms that the time-qualified answer is Japan.

Result

Japan enjoyed the stated competitive advantage in the automobile industry for decades.