<p dir="ltr"><span><span>The blank connects two clauses. The first one is “A meeting involving all the company’s senior executives has been organized,” and the second one is “they can proceed to discuss issues regarding product defects.” In other words, the blank should be a coordinating conjunction to connect two independent clauses or a subordinating conjunction that connects one main clause and one or more than one dependent clauses. </span></span></p><p>Following this logic, (A) "only" can be eliminated since it’s only an adverb, not a conjunction. (B) "in order" can be eliminated, too, unless it’s changed into “in order that,” which serves as a subordinating conjunction.</p><p dir="ltr"><span><span>(C) "</span><span>because"</span><span> and (D) "</span><span>so that"</span><span> are possible answers since they are both subordinating conjunctions that connect a main clause and an adverb clause. The key to identifying the correct answer is the meaning of the context. The context suggests that the first clause should be the cause, while the second clause should be the effect. So, the correct answer is (D) "</span><span>so that</span><span>"</span></span><br></p>