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sansulee
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
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- Joined: Fri Nov 01, 2013 11:22 am
- Location: India
- GMAT Score:590
AWA ESSAYS: Analyze Argument
ESSAY QUESTION:
The following memo was circulated by the management team of a retail company:
"We are very pleased to announce the relocation of our inventory, which had been located in four different warehouses throughout the country, to a single new warehouse near Company headquarters in Boston. This consolidated location will cut the company's expenses for warehouse rent in half. As a result we expect our monthly profitability to go up by this amount."
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.
YOUR RESPONSE:
The author of the argument claims that by relocating the company's 4 different inventories from 4 different regions of the country, consolidating it into one single inventory near its headquarters in Boston, would cut the company's expenses into half and thus result in increased profits by this amount. Though the underlying issue certainly has merit; however, the author conveys a distorted view of the situation by revealing examples of leap of faith, poor reasoning, lack of evidence and use of ill-defined terminology, rendering the argument vulnerable to debunkery.
To begin with, the author is flawed in confusing the term "expenses" with "profit". The author fails to exhibit a direct logical correlation between the company's expenses and profits and how the two are interconnected. In virtue of the aforementioned, the author should have provided a detailed overview about how the cutting down of expenses would affect the profits; s/he should have also considered other factors such as the expenses involved in relocating the inventories from four different places to one single place, whether there are any excess costs that need to be considered apart from the relocation costs and maintenance costs.
Additionally, the author should have also considered if relocating the inventories from four different parts of the country would have any effect, whatsoever, on the supply chain of the company's products. By relocating the inventory, it may cut down the rent and maintenance costs, but the author should also provide data about whether the logistics costs would be affected due to the consolidation of the inventories into one single unit or whether it would have any effect on the market of the company's products and availability of the same in those four regions of the country where the inventories are located.
Finally, the author assumes that the other costs involved in manufacturing the products and marketing the same would remain unchanged throughout the year and would have no effect on the profitability of the company.
Conclusively, the author presents an interesting but flawed argument. Had the author provided a detailed summary about the other factors that could affect the expenses and eventually the profits of the said company; thus, logically demonstrating the direct correlation between the expenses and profits of the company, the argument would have been persuasive. As it stands, however, the author's argument is too weak to be true. Hence, I remain unconvinced. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation or decision, it is essential to have full knowledge of all the contributing factors.
ESSAY QUESTION:
The following memo was circulated by the management team of a retail company:
"We are very pleased to announce the relocation of our inventory, which had been located in four different warehouses throughout the country, to a single new warehouse near Company headquarters in Boston. This consolidated location will cut the company's expenses for warehouse rent in half. As a result we expect our monthly profitability to go up by this amount."
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.
YOUR RESPONSE:
The author of the argument claims that by relocating the company's 4 different inventories from 4 different regions of the country, consolidating it into one single inventory near its headquarters in Boston, would cut the company's expenses into half and thus result in increased profits by this amount. Though the underlying issue certainly has merit; however, the author conveys a distorted view of the situation by revealing examples of leap of faith, poor reasoning, lack of evidence and use of ill-defined terminology, rendering the argument vulnerable to debunkery.
To begin with, the author is flawed in confusing the term "expenses" with "profit". The author fails to exhibit a direct logical correlation between the company's expenses and profits and how the two are interconnected. In virtue of the aforementioned, the author should have provided a detailed overview about how the cutting down of expenses would affect the profits; s/he should have also considered other factors such as the expenses involved in relocating the inventories from four different places to one single place, whether there are any excess costs that need to be considered apart from the relocation costs and maintenance costs.
Additionally, the author should have also considered if relocating the inventories from four different parts of the country would have any effect, whatsoever, on the supply chain of the company's products. By relocating the inventory, it may cut down the rent and maintenance costs, but the author should also provide data about whether the logistics costs would be affected due to the consolidation of the inventories into one single unit or whether it would have any effect on the market of the company's products and availability of the same in those four regions of the country where the inventories are located.
Finally, the author assumes that the other costs involved in manufacturing the products and marketing the same would remain unchanged throughout the year and would have no effect on the profitability of the company.
Conclusively, the author presents an interesting but flawed argument. Had the author provided a detailed summary about the other factors that could affect the expenses and eventually the profits of the said company; thus, logically demonstrating the direct correlation between the expenses and profits of the company, the argument would have been persuasive. As it stands, however, the author's argument is too weak to be true. Hence, I remain unconvinced. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation or decision, it is essential to have full knowledge of all the contributing factors.
Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
