GMAT Essays (AWA)

Essay 1 - "Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of 3-by-5 inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its 25th birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits."

The argument stated above is pretty unclear and quite irrelevant. What is author trying to say with it would remain confusing for most of stockholders while reading that part. It is not coherent, why the author is doing that comparison of vastly different industries.

Nevertheless, it could be agreed that the costs of processing go down with experience, indeed. However, not all companies succeed to implement certain cost saving measures timely, which would eventually be outlined on the business performance. It is difficult to comprehend the drawn example of price reduction for one print during that certain period. It is claimed that the same principle of price reduction applies to the processing food, but that would be strangely assumed that the production of print involves identical technological process to food processing. This weakly supports the statement of more efficient processes.

Additionally, food industry has strict and high standards regarding production processes, so it is correct to assume that cost saving measures should involve more profound approach than in color film processing. Finally, it is not clear how well the company has performed over 25 years period, what is their market share, how big is it, who are the competitors etc. If I write the report, I would mention approximate cost saving strategies, which would show what could be achieved by implementing certain improving techniques.

Therefore, the argument leaves out skeptical belief in succeeding to maximize profits. If it included more thorough insight into cost saving measures for processing, the argument would have been more thorough and convincing.

Essay 2 - The following appeared in a memorandum from the assistant manager of Pageturner Books:
"Over the past two years, Pageturner's profits have decreased by 5 percent, even though we have added a popular café as well as music selling CD's and tapes. At the same time, we have experienced an increase in the theft of merchandise. We should therefore follow the example of Thoreau Books, which increased its profits after putting copies of its most frequently stolen books on a high shelf behind the payment counter. By doing likewise with copies of the titles that our staff reported stolen last year, we too can increase profitability.

The argument claims that the certain bookstore profits have soared by 5 percent in two years. It is also stated that their applied measures to attract customers did not help to accumulate enough profits. It is claimed that the store experienced increased theft of merchandise, which also influenced the profits. However, stated in this way argument fails to mention several key factors, on basis of which it could be evaluated. The conclusion of the argument is ambiguous and does not include any clear evidence; therefore, it has several flaws.

First, the argument states that the profits of the store decreased, even though they added a café and some music merchandise. It is not clear, if the store have included their investments in attracting customers to calculate the profits. Usually, every investment has its return time, which is usually more than two years. Similarly, people who are interested in music don't go to a bookstore to find some quality tapes or CD's. The argument could have stated the share of music merchandise in the store profits to identify worse selling products.

Second, the statement assumes that theft of the merchandise lead to the decreased profits. It is necessary to mention how many actuals thefts happened in that store during the last two year in order to claim this statement. This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument does not provide any relevant correlation between sales and thefts. It would very useful to illustrate the amount of thefts.

Finally, the argument suggests employing a certain technique to prevent the thefts, but there is no proof if it will be successful in increasing profits. Has the applied technique really promoted sales at the competitor store, there is no evidence to that. It could be other reasons that increased the sales. Without convincing answers to these questions, one is left with the impression that the claim is more of a wishful thinking rather than substantive evidence.

In conclusion, the argument is flawed and it does not provide sufficient evidence to identify the reason for profits decrease. Therefore, it is not convincing and thorough. It could be more solid and persuasive if the author clearly mentioned above-mentioned facts.