GMAT Essays (AWA)

"The presence of a competitor is always beneficial to a company. Competition forces a company to change itself in ways that improve its practices."

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

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I strongly support the above argument that the presence of a competitor is always beneficial to a company because of the following reasons.

First, competition "forces" the company to be cost effective. If a company is not as cost-effective as its competitor chances are the company won't survive for long.
For example: if a company produces a car and it costs the company $10,000 to produce it whereas its competitor proudces almost the same type of car for $8000 and sales it for $10000 then the company will have to find innovative ways to cut costs and produce the car for about $8000 otherwise it will loose to its competitor. Here, copmpetitor "forces" the company to find innovative ways to cut costs which is beneficial to the company.

Second, competition is exact opposite of monopoly. In a monopolistic society the company that has the monopoly will dictate the quality and price of its product.
Therefore it may not invest in technology that may improve the quality of its product and lower the price. Whereas in a competetive society it will invest in technology to improve the quality of its product and lower the price which is not only beneficial to the company but also to its consumers.

To conclude, presence of competitor is beneficial to the company as it forces a company to change itself in ways to improve its practises.

Not bad, but your argument would be much stronger if you used specific examples rather than general/hypothetical examples. Rather than saying "a monopolisitc society", think of a real, specific company that had a monopoly that dictated the price and quality of its product.

Also, this essay is on the short side. Longer essays tend to score better. Make sure you write full paragraphs - I'm specifically referring to the intro and conclusion - and aim to have three body paragraphs.

Check out the sticky thread at the top of this forum to get some ideas and see some examples of strong-scoring essays.

I'll give you a 3 on this one.

Thanks Jim.

I will check the sticky notes.

In the body paragraphs, should I use First, Second, Third or Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly? Is this the best way to show sequence?
I also tend to repeat the argument (in question) in my intro and conclusion.
For eg: The argument that "X is the correct way.....e.t.c."
Is this right or is there a better way to refter to the argument in intro and conclusion rather than repeating it?

Thanks again.
M