Improve your Vocabulary
The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen
foods:
“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 a 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 of 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.”
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
Labels: analysis of Argument , AWA
1 comments :
- At 21 July 2008 at 23:04 Ramit said...
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Here's my response:
The author claims that the frozen food company will cut its costs & maximize its profit. In doing so, they have given certain arguments by comparing the trends in Color film processing industry & 25 years of frozen food experience. But, the author's reasoning is specious because of few reasons:
First of all the statement, that the processing cost would go down as organizations learn to do things better & efficient is not very true. The cost of processing can go down because of various other reasons, such as: cost of raw material, taxes, advancement in technology etc.
Secondly, the author is trying to compare a frozen food processing industry with a color film processing industry. The factors affecting the cost of processing are totally different in these 2 industries. It could be possible that the technology advancement in color film processing is more when compared to frozen food industry. Moreover, the change in demand of these products is not considered which could be another factor.
Thirdly, the company is expecting to reduce the cost based on its 25 years of experience. The statement is not very convincing, as it appears the company has not taken any steps earlier to reduce the cost of procssing food. Instead, the company should rely on the processes it may have setup to reduce costs over the period of 25 years.
In my opinion, the author would have made his claim more substantial, if he had given some more convinving arguments & facts. As, instead of comparing the frozen food processing industry with color film pocessing industry he would have compared it frozen food industry with a similar kind of industry & then followed it up with some examples of how the cost was reduced in that industry. Also, they could have mentioned the steps followed by Olympics food committee to reduce the cost during the long span of 25 years & how can those steps be modified to further increase the profit & maximize the costs.