Hi,
Can I request you to evaluate my AWA responses.
Can it fetch me 5-6 on AWA?
Thx.
Quote:
ARGUMENT: “Our promotional price reductions on energy drinks have been highly successful, as we have seen a dramatic increase in unit sales. Further, surveys of our consumers indicate that this promotion was favorably received by the majority of our customers. Therefore, to improve our company’s profitability and enhance its perception in the eyes of consumers, similar price reductions should be offered on all drinks produced by our firm.”
Word count: 518 (enough?)
Is there any point that I am missing in the below essay?The argument states that because of the recent promotional reductions in the price of one of the energy drink, the sales for that drink has increased. This promotion has also led to the increase in the recognition of the drink. States in this manner the argument fails to reveal many key aspects on the basis of which it can be evaluated. The conclusion of the argument relies on many assumption for which there is no clear evidence cited, and hence the argument is weak and is flawed for several reasons.
First, the argument assumes that it was only due to the reduction in price that the sales have increased. This statement is a stretch and unsubstantiated. The argument fails to mention about whether there was a marketing campaign parallely going on while the price reduction where carried out. The increased sales could also be due to the seasonal variations in the sales pattern or due to shutdown of a competitor which made available more market for the existing players. For example, recently, in the northern states of India because of a shut down of a major player of the beverage market, the local drink manufacturing companies witnessed a good rise in sales.
Clearly, one cannot assume that only the price reduction caused the sales to increase. The argument could be strengthened if it had provided evidence and facts which could negates the possibility of any other factor responsible for the increase in sales.
Second, the author claims that because a particlar strategy proved successful for one product, the same strategy can be applied across all the company products to achive same results. This again is weak and unconvincing as the argument fails to demonstrate any how similar or different are the target audience for the other drinks manufactured by the company. For example, a company which sells two different drink products - a youth sweet drink and a health drink for health concious folks - is most like to have two different strategy depending on the target consumers. Moreover, the author faisl to give any numbers on the profit made die to increased sales. It is possible that though the sales increased the company actually incurred loss sue to the irrational price reduction. The claim could be more convincing if the arguemnts gave fatcs realted to the profits made due to the price reduction and the chances of the same strategy to be successful for the other drink products.
Without convincing answer to questions posed above, one is left with the impression that the argument is more of a wishful thinking rather than a substantive evidence. As a result, the conclusion is has no legs to stand on.
In summary, the argument is flawed due to the aforementioned reasons and therefore unconvinving. It could be considerably strengthened if the author provided relevants correlations and facts to bridge the logical gaps in its line of reasoning. In order to determine any argument, it is important to have full knowledge about all the contributing factos. Without complete information ,as in this case, the argument remains unsubstantiable and open to debate.
=====================
Quote:
ISSUE : "In making a complex decision, one should trust experience more than instinct."
Words count: 461
Had difficulty in finding supporting reasons. Can u suggest what more points could i have made wrt this issue?
What should be the approach when one encounters such difficult ISSUES?Many people think that an important decision should be taken in line with the person's experience. Many others think that one should belive in their instincts and make complex decisions. This issue is a controversial one but a closer examination reveals that decisions are better made according to experiences rather than instincts. In this essay I will put forth my opinion while providing supporting point for the same.
One reason is, experience is something that has been implemeted and the its outcome is available for introspection. One can act according to the previously successful strategy and avoid previously unsuccessful ones. The fact that expereince is somthing that comes over a period of them makes it more reliable compared to instinct. It is time-tested. To illustrate this let is an example. A hedge fund manager is in a perplexing situation. He has a sum of USD 10 millions to invest in the capital markets. His target is decent retuns without unreasonale risk to his clients. He looks at the various market trend reports to find some trends and to make a sound decision. He could not identify any concrete trends due to the choppy and volatile nature of the capital in the last recent years. Based on his expereince from previous markets recessions, he safely places a bet on gold reserves. After a year although his retun are not as terrific as some of the best micro cap funds, he certainly has taken a profitable and less risky decision.
Probably the strongest reason is, the very fact that expereince shapes intution. A landmark study published in early 2008 suggests that what a person feels about a certain situation is highly shaped by his/ her experiences which are developed over a period of time. Given this study, it would make more sense to develop a decision making
On other hand, some people may argue that decisons by instinct are better, while citing reasons such as: sixth sense,etc. We know that we still do not have any conclusive evidece on the effectiveness of insctintive behaviour. In some case it may be beneficial in many other it may not be so. Certainly, one cannot base ones crucial decision on instincts.
In summary, while there are arguments to be made in both sides of the argument, decisions based on expereince seems to be a sane approach for the above mentioned reasons. It has advantages such as: one can be sure that the decison that he is taking has already been implemeted somewhere with some success, the time tested nature of experience make it more reliable. Though there are advantages to both the arguments, the advantages of experience based decision making outweighs the advantages of instintive decision making. Hence, complex decisons are better made when based on experience.