Can someone read my AWA essay and give me a score/tips... please :)
[#permalink]
Updated on: 08 Nov 2015, 18:26
Please look this over and help me.. appreciate any sort of help. Thanks guys!
The following appeared in a memo to executives at a company that manufactures industrial equipment:
"We are spending too much on free customer service after a sale has been made; we need to limit our warranty to two years in order to improve our profit margins. The current lifetime warranty can lead to costs decades into a product's life cycle. Also, we pay our customer service employees a premium because they must possess expert skills across the entirety of our very diverse product line, including products we no longer sell."
Answer:
The argument brought forth by the executives at a manufacturing company is flawed for a variety of reasons. The author does not provide sufficient information for each premise, thus making the overall argument weak. First, the author does not take into account that some products may still be costing the company the same during a two year warranty and a lifetime warranty. Second, the author justifies, with no evidence, that premiums paid to employes must be sufficient to solve the problems once the lifetime warranty is limited to two years. And last, the author assumes two years of warranty will increase profit margins, and fails to explore other venues for increasing overall profits.
In order to elaborate further on the points mentioned above, it is important to note that industrial equipment is a special kind of product line that needs the attention to detail in order for a company to be successful among others and its competitors. Since the author does not take into account that some products may cost the company the same amount of money for both two years and lifetime warranty. There is no data mentioned for costs associated with each number of years and the amount the company spent in the past. This piece of information would strengthen the claim that limiting the lifetime warranty to two years is a sensible option. By not providing the reader with this information, the author makes an incomplete statement that is open to criticisms. As well, the company could limit the warranty to two-years, but these two-years could involve more repairs than lifetime warranty, as customers would want to take advantage and replace any minor issues with their products. This line of thinking, which is a possibility among customers, can weaken the point that two years of warranty is a better alternative than lifetime warranty.
Second, the author justifies in the end that premiums paid to employees must solve problems when limiting the warranty. The author is justifying the amount of money paid to employees, as another cost, that must counter the limit from lifetime to two years. However, the employee premiums and warranty have different impacts on profit margins and may not even be related. Just because another cost is incurred elsewhere does not justify the limit of cost for something (ie. the 2 year warranty). Clearly, this point is susceptible to criticism.
And finally, the author assumes that the two year-warranty is the solution to increasing its profit margins, while failing to explore other viable alternatives to increasing profit. There could be other time-sensitive and pressing business concerns that this manufacturing company is ignoring. Since the author does not provide the reader with other data, the reader cannot draw that the 2-year warranty is in fact the proper way to deal with increasing profit margins. Data-driven points, as well as logical connections between actions and consequences of the business will better help to illustrate the argument.
Moved the topic to the AWA forum.