Hi,
Please evaluate my essay. This is the first AWA essay that I have written.
Prompt:
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.
My essay:
The following argument is flawed for numerous reasons. Primarily, because of the ambiguity in the statement and because they have cited an example from a completely different industry – film processing, which is not at all similar to the food processing industry.
Firstly, the very ambiguous first statement of the argument states that, “over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient.” This statement does not provide any clarity on what are these “things” are that the company is doing in a better way. And, they haven’t justified this “better”. Is this the betterment in the technology used in production or the decrease in the wastage production or the improvement in the labor skills with time? It is not clear what they have improved in order for the costs to be reduced.
Secondly, they have stated an example of the film processing industry which is not related to the food processing in any aspect. Hence, the development and enhancement of the film processing cannot justify that the same will occur for the food processing. Thus, the same principle of cost reduction and profit maximization over time of the film processing cannot be correlated to the food processing.
Furthermore, the statement stating that their long experience will minimize costs is not justified in the argument. What things they have changed or improved over the period of 25 years that can lead to cost reduction and thus profit maximization is mentioned anywhere in the argument. Thus, weakening the argument significantly.
Lastly, the argument can be strengthened by citing an example from the food processing industry instead of some completely unrelated industry and, by providing quantification for the efficiency, costs, and profit.
In conclusion, because the argument makes several unwarranted assumptions, it fails to make a convincing case that Olympic Foods will minimize costs and increase their profits.