Please review this AWA [Taken from 800Score.com]
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23 Aug 2017, 12:33
Question:
In recent years, Braeburn Corporation has seen lagging sales of its food products. Just a few of the many food products Braeburn sells are soy products.Soy products have been shown to reduce rates of cancer. Because people care about reducing their risk of cancer, Braeburn should increase manufacturing of soy products. This will help Braeburn Corporation improve sales and increase profits.
Analysis:
The argument states that Braeburn Corporation should increase the manufacturing of soy products in order to improve sales and to increase profits. The author has based his argument on the fact that soy products have shown to reduce rates of cancer and that people care about reducing the risk of cancer.
The argument is filled with questionable premises and assumptions. The author fails to provide proper logic and reasoning, therefore the argument is flawed and unconvincing.
First of all, the author assumes that all the people who care about reducing their risk of cancer already know about the fact that soy products can reduce rates of cancer. But if nobody knows about this fact, then the idea to increase the manufacturing of soy products will never be successful. Moreover, the idea might cost them more because if the new manufactured soy products are not sold, then the extra labor and money invested in the manufacturing of soy products will be wasted.
Secondly, the proportion of soy products with respect to other products of Braeburn Corporation is not specified in the argument. Also, the author hasn't provided the current sales of soy products. It's a possibility that people are already aware of the benefits of soy products and that the sales of these products are already high. The overall lagging sales of Braeburn might be because of other products that the corporation manufactures. Therefore, in this case, the idea to manufacture more soy products is not preferable. The supply will increase, but the demand will remain the same, causing wastage of products and loss of money.
And finally, the author doesn't provide information about the competitors of Braeburn Corporation. For example, let there be a Corporation X that already knows about the benefits of soy products and that has been using this idea since many years. Thus, for many years, the demand of soy products in the market has already been covered by the supply of soy products by Corporation X. Moreover, if there is competition in the market, then Braeburn might have to reduce the price of the soy products to a level where it receives zero profits. The author has failed to provide detailed information about the market and thus the conclusion seems ambiguous.
After the analysis, it is clear that the argument is unconvincing and flawed. The author fails to provide key factors to evaluate the argument. However, the author can strengthen the argument by digging into minute details and presenting all the information required. The author can strengthen the argument either by providing information about the current market situation and the competitors of Braeburn corporation, or by claiming that the consumers are already aware of the benefits of soy products. The author can also strengthen the argument by providing the current sales of the soy products and therefore giving more information to help us evaluate the profitability of increasing the supply of soy products. Until the author provides further information, the argument remains unsubstantial and flawed.