1)
When the apogee company had all its operations in one location, it was more profitable than it is today. Therefore, the apogee company should close down its field offices and conduct all its operations from a single location. Such centralization would improve profitability by cutting costs and helping the company maintain better supervision of employees.
DIscuss how well reasoned,etc......
The argument that in order to maximize profits, Apogee company should shut down all but one field office omits various concerns that must be addressed to substantiate the argument.
The statement precedes with the background that it was more profitable for Apogee in the past when it had only one office, but it does not explain any reasons that led to the decline of these profits. Firstly, since the timeframe when Apogee setup its new offices is not mentioned, it can be assumed that the offices were recently setup and hence, the costs of setting up the new offices maybe responsible for eating up these profits. In such a case, shutting down the newly set up offices is extremely irrational. In addition the type of work done by Apogee is also not mentioned. Thus, if we assume that Apogee is a retail firm that has recently opened up in a new location, then people of that location may not be aware of the new shop and the service they provide and hence generation of profits will take a certain period of time owing to this lack of awareness.
The argument further states that just one office will lead to centralisation and better employee management, however, without knowing what kind of business Apogee is engaged in this conclusion is baseless. For example- If Apogee is in the service industry then expansion into a larger base area maybe more desirable, however, if they are engaged in the manufacturing industry, one large plant location may be the way to go.
In addition to this, if the company is looking to expand into another country, then setting up of new offices in that country is essential, even though there may be an initial decline in profits.
The argument leaves ambiguity regarding the nature of work and the timeframe, which weaken the conclusion and as a result, it remains unconvincing at best. The author must provide explanation with suitable examples for the above mentioned items, to strengthen his conclusion and make it more thorough.
2)Research indicates that those who exercise regularly are hospitalized less than half as often as those who dont exercise. By providing a well equipped gym for Saluda's municipal employees, we should be able to reduce the cost of our group health insurance coverageby approximately 50% and thereby achieve a balanced town budget
Discuss...
The argument states that exercising regularly reduces the chance of hospitalisation by half and thus, by providing a well equipped gym to the municipal employees, the municipality will be able to reduce the health insurance coverage by 50%. Although the argument has some merit, it omits certain considerations required to substantiate the argument.
At first, nothing about the cost of setting up the new gym is mentioned. If this cost turns out to be more than the amount saved by reducing the health insurance coverage, then the budget may not be as well balanced as it was initially expected.
Further, there is no guaranty that the municipal employees will exercise regularly incase the new gym was set up. If the new employees continue to live a sedentary lifestyle even inspite of the new facility, then there will be no decrease in the group health insurance coverage. The municipality must ensure that all its employees join the new gym and exercise regularly for the desired objective to be achieved. On the other hand, if most employees exercise regularly even without a gym facility, then the new infrastructure would not help much in balancing the town budget. Therefore, it is important to assess the current lifestyle of the Municipal employees in order to come to the conclusion stated in the argument.
In addition to the above facts, unsupervised exercising in the gym can result in serious injuries, which in turn can increase the number of hospitalisations rather than reducing them. This in turn will increase the group health insurance coverage. In order to prevent this, skilled trainers will have to be hired who can give proper fitness training to the employees. The additional salaries that have to be paid to these employees must also be considered while making a budget plan.
Without the mention of the above premises, the argument that a balanced budget can be achieved by providing a well equipped gym, thus, remains unconvincing at best. Therefore, the author must touch upon them to further strengthen his argument and make it more thorough.
Thankyou