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Please rate my essay - 01-Olympic Foods
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25 May 2016, 02:47
Hi, Kindly help to review my essay.
Question Prompt: “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.”
My answer:
The annual report of Olympic Foods argues that the company's 25 year long experience will help to reduce costs and maximize the profits. The argument is based on author's reasoning that, the cost will go down as organizations learn to do things better. To support the argument, author cites printing industry, in which the cost of printing fell down significantly in a decade. However, the argument is fundamentally flawed and makes questionable assumptions.
Firstly, the argument comfortably ignores the fact that food industry is centuries old and very matured. The printing industry, on the other hand, was in early phase during 1970s and the price fell down significantly due to rapid innovations. Clearly, the two industries are not in the same phase to be compared. Therefore, it is fundamentally fallacious in the first-hand to compare these two industries. Instead of printing industry author could have explored other relatively old and comparable industry such as steel or wine industry.
Secondly, the argument silently makes a blind assumption that time is the only deciding factor for price. This assumption, however, is very far from the truth. Operation costs of an organization depends on various factors such as cost of raw material, competition, and demand. But the argument ignores all such dynamic factors and makes a implausible assumption. What if these factors are not in favor Olympic Foods' plans? Author, at least, could have shed some light on how such factors are in favor of the proposed plans. Hence, this dark shade in the argument simply leaves an impression that the argument is hastily drawn.
Finally, although the company says that will reduce costs, it does not say how it will achieve the plan. The lack of details on the execution plans not just raises many questions on execution, but also raises a doubt whether the management is really aligned to reduce costs. To earn the stakeholders' trust, author definitely need to share how costs will be reduced.
To conclude, there are plenty of loose-ends to be tied up in the report. The report, in its current form, will definitely draw sharp criticism from its stockholders. To impress the stockholders, the author must remove the reference to printing industry, shed some light on other favorable factors and finally share the execution plan. Without making these significant changes, the author will not earn stockholders' trust.