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20 Aug 2017, 04:14
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Hi
I would request anyone please review my essay and recommend suggestions..
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 you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion
ESSAY
The argument claims that the cost of processing color film has gone down from 50 cents for five day to 20 cents for one day as organization has learned to do things better and they have become more efficient using technology. Hence, the same applies to food processing industry. Stated this way the arguments fails to mention several key factors, on the basis of which it could be evaluated. The conclusion relies on flawed assumptions with no clear evidence. Therefore, the argument is rather weak and unsubstantiated.
First, the argument assumes that processing of color film is same as processing of food, which is completely incorrect and non parallel. Color film processing is a delicate yet a well procedural job. It requires limited number of resources to manufacture it and does not hold lengthy intrinsic characteristics such as of foods which might change if not handled properly. It does not require huge manufacturing facility or warehouses to store just like food processing industry requires. Color processing involves lot of industrial chemicals to prepare the film due to which it is delicate and require precision in manufacturing while food processing does not require that much precision nor much chemicals. For example, making concentrate from fruits require proper selection of fruit from farm. A rotten or small size fruits are not selected randomly to prepare a concentrate. Therefore, even before processing starts there is long process of selection of fruit with better characteristics while in color film there is no as such process.
Second, the argument claims that cost of color processing has down to 20 cents for one day from 50 cents for five days and thus similarly the food processing industry will be reduce the processing time and maximize profits. This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument is considering that cost of film processing is similar to cost of food processing which is unsubstantiated and flawed. In fact, in both the industry the involvement of technology is huge but the comparison between cost of color film processing and that of food processing is incorrect because just as above stated food has too many intrinsic characteristics such as taste, odor, colour, size, volume also biological parameters too and thus keeping in mind of these characteristics the processing time of the food is designed. Without these characteristics the food is unfit for consumption. For example preparation of tea from tea leaves. In this process, first the tea leaves are kept dried at sun for 2-3 days before being put in machines for grinding and rolling. In this process, even if we use high tech machines the drying process cannot be reduced to a day or less and thus cost of tea is hardly reduced even if the processing technique is improved.
Finally, the argument concludes that since Olympic foods is celebrating 25 years and they are expecting the long experience will enable them to reduce cost and maximize profit which is entirely incorrect and flawed. Along with experience, firm needs proper Objective, Vision, strategy, financial support and operation management to reduce cost and maximize profit. As a result this conclusion is weak and unsubstantiated.
In conclusion, the argument is flawed for the above mentioned reasons and is therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all that relevant facts and have full knowledge of all contributing factors.
I would request anyone please review my essay and recommend suggestions..
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 you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion
ESSAY
The argument claims that the cost of processing color film has gone down from 50 cents for five day to 20 cents for one day as organization has learned to do things better and they have become more efficient using technology. Hence, the same applies to food processing industry. Stated this way the arguments fails to mention several key factors, on the basis of which it could be evaluated. The conclusion relies on flawed assumptions with no clear evidence. Therefore, the argument is rather weak and unsubstantiated.
First, the argument assumes that processing of color film is same as processing of food, which is completely incorrect and non parallel. Color film processing is a delicate yet a well procedural job. It requires limited number of resources to manufacture it and does not hold lengthy intrinsic characteristics such as of foods which might change if not handled properly. It does not require huge manufacturing facility or warehouses to store just like food processing industry requires. Color processing involves lot of industrial chemicals to prepare the film due to which it is delicate and require precision in manufacturing while food processing does not require that much precision nor much chemicals. For example, making concentrate from fruits require proper selection of fruit from farm. A rotten or small size fruits are not selected randomly to prepare a concentrate. Therefore, even before processing starts there is long process of selection of fruit with better characteristics while in color film there is no as such process.
Second, the argument claims that cost of color processing has down to 20 cents for one day from 50 cents for five days and thus similarly the food processing industry will be reduce the processing time and maximize profits. This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument is considering that cost of film processing is similar to cost of food processing which is unsubstantiated and flawed. In fact, in both the industry the involvement of technology is huge but the comparison between cost of color film processing and that of food processing is incorrect because just as above stated food has too many intrinsic characteristics such as taste, odor, colour, size, volume also biological parameters too and thus keeping in mind of these characteristics the processing time of the food is designed. Without these characteristics the food is unfit for consumption. For example preparation of tea from tea leaves. In this process, first the tea leaves are kept dried at sun for 2-3 days before being put in machines for grinding and rolling. In this process, even if we use high tech machines the drying process cannot be reduced to a day or less and thus cost of tea is hardly reduced even if the processing technique is improved.
Finally, the argument concludes that since Olympic foods is celebrating 25 years and they are expecting the long experience will enable them to reduce cost and maximize profit which is entirely incorrect and flawed. Along with experience, firm needs proper Objective, Vision, strategy, financial support and operation management to reduce cost and maximize profit. As a result this conclusion is weak and unsubstantiated.
In conclusion, the argument is flawed for the above mentioned reasons and is therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all that relevant facts and have full knowledge of all contributing factors.
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10 Oct 2017, 12:31
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from - JannikHeine - I guess the wrong button was used 
The argument provided claims that the costs of a company named Olympic Foods will be minimized due to its high level of experience. Also, the author concludes that the company will be able to maximize its profits on basis of the reduction of costs. This argument is flawed in several ways and fails to consider several key aspects, on the basis of which the argument could be evaluated. The conclusion stated at the beginning relies on assumptions which there is no clear evidence for. First, the author states that over a certain period of time, it is not exactly described how that periods will last or whether it will ever stop, organizations, in general will increase efficiency based on a surge of experience. But, the argument fails to consider specific evidence, for example in form of data, to support this statement. In order to strengthen the argument, the author includes an example which is clearly out of scope. The argument tries to take into account the process the film industry faced and tries to relate that to the processing of the food industry. Second, the argument, by explaining the process of colored movies, does not give any clue whether the described trend, mentioned in the passage, is going to be continued. Furthermore, the author includes data, which does not provide sufficient information on the development in general by simply considering the range of prices over a period of 14 years. Last, the author relates the information stated beforehand and draws a conclusion on the process if the company Olympic Foods. To his mind, due to the fact that the company is about to celebrate its 25th birthday, it has an advantage of experience. This will provide the company with the sufficient ability to reduce costs and consequently improve ist profits. Once again, one is left with not relevant data. In this context, it is not necessarily true that the reduction of cost results in an improvement of profits. To conclude, the argument has several flaws and is more of a wishful thinking rather than substantial evidence. It would be strengthened if the authors had mentioned all of the relevant facts described above. In order to fully assess the merits of the situation, one needs to have full knowledge of all relevant facts. A comparison to the process of other companies in the food sector would be cruel to evaluate the argument. Some evaluation please! Kudos in return!
The argument provided claims that the costs of a company named Olympic Foods will be minimized due to its high level of experience. Also, the author concludes that the company will be able to maximize its profits on basis of the reduction of costs. This argument is flawed in several ways and fails to consider several key aspects, on the basis of which the argument could be evaluated. The conclusion stated at the beginning relies on assumptions which there is no clear evidence for. First, the author states that over a certain period of time, it is not exactly described how that periods will last or whether it will ever stop, organizations, in general will increase efficiency based on a surge of experience. But, the argument fails to consider specific evidence, for example in form of data, to support this statement. In order to strengthen the argument, the author includes an example which is clearly out of scope. The argument tries to take into account the process the film industry faced and tries to relate that to the processing of the food industry. Second, the argument, by explaining the process of colored movies, does not give any clue whether the described trend, mentioned in the passage, is going to be continued. Furthermore, the author includes data, which does not provide sufficient information on the development in general by simply considering the range of prices over a period of 14 years. Last, the author relates the information stated beforehand and draws a conclusion on the process if the company Olympic Foods. To his mind, due to the fact that the company is about to celebrate its 25th birthday, it has an advantage of experience. This will provide the company with the sufficient ability to reduce costs and consequently improve ist profits. Once again, one is left with not relevant data. In this context, it is not necessarily true that the reduction of cost results in an improvement of profits. To conclude, the argument has several flaws and is more of a wishful thinking rather than substantial evidence. It would be strengthened if the authors had mentioned all of the relevant facts described above. In order to fully assess the merits of the situation, one needs to have full knowledge of all relevant facts. A comparison to the process of other companies in the food sector would be cruel to evaluate the argument. Some evaluation please! Kudos in return!
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