Namaste

Nowadays, people including you may have already known about yoga. In fact, for all of you, the question is who ever practiced or who has been frequently practicing yoga? Not all of you, but in big cities, for example Jakarta, practicing yoga is now mushrooming. As such in my office, some colleagues use their lunch break and or after office hours to do yoga, or even they come to a health/fitness center for spending 60 to 90 minutes of yoga practice for around 150K-350K IDR each session.

Basically, yoga embodies a unity of mind and body as well as thought and action. It is a holistic approach that is valuable to your health and your well-being. Yoga is not just about exercise; it is a way to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world, and nature. [1]

However, in my experience of practicing yoga for about 3 years, as I am neither a yoga teacher nor a seasoned yogi, I have received some misperceptions of doing yoga.

First, yoga is a stretching class for girls or women only. As a matter of fact, that is not true. Yoga is believed to have early roots in the Brahmins, highly knowledgeable and wise priests of the Indian caste system. The roots of yoga and the growth of yoga as a practice is by males for males of certain standing and spiritual discipline. [2]

Second, yoga is for hippies and spiritual people. This can be true. However, currently yoga has been practiced by many people around the globe with no boundaries and no prerequsites, for instance you do not need to have long hair, tattoos, and believe in chakras to practice yoga.

Third, yoga does not burn enough calories. Based on my experience, I always get sweat when I am done practicing yoga. The amount of sweat it comes, it is led by how well my poses are and what type of yoga I am practicing. A research says that a 60 minute yoga session will burn anywhere from 200-600 calories, depending on some factors: the type of yoga you are doing, the length and intensity of the yoga class, and so on. [3]

For me, practicing yoga is my way to balance between hard training that I am used to doing it and soft training that it is coming from joining yoga. I still remember one reason of doing yoga is when I finished working out for lower back, I usually had a lower back pain. Perhaps, my exercises were wrong, but after doing yoga, it could mitigate or fix the risk of getting lower back injury. Another reason is that yoga can fix my posture: for my X-shaped leg and my upper back protraction respectively.

Frankly, practicing yoga at the beginning was not easy. The key is just practice and practice over and over with a seasoned yoga teacher and learn from many sources. Now, pardon it is not for showing off, I can do some poses at least tripod inversion and other headstand poses but still working hard for handstand ones. As a result, the yoga practice leads me to have a better shape of legs and a better upper back (retraction). I said Namaste, a respectful greeting, for yoga and all yoga’s friends and teachers. So, are you interested in joining yoga?

Jakarta Toastmasters Club, Monday, 21 August 2023.

References:

[1] Gururaj, Raghu. 2021. Bringing Yoga, Peace, and Wellness to Home. Jakarta: The Jakarta Post. https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/06/23/bringing-yoga-peace-and-wellness-to-home.html.

[2] _____. 2018. Masculinity and Yoga: The Revealing History of Yoga. https://treehouserecoverypdx.com/addiction-blog/masculinity-and-yoga-the-revealing-history-of-yoga/.

[3] _____. _____. How Many Calories Does 1 Hour of Yoga Burn?. https://www.vinmec.com/en/news/health-news/healthy-lifestyle/how-many-calories-does-1-hour-of-yoga-burn/#:~:text=An%20hour%2Dlong%20yoga%20session,not.%20is%20male%20or%20female.

[4] _____. _____. Debunking Five Stereotypes of Yoga and Yogis. https://wanderlust.com/journal/debunking-five-stereotypes-of-yoga-and-yogis/.

Your Word

Back to few decades ago, Bee Gees sang a legendary song: “Smile an everlasting smile, a smile can bring you near to me. Don’t ever let me find you down, cause that would bring a tear to me. This world has lost its glory, let’s start a brand new story now, my love. Right now, there’ll be no other time and I can show you how, my love. Talk in everlasting words, and dedicate them all to me. And I will give you all my life, I’m here if you should call to me. You think that I don’t even mean a single word I say. It’s only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away.”

Great song and it sounds heartfelt when they sing “it’s only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away.” But when you think about it, why are there only words?

In my opinion, every word is beautiful and will be more wonderful if we can arrange in a sentence, a paragraph, or a poem. As such what Rumi did on his poems. One example: “If I give my life for your sake, I will die well. And if I am the slave of your slave, I will be a happy price. I am crazy from those two curls like chains. I am entranced by those two eyes, enchanted by magicians from Kashmir.”

In some words, we also find something unique. As can be mentioned, there is a HELL in HELLO. There is an END in FRIEND. There is OVER in LOVER. There is a LIE in BELIEVE. There is GOOD in GOODBYE. And … There is FUN in FUNERAL.

For me, every word can show how I am. It is kind of identity and character. I still remember when at least there were two senior peers suddenly evaluated my words. First, that was due to my chosen words. As she had a high hope over me to be a good leader, she said that I should be careful of my words. At that time I frequently used improper words and she thought that it was not good in shaping my future personality. Then, another peer warned me for the same things, my chosen words. She said that as a law student I should pay attention on what words I pick and consider what the effect of what I did.

Then I realize that I choose the words that I use in the same way that I choose the clothes I wear and the colour I paint my lounge. Words are powerful, emotive and evocative. My choice is not accidental, it’s deliberate. Words say everything about me.

I also know that changing the way I speak depending on who I am speaking to and which circumstances I am. Not always in big ways, but always in some ways. I strongly believe that the way we select our words and the way we set in a sentence can be revamped as well. Reading a lot and making frequent conversation with friends are simple examples that I can do. Others, you can name it as based on yourself.

All in all, my experience in the usage of word hopefully can be a lesson learned for you and Your Word. Thank you.

Jakarta Toastmasters Club, Monday, 10 July 2023.

GMAT Task 06: The City of Helios

Task 06

Date: 6 September 2016  

Question:

The following appeared as part of an article in a magazine devoted to regional life:

“Corporations should look to the city of Helios when seeking new business opportunities or a new location. Even in the recent recession, Helio’s unemployment rate was lower than the regional average. It is the industrial center of the region, and historically it has provided more than its share of the region’s manufacturing jobs. In addition, Helios is attempting to expand its economic base by attracting companies that focus on research and development of innovative technologies.”

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 discussion what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Source: http://www.mba.com/~/media/Files/mba/NEWTheGMAT/AnalysisofanArgument100606.pdf

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My Answer (corrections and/or comments available in the brackets are made by Mr Herry, a teacher of IELC Solo):

On an article published in a magazine, a writer recommended Helios city for business people intending to start and/or expand their businesses. This is based on the fact that the city could survive in the last economic turmoil as shown on its unemployment rate that kept being at the lower rate compared to the regional average. It also contributes a lot for manufacturing industries and has a plan to develop its region focusing on research and development of innovative technologies.

However, what the writer said is still arguable. As business people, considering only one factor such as the ability to maintain unemployment rate lower than that of regional average does not make sense for decisions on business expansion. Whether they start and/or expand their businesses must be based on some variables, for example: labor wages, infrastructures, government incentives and supports, and availability of raw materials. Those variables are very crucial to the sustainability of their business and the unemployment rate is only one of them.

The low unemployment rate, in addition, means that the majority of workforce human resources is already employed are working. So, the writer absolutely did not think about the effect of this. As the rate is going down, it will be more difficult for business people to find and then hire employees. If there are some employees available, they will probably ask for a higher than standard salary have a higher salary bargaining power and the start-up businesses absolutely will not benefit from this situation.

Moreover, the writer did not inform enough statistical data especially about the human resources. For instance the availability of human resources based on age, gender, subject of the latest education, education level, and education background. Those can be basic information before making decision. A case in point, a developed country like Singapore, must have a low unemployment rate. In that country, older people are also easily encountered in public areas, such as in malls or in restaurants, and they work are working until late night. Hence, the low unemployment rate is not a guarantee to find employees based on what the companies want.

Another statement of the writer was also said that the city of Helios is attracting investors and or companies particularly whose core business is on research and development of innovative technologies. It seems that what the writer provided about the low unemployment rate and the great manufacturing jobs are contradicts with the current focus of the city. It is not easy for the research and development companies to find employees who know and/or experience in the field of research and development because mostly their background and/or work experiences relates to the manufacturing industries. Furthermore, the writer also did not mention what other factors that make the related companies come to invest. The lower tax rates, high speed internet access, and laboratories are some examples.

On the article, besides, did not mention how the Helios’ municipal will manage the city and locate the research and development based companies. As can be noted that between manufacturing industries and research and development industries may require different circumstances and result different effects. In manufacturing industries, generally, space and noise are the things to be considered they need a huge space and produce noises, either for their machines or their employees, also generate apart from pollution, such as from the chimney of their production system. Conversely, in research and development industries?, they ask for space that is relatively quiet and far from pollution and noise.
 (Change and/or rephrase these last 2-3 sentences)

In summary, the writer did not convey some factors in details on the article. There must be thorough information on how the city of Helios can attract more investors to invest and why they should do.

Italic Words: Words corrected by the teacher

Underlined Words: Words that should be omitted and/or changed

Words in Brackets: comments from the teacher

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Sample Answer 1:

In the article corporations are encouraged to settle their business in the city of Helios when seeking for new business opportunities or a new location. This recommendation is based on the fact that the city of Helios is the industrial center of the region, given that historically it has provided more than its share of the region’s manufacturing jobs, and its unemployment rate was lower than the regional average even in the recent recession. Furthermore the city is trying to expand its economic base by attracting new companies focusing on research and development of innovative technologies. Though this argument is somewhat persuasive, it is unconvincing since the author’s line of reasoning is based on questionable premises and assumptions.

First he supports his recommendation by claiming that the city’s unemployment rate was lower than the regional average even during recession. However a lower-than-average unemployment rate seem attractive for job applicants but not very positive for corporations that are likely to incur higher costs for recruitment than in cities where more people are seeking for a job. Moreover the author does not provide any evidence for supporting his claim: it would become meaningless if we came to know that there is just an industrialized city in the region.

Second it is questionable whether the available labor in Helios could support all type of business. Even though it is a great environment for industrial and manufacturing companies, it is likely that the local perspective employees are not suitable for other type of corporations, like financial service companies. Furthermore the city’s attempt to expand its economic base by attracting companies involved in research and development activities does not mean that city would achieve its goal.

In sum the author fails to provide compelling reasons for why Helios is a great site for companies wishing to relocate. Nor the author provides compelling reasons for companies seeking for new business opportunities to choose Helios. If the author had included these items, the argument would have certainly been much more convincing.

Source: http://www.findscore.com/essays/35813.html
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Sample Answer 2:

The argument states that corporations looking at expanding their base should consider Helios as the place. This argument is flawed as it is based on certain premises and assumptions that if wrong can change the picture all together.

First, the premise is that the unemployment rate is Helios was lower than the regional average. The argument is trying to convey that the plants based out of Helios are efficent. This can hardly be true. It is possible that the unemployment rate is low because the population is low and hence the percentage is lower then the average. Also there is a possibility that the industries in Helios are recession proof. For example it might be a simple flour factory and even in recession people do buy flour. And even if the unemployment rate is lower this does not mean that the company should exist there. It depends on individual companies and their policies and practices.

The second premise is that it is an industrial hub and have provided large number of manufacturing jobs. Though the fact that a city is an industrial hub is always a better choice for a corporation to exist this doesnt mean that it is a best and suits all types of industries.For intance Detroit is a hub for automobiles company so any new company entering USA should consider having a plant there but if it is a software compnay Silicon Valley should be the first choice.

The other part where it says that Helios provide a large number of manufacturing jobs adds to the point made above, i.e. the city is suitable for a certain sectors and not all. But here again it is not mentioned what kind of manufacturing jobs.

There is also mention about that the city is looking at attracting companies with focus on research and development. Here the assumption is that Helios have a large skilled workforce. But what is not mentioned is what type of skills the workers possess. If they are mechanical engineers it make more sense for heavy engineering companies to set up their corporations there.

Thus to conclude, the argument to favor the city of Helios when seeking new business opportunities or a new location is flawed as the premises are vey genric. It should be specific as to what are the conditions in the city with respect to the different industries that exist in the area.

Source: http://gmatclub.com/forum/preparation-for-awa-please-provide-inputs-102436.html

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Sample Answer 3:

The author concludes that corporations should look to the city of Helios when seeking new business opportunities or new location. The author’s line of reasoning is that the Helios’s unemployment rate was lower than the regional average and the city is also attempting to expand its economic base by attracting companies that focus on research and development on innovative technologies. The author’s recommendation seems to be questionable for two reasons.

First of all, the author assumes that the corporation move to Helios as its unemployment rate is lower than the regional average. However, the big corporations who would be interested in hiring thousands of people might not be interested in moving to Helios because the unemployment rate is lower than the regional average the big corporations. Moreover, the author mentions that Helios has provided more than its share of manufacturing jobs, but the author recommends all the corporations to look to the city of Helios. The author’s recommendation and conclusion does not go hand in hand and raises several doubts.

Secondly, the author fails to consider that the city of Helios may not suit all type of businesses. For example, the city might be the best city for manufacturing jobs but the city might not be well suited for sales and marketing jobs. The author needs to demonstrate that the city is suited to all types of businesses and the new corporations seeking a move to the city will be able to achieve their desired goals. Because the author’s argument fails to identify the type of businesses that will gain by moving to Helios, it is impossible to assess the persuasiveness of the argument.

In conclusion, the argument is questionable as it stands. The author needs to provide additional evidence that the city of Helios is well suited for all type of businesses and that despite the lower unemployment rate large corporations will get sufficient number of people to hire. Without this additional evidence the argument lacks several key issues that could make the argument more thorough and convincing.

Source: http://www.beatthegmat.com/city-of-helios-argument-t51606.html

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Sample Answer 4:

In this article, corporations are encouraged to settle their business in the city of Helios when seeking new business opportunities or a new location. The recommendation is based on the fact that Helios is the industrial center of the region, given that the city provided more than its share of manufacturing jobs and its unemployment rate is lower than average. Furthermore, the city is taking efforts to expand the economic base of the city by attracting companies that focus on research and development of innovative technologies. This argument is somewhat persuasive but not convincing for the following two reasons.

First, lower-than-average unemployment rate seems attractive to job applicants, but actually not good for corporations. Because of the lower than average unemployment rate in Helios, companies that should recruit large numbers of employees would not find Helios a great place. Lower unemployment rate means that the incoming corporations will have to recruit new workers outside the city of Helios or lure the existing workers away from their current jobs with higher wages. Both of these two alternatives will result in higher recruiting costs, and therefore make Helios a BAD place for business.

Second, it is questionable whether the available labor in Helios could support all types of business. Even though the city of Helios has great environment for industrial and manufacturing companies, it is likely that the local prospective employees are not suitable for other types of corporations, such as financial service companies. Furthermore, the city’s attempt to attract companies that focus on research and development of innovative technologies does not necessarily result in the expanding economic base as it expect.

In sum, the author did not provide compelling reasons for why Helios is a great site for a company wishing to relocate. Nor has the author provided compelling reasons for companies seeking new business opportunities to choose Helios. If the author had included the above items, it may be more convincing.

Source: http://www.eduers.com/gmat/sampleargument06.htm

GMAT Task 04: The Mercury

Task 04

Date: 6 September 2016 

 

Question:

The following appeared in an announcement issued by the publisher of The Mercury, a weekly newspaper:

“Since a competing lower-priced newspaper, The Bugle, was started five years ago, The Mercury’s circulation has declined by 10,000 readers. The best way to get more people to read The Mercury is to reduce its price below that of The Bugle, at least until circulation increases to former levels. The increased circulation of The Mercury will attract more businesses to buy advertising space in the paper.”

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 discussion what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Source: http://www.mba.com/~/media/Files/mba/NEWTheGMAT/AnalysisofanArgument100606.pdf

My Answer (corrections and/or comments available in the brackets are made by Mrs Amanda, a teacher of IELC Solo):

Due to the lower-priced newspaper published by a competitor named The Bugle (put in italics like the prompt did), The Mercury claimed that it has experienced a relatively dramatic decline on its readers by 10,000. Hence, The Mercury, a weekly newspaper publisher, announced to cut its price to until below to its competitor and it will stay at this price occur until the circulation returns back to former levels. (Make sure to paraphrase more by using different words and phrases. Don’t forget that the writer believes that if The Mercury gains more readers, this will result in an increase in busineses investing in addvertisements in the newspaper.)

In that case, the announcement of the management is not well-supported by some facts before making decision. At first, there is no information whether the decline in the circulation affects significantly affects to the revenues or not. If the decline is inline with the decreasing revenues, the publisher may have to take make firm actions. If The Mercury still makes profit, it should not lower its newspapers’ price. (Why? Also, the writer makes the assumption that The Bungle has taken readers from The Mercury without providing any evidence to prove this.)

Second, the management writer did not consider other factors that perhaps determined the drop of its circulation within the last five years. Some factors might include that could happen such as the quality of the content, (No comma when listing only 2 items) and the ineffectiveness of its transportation system. Perhaps The Mercury gave its readers with topics that were not up-to-date, presented uninterested topics, or used bad visualizations. The transportation, on the other hand, might also take part in to the decreasing circulation. For example, some cars were in trouble, (No comma) or there was no electronic transportation system to control the circulation.

Third, using The Bugle as a barometer to what The Mercury wanted to do for the future might not be relevant. Probably, both The Bugle and The Mercury have different segments segmentation. The writer management of The Mercury should understand who the what it will be its targeted readers are. On In the announcement, The Mercury the writer tends to focus on obtaining advertisements’ rents from business people. So, it might be that The Mercury offers news mainly towards business people; however, there is no explanation of this provided in the writer’s argument. Then, the business people commonly do not ponder on how much the price of the newspaper is. (This was related to the number of readers in the arguement, not the price. Try to avoid too much speculation, and focus more on the arguement of the writer.) Their The writer’s stances whether to put advertisements on The Mercury must be based on concrete evidence and sound reasoning some variables. For instance, who the typical readers of The Mercury are and where The Mercury are sold. (focus on thesis statement at the end of the paragraph or the main idea of this paragraph.)

The last Finally, the reasons of the declining circulation and how to attract more businesses to buy advertising space in The Mercury is also about its marketing strategy. In that case, The Mercury can be indicated not having a good team for its marketing. It failed to market its advertising spaces that led to the lost of circulation. (Focus more on providing an analysis of the arguement in the prompt rather than the business mentioned in the text.)

To sum up, the announcement is too shallow to be used in as a corporate action. The mercury must consider some arguable factors mentioned above. (summarize your main points)

Italic Words: Words corrected and/or added by the teacher

Underlined Words: Words that should be omitted and/or changed

Words in Brackets: comments from the teacher

Sample Answer 1:

This argument is unconvincing because it relies on too many assumptions that aren’t necessarily true. There are three areas that merit further explanations before this author should receive any credibility.

My first problem with this argument is about the circulation of the paper, There are many other factors such as quality of the content of the paper, locations covered, awareness of the people etc… will also effect the circulation decline apart from the price. So the author should also concentrate on the above factors before making any conclusion.

My second problem with the statement is that reduce its pricing sounds illogical, as the printing costs, salaries to the employees and other infrastructure, which incurs for producing the newspaper, will decide the pricing. Sudden reduction of the price without proper calculation on the above may challenge to run the newspaper. Further more, sudden reduction in the pricing readers may doubt on the quality of the paper and which may lead to further decline in the readership.

Lastly, I take issue with the publisher’s analysis and survey; do the publisher considered the quality, market penetration, size of the paper and advertisement, which are essential points to increase the readership? If ‘Bungle’ scores high on the above points then answer is in front of us for Mercury’s readership decline.

There are just too many holes in this argument, so it is difficult to take author seriously, unless some further evidence surfaces in each of the three areas described above. The premises that are presented are insufficient proof that the conclusion is viable.

Source: http://www.findscore.com/essays/20307.html

GMAT Task 03: A Large City’s Council

Task 03

Date: 5 September 2016

 

Question:

The following appeared in a memorandum issued by a large city’s council on the arts:

“In a recent citywide poll, 15 percent more residents said that they watch television programs about the visual arts than was the case in a poll conducted five years ago. During these past five years, the number of people visiting our city’s art museums has increased by a similar percentage. Since the corporate funding that supports public television, where most of the visual arts programs appear, is now being threatened with severe cuts, we can expect that attendance at our city’s art museums will also start decrease. Thus some of the city’s funds for supporting the arts should be reallocated to public television.”

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 discussion what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Source: http://www.mba.com/~/media/Files/mba/NEWTheGMAT/AnalysisofanArgument100606.pdf

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My Answer (corrections and/or comments available in the brackets are made by Mrs Amanda, a teacher of IELC Solo):

A memorandum of a large city’s council on the arts stated that more of the city’s budget should be used more for public television than art museums. However, the argument needs to be reevaluated since there are some factors that are still not supported enough (and faulty reasoning) .

At first, we can see (use passive to avoid writing “we”) that the poll has yet to reveal detailed information regarding how the poll was conducted, how many residents were used as interviewees, and about the circumstances of the latest poll and the one conducted five years ago. In addition, the statistical methods used for both polls is also important to know, such as whether both have the same methods or not, whether both have the same assumptions, and so many things (stop doing this “so many things”).

GMAT Task 02: The Apogee Company

Task 02

Date: 5 September 2016
Question:

The following appeared in a memorandum from the business department of the Apogee Company:

“When the Apogee Company had all its operations in one location, it was more profitable that it is today. Therefore, the Apogee Company should close down its field offices and conduct all its operations from a singe location. Such centralization would improve profitability by cutting costs and helping the company maintain better supervision of all employees.”

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 discussion what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Source: http://www.mba.com/~/media/Files/mba/NEWTheGMAT/AnalysisofanArgument100606.pdf

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My Answer (corrections and/or comments available in the brackets are made by Mrs Amanda, a teacher of IELC Solo):

A memorandum of the Apogee Company, the head of business department thought that based on history (what history exatcly) the company could make more profit when it only has one business location in operation. Hence, he suggested that it (be more specific. They wanted to shut down all other locations. This is an important detail) seems to be an idea. Moreover, the centralization may (include that this is the writer’s opinion) also improve its profits through cutting costs and maintaining better supervision towards all employees.

The head of business department should conduct thorough research and put a lot of consideration into such a drastic change. Using historical data and information (the writer did not even use historical information. He just jumped to a conclusion based on one fact) is not adequate enough to make corporate action. Such as whether to have a single business location or not. He must consider and compare between what happened in the past and what is happening at this moment in all aspects such as macro-micro economics, and its competitors.

GMAT Task 01: The Olympic Foods

Task 01

Date: 31 August 2016

Question:

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 discussion what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Source: http://www.mba.com/~/media/Files/mba/NEWTheGMAT/AnalysisofanArgument100606.pdf

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My Answer (corrections and/or comments available in the brackets are made by Mr Herry, a teacher of IELC Solo):

An expectation coming from an annual report of Olympic Foods, a frozen food manufacturer, states that a long experience will help its management operate its production more efficiently such as by minimizing costs of processing that leads to making more profits. This is owing to a common assumption that if organizations learn to run its business better and more for a long period of time, it will push the costs of processing to decrease. (include the color film processing example here)

In my opinion, there is not enough evident that guarantees a long experience can make the company run its business as well. Many companies record consecutive decreasing year-on-year revenues and make lost after changing their top managements. This particularly happens in family based companies in which they make heyday during the first generation of the family, but then the predecessors cannot handle the take-over companies as well.

Jostling for A share of The Tax Amnesty Fund

It has been one week since the tax amnesty law became effective. The legislation, which creates a mechanism to bring tax evaders back into compliance with the law, will require individuals and companies to repay taxes and pay fines. Incoming funds will be channeled through a number of banks and the money will be managed by investment managers and security firms. The finance ministry has assigned 19 banks, 18 investment managers and 19 securities firms to the task.

Tax Amnesty Participants:

• Personal taxpayers;
• Micro, small and medium enterprise (SMEs) taxpayers;
• Corporate taxpayers;
• An individual or entity that has not become a taxpayer.

Requairements:

• Pay redemption money;
• Bring back assets parked abroad;
• Disclose hidden wealth.

Those Who May Not Participate:

• Under investigation with case file declared complete by the Attorney-General’s Office;
• Under trial;
• Serving criminal sentence.

In Need of Understanding Cultures for Business

Globalization has been pushing multinational companies to expand their business all across the world. They do research in order to find many countries which have lots of benefits for their business profits. These probably include location saving (for example low labor cost, property tax cost and material cost), and market premium (such as loyal customers and huge market).

Nevertheless, penetrating brands or products into a new country is not easy. Commonly, an international company has to understand the cultures of the destination country. These consist of many aspects ranging from language, manners, clothing, religion, rituals, norms of behavior and system of belief. The understanding of the cultures is very important because the cultures can be a medium through which all communications travel and also the best way for the company to market its products effectively and efficiently. In other words, culture is the one thing that enables the company, especially its marketers, to create greater engagement, relevance, and grow their business.

Surat Al-‘Asr (The Time)

[English translation of the meanings of the Ayats]

In the Name of Allah, the most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

1. By Al-‘Asr (the time).
2. Verily, man is in loss,
3. Except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth [i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al-Ma’ruf) which Allah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al-Munkar) which Allah has forbidden], and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allah’s Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad).