GMAT Task 06: The City of Helios
by PJWisaksono
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.
PJWisaksono 