essay - GMAT: Issue 11

Question:

"In any enterprise, the process of making or doing something is ultimately more important than the final product."

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Answer:
I believe that the final product is ultimately more important than the process of making or doing something, although the process or the procedure is indispensable for the company. This belief constitutes the following points.

First, what customers buy is the final product. Even though the company has brillient processes and practices, if the final product cannot satisfy the customers' needs, then it's equal that the company doesn't deliver any value to the customers. For instance, I can take a typical example from the famed book, "The Innovator's Dilemma", saying that even if a company manufacturing 5-inch disk drives has a process that may satisfy the customer like marketing and development function, there's a possibility that the company cannot respond to new customer's needs like a 3.5-inch disk drive.

Second, focusing on process might cause companies to be cost-inefficient. Defining, creating, and maintaining processes that a company has comes with high costs. The company may need to hire additional human resouces like consultants or business analyists. In general, a process itself doesn't have any value that the customer can receive. Therefore, adhering to the process forces the customers to pay additional costs.

I, however, want to insist that the process is indispensable for companies. Excellent processes make the company excellent. In other words, every excellent company has brillient processes that make the company be able to produce brillient final products. For instance, Toyota, one of the best automakers, has a well-known process named "Kanban" system. The final product like Prius can be produced, because Toyota has such kind of process.

To sum up, I believe that companies should focus on its products rather than its processes, because the customer can be satisfied with the final product, not the process. In addition to this, the excessive focus on processes makes the cost structure burdened for the company and the customer.