blog - BarackObamaJapan Project

The Day is coming to us.

I started engaging in BarackObamaJapan project, translating his great speeches and uploading them onto YouTube. (Please search with 'BarackObamaJapan' or visit http://jp.youtube.com/user/BarackObamaJapan)

I've been watching him have great speeches, show deep knowledge and high-spirited principles, treat his opponents with respect, and creatively lead his campaign toward the historical day that the world is yearning for.

I bet, I'm convinced, I assure, I totally believe that Barack Obama is the one who will bring us change that we have never seen before. I thank God in spending the same time with him, sharing a common belief with him, and seeing him as a model leader.

I actually knew that he would win this election when I saw him make a victory speech in Iowa on January 3rd, 2008. I knew that he would bring us significant change when I read his brilliant two books concerning his faith, his discipline, and his dream. I knew that when he had shown his unchangeable honesty, decency, and hope.

Hope! What we are looking at is hope! The miracle that we can have a great leader who exert the influence all across the world. The world has been waiting for this moment, this miracle, this great president.

Japan will also change. All new-fledged politicians will see him realize ideal politics. All people will know him bringing us a new type of politics, bipartisanship, and a new era of democracy.

The time has come! Let's enjoy it. Let's talk about it. Let's be excited by it. On November 4th, everything will change. Not only 8 year wrong politics will end, but also the dawn of new idealism will come.


The time has come!

essay - GMAT: Argument 28

The following appeared in a newspaper editorial:

As violence in movies increases, so do crime rates in our cities. To combat this problem we must establish a board to censor certain movies, or we must limit admission to persons over 21 years of age. Apparently our legislators are not concerned about this issue since a bill calling for such actions recently failed to receive a majority vote.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author asserts that the recent increase of crimes attributes to the resent increase of violent scenes in movies, and then some corrective actions are required. He proposes two concrete actions: to establish a board censoring the violent scenes, and to limit admission to persons over 21 years of age. Besides, he sees that the legislators are not concerned about this issue on the ground that similar legislations were lately rejected. Although his reasoning is not completely imperfect, it contains several fallacies, thereby failing to convince the readers.

First of all, although he attributes the cause of the recent increase of crimes in the cities to the increase of violent scenes in movies, this argument is apparently incorrect. This is a typical "because this happens after that, that is the reason of this" logic. I mean, the true cause of the increased crime rate may be for another reason such as an influx of immigrants or surging unemployment rate. To make the argument convincing, the author should show the direct link between the increased crimes and the increased violent scenes.

Then, assuming that the violence scene is a direct cause of recent increase crimes, we can find an error in the policy of prohibiting young audiences from violent movies. If the author wants to limit admission to young people, he needs to show clear evidence that young people are source of recent crimes. Without doing that, it's unreasonable and unfair to prohibit only young people from seeing movies. This is a kind of discrimination.

Finally, the author contends that the legislators are not concerned about the issue, but this claim is unwarranted. I mean, the fact that certain legislation couldn't attain majority doesn't necessarily mean that the legislators are not concerned about it. The legislation may have had a serious flaw such as violation of constitutional right or discriminational aspect. Then, blaming the legislators for the reason is unreasonable.

In conclusion, the author fails to make its argument convincing for some reasons that I mentioned above. To strengthen the argument, the author should at least show a direct link between the recent increase of crimes and the recent increase of violent scenes in movies, for instance, by conducting scientific human behavioral research to identify the reason of increased crimes.

essay - GMAT: Issue 28

A company fs long-term success is primarily dependent on the job satisfaction and the job security felt by the company fs employees.

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

Answer:
In terms of my belief that success for corporations depends on people working at the company, I agree with the opinion that a company's long-term success is primarily dependent on the job satisfaction and the job security felt by the company's employees. Yet, at the same time, we should keep in mind that the degree varies with the industry to which the company belongs and the maturity level that the company's employees present. I start with my general belief connecting to this subject, and then I mention the dependency that this subject has.

First and foremost, my strong belief about company's success is that people are fundamental success factors for any organization. People can creatively produce the company's middle-term or long-term business plan. People can invent revolutionary products and implement them in the production lines. Therefore, companies should first invest in people, not in factories or a headquarters building. Then, taking a look at the opinion articulated above, I can find a stringent bond between people themselves and their job satisfaction. How does a company keep its smart, competent employees for a long time? How does a company empower or motivate its employees? The answer is simple: give them all necessary stuff, and get them to have satisfaction that makes them think to continue working for the company. In this sense, I strongly support the idea that attaining employees' satisfaction should be the first priority for companies.

At the same time, however, we need to take into account the dependency that the policy has. That is to say, the degree that an enterprise weighs the policy depends on the industry and the maturity level. First, the effectiveness that a company earns through the people is fully influenced by the industry that the company stands on. For instance, namely heavy industrial sectors may be more influenced by its equipment or patent it has. On the other hand, most of service industry companies have a heavy weight on the people. Then, regarding a maturity level, a company should be flexible about treating its people by considering whether the people can be proactive or not. I mean, for instance, if the employees are immature, or in other words, they can not perform their jobs proactively or creatively, the company may need to take a strong control on its people by, for instance, defining its business processes forcibly or limiting employees' @autorities. What I'd like to say is that a company needs to place its position for the policy on people in a flexible manner.

To sum up, I generally agree with the idea that job satisfaction is a critical factor for any organization. Yet, at the same time, I'd like to call managers f attention to make sure that the effectiveness varies with various factors as I mentioned above.

essay - GMAT: Argument 27

The following appeared in a memorandum from a member of a financial management and consulting firm:

We have learned from an employee of Windfall, Ltd., that its accounting department, by checking about 10 percent of the last month fs purchasing invoices for errors and inconsistencies, saved the company some $10,000 in overpayments. In order to help our clients increase their net gains, we should advise each of them to institute a policy of checking all purchasing invoices for errors. Such a recommendation could also help us get the Windfall account by demonstrating to Windfall the rigorousness of our methods.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author, a member of a financial management and consulting firm, asserts that the firm should take a new strategy that the consultants of the firm advise the clients to check with the purchasing invoices to detect overpayment. As the reason, he cites that an employee of WIndfall, Ltd. states that the company saved approximately 10,000 dollars by checking just about 10 percent of the last month's purchasing invoices. The author also mentions that this strategy makes it possible that the firm acquires the account of Windfall as a result of showing the rigorous methods to Windfall. His reasoning is not quite wrong, but several considerations should be taken.

First, although he doesn't show the cost of detection performed by Windfall, the cost may be higher than expected. That is, say, if the detection had cost the company more than 10,000 dollars (this possibility is quite low though), the saving would have brought no value to the company. Therefore, he should have shown this kind of information necessary to judge whether the policy is reasonable or not.

Second, it is ignored that the effectiveness of this policy depends on the company applying it. I mean that the fact that Windfall could save 10,000 dollars doesn't necessarily mean that the other companies can save the same amount of money. For instance, Windfall has a serious ill-managed ordering process; the employees give the suppliers the vague information, thereby making the supplies provide wrong invoices. In this case, if a company may take in this policy, it cannot save the same amount of money, since the company already has a process to prevent overpayments.

In conclusion, although his idea seems reasonable, since the argument has uncertainty in terms of the reasons that I mentioned above, he fails to convince the readers to agree with his idea. To strengthen the argument, at the very least, he should mention the cause of the overpayment happened in Windfall.

essay - GMAT: Issue 27

Location has traditionally been one of the most important determinants of a business fs success. The importance of location is not likely to change, no matter how advanced the development of computer communications and others kinds of technology becomes.

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

Answer:
The speaker says that location is one of the most important determinants for business organizations and then this will continue even under the circumstance of fast-growing development of technologies including computer communications. I agree with his opinion to some extent, but I generally believe that the importance is going to diminish little by little. Also, I point out that the importance varies with the industry that the business organization belongs.

As everybody is aware, information technology is rapidly developing. Nowadays, any smooth business activity can not be performed without email, Internet sites, laptops, and so forth. Electrical commerce (E-commerce) especially affects the importance of location. E-commerce is a type of business; commercial activity through the Internet. If a company has a commerce site on the Internet, the company can sell or buy any products on the Internet. (Of course, the product is conveyed to the customer by shipping.) In this case, location is not a crucially important factor for the company. Even a company which has only the virtual shop exists. (A typical example is Amazon.com. It sells books and other gadgets on its sites and doesn't any physical store.) Therefore, under this circumstance, the importance is relatively going down for enterprises.

Also, I'd like to spell out the relationship between the importance of location and the type of business. For retail industries, such as the food service industry or a shopping center business, location is critically important for the success. If a restaurant owner starts its business at the site where nobody comes, the failure is inevitably showing up. On the other hand, for B2B companies (B2B stands for business to business), location is not necessarily important, because the frequency of transaction is less and it is general that sales person visits the customer to make a deal. Therefore, although the speaker doesn't mention, this aspect should be taken into consideration when talking about the importance of location.

To sum up, while agreeing with the importance of location to some extent, I don't agree with the claim that the importance won't change. In addition, the importance depends on the type of business.

essay - GMAT: Argument 26

The following appeared as part of an article in a magazine on lifestyles:

Two years ago, City L was listed 14th in an annual survey that ranks cities according to the quality of life that can be enjoyed by those living in them. This information will enable people who are moving to the state in which City L is located to confidently identify one place, at least, where schools are good, housing is affordable, people are friendly, the environment is safe, and the arts flourish.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author of this article indicates that City L is the best choice for people considering coming to the state where the city is located because of good schools, reasonable housing costs, friendly friends, the safe environment, and the flourished arts. This reasoning, however, is very weak since necessary information is not shown.

First, the reader can not judge the city is truly good. That is, the author shows the result of the survey conducted two years ago, but necessary information such as how many cities were surveyed or what kind of people answered the survey. Therefore, the reader has a doubt on the claim.

Second, the second sentence of the article is completely ambiguous. What does the author want to say? Since the sentence doesn't contain clear conclusion such as City L has the benefits or something, the reader gets confused in how to judge its contention.

In conclusion, this argument is really poor in terms of the lack of necessary information and clear conclusion.

blog - Vision For Week

I'm having lunch with a person who works for the other Indian company on Wednesday. I'm going to Mitake, a mountain area west of Tokyo, with my two young brothers on Saturday. Other than that, I'm fully devoting myself to rigorous routine work mainly focused on Toefl and Gmat.

Toefl, an examination gauging English proficiency, consists of four parts: reading, listening, speaking, and writing section. My previous focal point was only on the speaking section, because my score on that was quite low. But lately revealed that my listening should be improved. In order to get nearly perfect score.

Gmat, an examination gausing verbal ability in English and quantative skills, is an exam that even US people take. This means that required English ability is much higher than exams like Toeic and Toefl, which are specifically for non-native speakers. My challenge is here. To get a high score enough to get top MBA schools, I need totally to immerse myself into Gmat world.

On the other hand, I'd also like to focus on English itself. I'd like to learn "small talk" to make conversation more smooth. I'd like to learn more specialized words especially in environment, business, politics, and IT world.


I'm ready to go.

blog - My First Surfing

My first surfing was performed well! I went to Hirai and Kashima in Ibaragi Prefacture last Saturday, and I surfed for the first time in my life. That was amazing, splandish, and my back hurt.

We had also a campfire at the previous night. That was also amazing. Shining stars, shooting stars, baked mashmaros, nice guys. Everything was perfect!

I got back home at the evening on Saturday, and I saw the Vice Presidential debate held in US between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. That was interesting, though I got asleep at the middle of the show.

I was seeking my new possibilities last week. I got to read new books, have a lunch with new colleagues, and even go surfing for the first. That was pretty good. But at the same time, I'm feeling I get to go back to my routine tasks. Toefl, gmat, and so forth.


Wonderful the world is.

essay - GMAT: Issue 26

The best strategy for managing a business, or any enterprise, is to find the most capable people and give them as much authority as possible.

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

Answer:
I agree that finding the best people and giving them the environment where they freely work is the best practice for any type of organization. However, a few considerations should be taken place. That is, the effectiveness varies with the industry, and the extend to which authority should be given depends on the maturity level of the organization. I'll first show my thought about the effectiveness of the policy and then reveal two aspects that should be taken into consideration.

First, I believe that finding the best people and giving them an appropriate environment is the best strategy that any corporation could take. All activities that corporations perform come from the people. All success factors depend on the people. And all machinery is invented by the people. Therefore, hiring the best people is the first strategy that any corporation should take. Besides, empowerment is a key practice in the case, especially for the best people. Various studies show that the best people need to be empowered (i.e. delegated) in order to exert their performance fully. Therefore, I totally agree with the statement that these practices are essential for any organization

What I'd like to insist is, however, that the effect is strengthened or limited by the circumstance where the organization stands. I mean, the effect is in proportion to the room that the organization has for human resources. For instance, in case the organization is a manufacturer of iron sheets, the performance of the company most depends on the physical assets such as the factory and the machinery, not on human resources. In this case, the effect is limited to the extent that the people can exert their influence. On the other hand, in case the organization is in the service industry like the hotel or the food service industry, the degree is heightened. Therefore, at the time thinking of the effectiveness of the strategy, this point should be highlighted.

In addition, the degree of given authority should be taken into consideration when thinking of this strategy. That is, giving people authority sometimes causes trouble in case the people are not ready to be given or in case the environment of the company is not appropriate for it. For instance, if the employee's maturity level is low (maturity level means the constituent's skills or proactivity, say, the professionalism), delegating power to the employees will cause unexpected catastrophe such as sabotage. Or, if the company faces serious or extremely fast-changing situation like a crisis of bankruptcy, giving the employees authority is not a good option (since the clear chain of command and the fast decision making is necessary in this case). Therefore, this aspect should be considered, when empowerment takes place.

To sum up, as a whole I support the idea that getting the best people in place and giving them authority is the best strategy for any organization, although some considerations should be taken as I mentioned above.

essay - GMAT: Argument 25

The following appeared in a memo from the customer service division to the manager of Mammon Savings and Loan:

We believe that improved customer service is the best way for us to differentiate ourselves from competitors and attract new customers. We can offer our customers better service by reducing waiting time in teller lines from an average of six minutes to an average of three. By opening for business at 8:30 instead of 9:00, and by remaining open for an additional hour beyond our current closing time, we will be better able to accommodate the busy schedules of our customers. These changes will enhance our bank fs image as the most customer-friendly bank in town and give us the edge over our competition.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
In service industries, the quality of customer service has a critical role in enhancing the competitive advantage. The author of the memo tries to convince the managers that Mammon Savings and Loan can have a competitively strong position over the competitors through improving its customer services. His plan is to shorten customer's waiting time in the lines of teller and broaden its service window one and a half hour. His argument is generally reasonable, but for several reasons it fails to convince the readers to go about the plan.

First, and most important, the argument ignores the side effect of its improvements. That is, the service improvement plan comes with huge costs, and the author by no means mentions the aspect. Apparently, if the argument is not equipped with necessary information, the argument fails to function. In terms of this, the argument is so weak that the manager of customer service department fails to obtain agreement from his colleagues. Then, what types of cost can be considered? Above all, payroll costs would rise up much higher than expected. One of his plans is to increase open hours for customer's convenience one and a half hour, but the increase of the payroll costs is not the proportion of the increased time. In order to enhance the time window, generally, more resource than increased timeframe is required. Also, regarding one of his proposals, improving the customer's waiting time, the company needs to put much effort to cut it in half. The company, for instance, needs to set up new service desks and hire new service personnel, as well as restructure its business process maybe by using a consultancy agent. In sum, if the company implement the improvement plans, then its customer satisfaction might show the improvement. But don't forget that it would come with huge costs.

Second, he fails to show a specific approach to improve the customer's waiting time. Although he easily says that the time can be half of current one, it's easier said than done. As I mentioned earlier, it needs much effort to realize. Therefore, the manager should have mentioned his approach for the improvement.

In conclusion, it's right that improvement of customer satisfaction in service sectors considerably contributes to the increased brand image and differentiation from the competitors, but as I mentioned above, due to the lack of necessary information, the argument fails to be convincing.

essay - GMAT: Issue 25

A powerful business leader has far more opportunity to influence the course of a community or a nation than does any government official.

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

Answer:
I don't agree with the opinion that business leaders can exert more influence on the course of a community or a nation than government officials. I think that government officials have advantages in terms of its power, its way, and its intention.

First, I believe that government officials have more power over the course of the community or the nation than do business leaders. The typical example is the president of the United States of America. Who can have more influence than President Bush does? He decided to start the Iraqi Invasion, not to sign Kyoto protocol, and to try to introduce 700 billion dollars bail out for Wall Street meltdown. On the other hand, Bill Gates, a founder of Microsoft, admittedly influenced the way of the world by producing a revolutionary product, Windows, but, in terms of the course of the nation, he did a little, I bet.

Second, it's clear that government officials have much more ways to exert influence on the community or the nation than business leaders do. That is, government officials have a lot of direct ways to affect the community or the nation such as constituting a new law, attending a congress, or making a speech for public. On the other hand, business leaders do not have. They can just exert indirect influence such as producing better products or advancing an opinion to government. Or, they are just privately able to attend various events such as casting a ballot or engaging in volunteer work. Therefore, as for the ways, business leaders have much less options than government officials do.

Third, I can say that if somebody wants to make the world better or change the course of the government, he would definitely choose to be a politician rather than a CEO of a corporation. I can take an example of Barack Obama, a candidate for the next president of the United States of America, my favorite politician at present. He had a choice when I graduated from university. The choice was that he would be a business person in Manhattan or would be a community organizer in Chicago. If he had chosen the way of being in the business world, he would have made big money, since he was pretty competent even at doing business. He, however, chose the way of a local community officer, although the payment was much less than one of the other job. Why did he do such a folly? The answer is simple. He just wanted to influence on the community, just wanted to improve people's quality of live, and just had an intention of changing the world. He did and will do in the United States of America.

To sum up, I disagree with the statement saying that business leaders have more influence on the community or the government than government officials do. It's because government officials have more power, because they have more ways, and because they have clearer intentions to change the course of the community or the government than business leaders do.

essay - GMAT: Argument 24

The following appeared in a speech delivered by a member of the city council:

Twenty years ago, only half of the students who graduated from Einstein High School went on to attend a college or university. Today, two?thirds of the students who graduate from Einstein do so. Clearly, Einstein has improved its educational effectiveness over the past two decades. This improvement has occurred despite the fact that the school fs funding, when adjusted for inflation, is about the same as it was 20 years ago. Therefore, we do not need to make any substantial increase in the school fs funding at this time.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The speaker, a member of the city council, asserts that no additional funding toward Einstein High School is required because the school has not needed an increase of the funding for 20 years to date and still has been improving its service. And he cites statistical data showing what percentage of the students advance to a college or university in order to support his conclusion. His conclusion, however, completely unreasonable because his reasoning contains several serious fallacies.

First, he assumes that the increase of proportion of students going on to attend a college or university is owing to the efforts of the school in improving its educational effectiveness. This assumption, however, is unwarranted because there is no clear evidence showing a direct link between the effort and the increase. That is, the increase might have been just due to a nationwide trend of increased sense toward higher education. To make it improve, the speaker should show the nationwide average of the rate at least, and should show a clear causal relationship between the effort and the increase.

Then, although the speaker reasons that there has been no increase of funding for 20 years at the school, this reasoning has big room to be criticized. That is, no increase of funding to the school doesn't necessarily mean no increase of investment in improving the service. For instance, maybe the number of the students had decreased, say, two-thirds for two decades. In the case, the school had been able to utilize its remained funding to improve its service. Therefore, his assumption that there was no fund increased is unwarranted. And this weakens the conclusion seriously.

Finally, he ignores the fact that the past trend does not necessarily ascertain the future trend. That is, his reasoning stands on the logic that something wasn't needed in the past so it must be the same in the future. This reasoning, however, may result in a serious situation. For instance, nowadays the development of information technology hikes up all around the world, so more schools have started investing in such kind of equipment such as computers or broad band Internet connection. In such case, unless the school invests a certain amount of money in the technology, the school cannot follow the trend, thereby making the students less competitive. Therefore, the speaker should have considered other factors that need to be considered when talking of the future.

In conclusion, since the speaker's reasoning has serious flaws, his conclusion that there fs no need to increase the amount of funding to Einstein High School is completely problematic.

essay - GMAT: Issue 24

Schools should be responsible only for teaching academic skills and not for teaching ethical and social values.

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:
The statement that schools should be responsible only for teaching academic skills is clearly oversimplified. The extent to which the school emphasizes academic skills depends on the type of school and the grade of the students. Besides, I personally support schools that teach ethical and social values to the students.

The statement is oversimplified. For instance, I believe that at elementary schools teaching ethical and social values should be more emphasized than at universities. Or, at law schools ethical and social values should be taught much more than at specialized technology schools. Above all, I believe that all schools should teach ethical and social values to some extent.

Nowadays, ethical or compliance matter is more and more focused. Enron gave a lot of damage on a lot of stakeholders because the management lacked ethical value. A corruption of Kenyan government was due to the lack of social value of the president. Therefore, in this contemporary era, all people should be equipped with ethical and social value. In other words, all schools should teach ethical and social value to all the students.

To sum up, I believe that the extent to which the school focuses on ethical and social value depends on the kind of the school or the age of the students, and that all schools should teach ethical and social value to the students to some extent.

essay - GMAT: Argument 23

The following appeared in the editorial section of a newspaper:

As public concern over drug abuse has increased, authorities have become more vigilant in their efforts to prevent illegal drugs from entering the country. Many drug traffickers have consequently switched from marijuana, which is bulky, or heroin, which has a market too small to justify the risk of severe punishment, to cocaine. Thus enforcement efforts have ironically resulted in an observed increase in the illegal use of cocaine.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author concludes that enforced vigilance have resulted in an observed increase in the illegal use of cocaine. The argument depends on two assumptions. First, cocaine is easier to smuggle from overseas than marijuana and heroin. Then, the increase is due to the increase from overseas. Since these assumptions are unwarranted, the argument fails to be convincing.

The first assumption is that drug traffickers have chosen cocaine rather than marijuana and heroin under the strengthened government vigilance because of the easiness. The author cites the characteristics of the other two drugs as the support to the assumption: marijuana is too bulky to smuggle, and the market of heroin too small. However, since the argument doesn't show any casual relationship between the enforcement and the increase of cocaine itself, the argument is substantially weak. For instance, the main reason why previously the amount of cocaine is relatively smaller than the others is that cocaine just may be difficult to produce.

The second assumption that the author implicitly depends on is that the observed increase is connected only with smuggling from foreign countries. That is, the author assumes that since the vigilance at the boundaries has been enforced, the amount of cocaine has been increased based on the first assumption I mentioned earlier. This assumption, however, is unwarranted. Most of the observed increase in the illegal use of cocaine may come from production in the country. If so, the assumption is not justified, and the conclusion fails. Therefore, the author needs to examine whether cocaine is produced in the country or not, and show the proportion.

In conclusion, the argument seems convincing enough, but because of two flaws that I mentioned above the argument is weak. The author should have showed or went over the following factors: the direct causal relationship between the vigilance and the increase of cocaine itself, and the amount of cocaine that is produced internally.

essay - GMAT: Issue 23

Clearly, government has a responsibility to support the arts. However, if that support is going to produce anything of value, government must place no restrictions on the art that is produced.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above? Develop your position by giving specific reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Answer:
The statement says that government should not restrict any arts that are supported by the government and have certain value. Although it is understandable to some extent, the statement is apparently exaggerated and ignores several important aspects that the government needs to consider.

First of all, if the art that is produced by government is contradicting public order and standards of decency, the government should not support it or should place some restriction on it. For instance, there's an art that has value from an artistic point of view but at the same time has a disastrous aspect for public, such as a war film containing atrocious scenes or a paint showing woman's nude. Therefore, if the art has some negative impact, the government needs to take any action on it.

Then, government also needs to take a close look at who is the stakeholder of the art. That is, suppose a painting is produced under a support from government, and then a member of some mafia obtains the art. In the case, the government must be blamed for the overlook of the affair. The same thing can be applied for the creator. That is, if government supports an artist, and the artist has an intention to harm somebody else, I must say that the support of the government failed to produce value. For instance, several years ago, satires depicting Mohammed were hugely criticized from Middle East countries in terms of the insult. It should not happen at least in arts supported by government.

To sum up, I believe the value of government support and the art itself, but the government needs to focus on the contents and the stakeholders in order to prevent malice of the stakeholders and misuse of taxpayer's money.

essay - GMAT: Argument 22

The following appeared as part of an editorial in an industry newsletter:

While trucking companies that deliver goods pay only a portion of highway maintenance costs and no property tax on the highways they use, railways spend billions per year maintaining and upgrading their facilities. The government should lower the railroad companies f property taxes, since sending goods by rail is clearly a more appropriate mode of ground transportation than highway shipping. For one thing, trains consume only a third of the fuel a truck would use to carry the same load, making them a more cost-effective and environmentally sound mode of transport. Furthermore, since rail lines already exist, increases in rail traffic would not require building new lines at the expense of taxpaying citizens.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author demands that the government should lower railroad companies' property taxes. He cites that trucking companies don't pay any property tax and railroad companies do pay as the background. He also uses two advantages that railway transportation has, fuel-efficiency and rail lines currently existing, in order to support his conclusion. However, since his argument fails to be reasonable, he fails to make the conclusion convincing.

First, although he cites railway's fuel-efficiency as an advantage that railway transportation has over trucking transportation, this citation ignores the other factors needed to be considered. First, only railway cannot complete transportation. That is, railway can convey goods from a station to another station, but conveying the goods to the final destination such as customer's home or factory requires truck or other automobile transportation. Therefore, virtually the cited figure, a third, should be diminished to some extent. Second, this argument completely ignores customer's convenience. That is, railway transportation generally requires more time to deliver than does truck transportation, thereby it costs the customer in other forms of costs such as low customer satisfaction or more inventories. Therefore, the argument should contain this information to make it reliable.

The second reason why I consider the argument unconvincing is that although the author says that increases in rail traffic would not require building new lines, this assumption is unwarranted. Admittedly, rail lines are unlikely to be required to build in comparison with roads, but it needs to be required in case the traffic exceeds its capacity. For instance, if railway transportation between town A and town B doubles, the railway company will need to build rail lines double between town A and town B.

In conclusion, although the author concludes that the government lowers the property taxes that railway companies need to pay, since the argument is unconvincing, the attempt fails.

essay - GMAT: Issue 22

Job security and salary should be based on employee performance, not on years of service. Rewarding employees primarily for years of service discourages people from maintaining consistently high levels of productivity.

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

Answer:
In my country, Japan, lifetime employment, which is a system that employers hire employees until they retire even if the performance necessarily doesn't match the company's expectation, has prevailed for a long time. In the system, many companies and many employees have enjoyed long-term prosperity from the time of the defeat in the World War II. The advantages of the system are first to foster united atmosphere and then to maintain human resources in the company even at the time to be difficult to hire new people. Growing up in Japan, however, I agree with the opinion that a merit based evaluation system is superior to the lifetime employment.

The first reason why I think so is that the lifetime employment faces difficulty when the nation's economical state is entering into the phase of ressession. Since employers cannot easily dismiss or lay off the employees in the system by the nature, the profittability goes down owning to the high payroll costs. On the other hand, the other system such as a merit based system can quickly respond to such situation. In this sense, I strongly insists that companies should adopt other than the lifetime employment system.

What I think the most important in the performance based system is that the system can highten employees' motivation much more than the other systems such as a lifetime employment. As human nature, people do their best when the efforts are rewarded. Nobody can work alone; Everybody wants reward. Therefore, companies need to pay attention to the employees' performance as closely as possible, and give them reward if the performance matches or exceeds the company's expectation.

From my personal experience, working in a fast-changing industry, information technology industry, I feel that a merit based system is especially suitable for such kind of industry. I can observe that my motivation becomes extremly high when my achievements are rewarded and then my annual salary goes up.

To sum up, I believe that a system where employees are evaluated by their performance not by their age or the duration to work is much better than the other systems in terms of the agility that the company can acquire and the fitness for human nature. Although growing up in a country which is the most famous for the lifetime employment, I bet that a merit based evaluation system will survive as the best choice for every corporation.

essay - GMAT: Argument 21

The following appeared in a memorandum from the head of a human resources department at a major automobile manufacturing company to the company's managers:

Studies have found that employees of not-for-profit organizations and charities are often more highly motivated than employees of for-profit corporations to perform well at work when their performance is not being monitored or evaluated. Interviews with employees of not-for-profit organizations suggest that the reason for their greater motivation is the belief that their work helps to improve society. Because they believe in the importance of their work, they have personal reasons to perform well, even when no financial reward is present. Thus, if our corporation began donating a significant portion of its profits to humanitarian causes, our employees f motivation and productivity would increase substantially and our overall profits would increase as well.

Discuss how well reasoned . . .etc.

Answer:
The head of a human resources department is going to donate a part of the company's profit to humanitarian uses. The assumption that he supposes is that working for a company which does so has an equal meaning to working for a non-profit organization. Since this assumption is unwarranted, his argument is completely weak.

First of all, the fundamental difference between work at a non-profit organization and work at a normal corporation is the wrok itself. And the source of motivation is generally with the work itself. That is, even if a company donates a part of the profit, the work in which the employees engage remains same. For instance, The sales person at the automobile manufacturing company invariably sells the cars or bikes to generate profit. Therefore, his motivation is supposed to be the same.

In conclusion, since the author misunderstands the source of motivation of employees, the argument is unconvincing.

essay - GMAT: Issue 21

In this age of automation, many people complain that humans are becoming subservient to machines. But, in fact, machines are continually improving our lives.

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:
Are machines our enemies, or our friends? As the speaker mentions, there are people complaining the dark side of machines, such as machines are replacing people's jobs or depriving humanity from our lives, but I strongly believe that machines, or industrialization, improve our lives.

First of all, I believe that human beings are more flexible than thought. During the era of industrial revolution, many jobs in factories were certainly replaced by machines. I suppose, they thought that machines were their enemies and they felt that they were a kind of subservient to machines. Yet, looking back at the period following the era, we can see significant changes in the social structure and we can perceive good aspects that automation brought to us. Jobs in the primary and secondary sectors, that is, agricultural and industrial sectors, have been migrated to the third sectors, service industries, leading to current prosperity of our lives. Before the start of industrial change, most of people couldn't have comfortable dinner outside their homes as we do today. This is thanks to uprising service sectors, a.k.a. flexibility of human beings; We can invent and produce new types of jobs.

In addition, I'd like to mention the functional limitation of machines and human ability of controlling machines. As most of people know, it could be happened that machines, or robots, might have intelligence, and be in a position to control human beings contrarily. A lot of novels and movies, like "Journey to Space in 2001" and "Matrix", have been depicting this phenomenon. I, however, admitting possibility that that could be happened, strongly believe that implementing intelligence superior to ones of human beings in robots is substantially impossible and that human beings are capable of completely controlling robots. Not does a robot use a man, a man uses a robot.

To sum up, I agree with the statement that machines are continually improving our lives. It's because we are quite flexible about new environments, and because I believe that we can make "attacks" of robots impossible.

essay - GMAT: Argument 20

The following appeared in an article in a health?and?fitness magazine:

Laboratory studies show that Saluda Natural Spring Water contains several of the minerals necessary for good health and that it is completely free of bacteria. Residents of Saluda, the small town where the water is bottled, are hospitalized less frequently than the national average. Even though Saluda Natural Spring Water may seem expensive, drinking it instead of tap water is a wise investment in good health. h

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author tries to convince the readers to think that the Saluda Natural Spring Water is good for health and that drinking the water is a wise choice. To support the conclusion, he or she cites scientific data saying the water contains minerals good for health and it is free of bacteria, and statistical data showing that the residents living around the source of the water are less frequently hospitalized, that is, are healthier. While the two data seems reasonable to judge the effectiveness, the respective citations have serious errors.

The first citation is that laboratory studies show the advantages that the water has: containing beneficial minerals and being free of bacteria. Although it seems to give the consumers exquisite benefits, since the data has no relative data by which the readers can valid it, the argument is significantly weak. That is, although the author claims that the water is superior to the others, no data about the other water brands is shown. Therefore, the readers can not make out whether the water is better than the others or not. For instance, if the other famous water brand, X, has the same amount of the beneficial minerals and it is also free of bacteria, the Saluda Natural Spring Water has no advantage over X.

The second citation is that the residents who live around the source of the water are healthier than ones in the other cities. This citation is intended to make the readers believe the superiority that the water has, but, in terms of the lack of information about causal relationship between the data and the water's effectiveness, the citation fails to function. That is, the health of the residents can be considered the result from the other factors such as the style of life or food, not from the water. It is well happened that people in rural areas live longer than people in urban areas because of cleanness of the air and the land. In my country, residents in the capital city Tokyo are less healthy than ones in the southernmost city Okinawa. Therefore, to make the citation meaningful, the author should have shown the direct relationship between the cited data and the water.

In conclusion, although the author tries to show the superiority of Saluda Natural Spring Water, he or she fails is for the reasons that I mentioned above.