- 最后登录
- 2012-10-27
- 在线时间
- 438 小时
- 寄托币
- 1220
- 声望
- 77
- 注册时间
- 2006-8-16
- 阅读权限
- 30
- 帖子
- 19
- 精华
- 3
- 积分
- 1019
- UID
- 2242949
- 声望
- 77
- 寄托币
- 1220
- 注册时间
- 2006-8-16
- 精华
- 3
- 帖子
- 19
|
TOPIC: ARGUMENT14 - The following appeared in a memo from the owner of Green Thumb Gardening Center, a small business serving a suburban town.
"There is evidence that consumers are becoming more and more interested in growing their own vegetables. A national survey conducted last month indicated that many consumers were dissatisfied with the quality of fresh vegetables available in supermarkets. And locally, the gardening magazine Great Gardens has sold out at the Village News stand three months in a row. Thus, we at Green Thumb Gardening Center can increase our profits by greatly expanding the variety of vegetable seeds we stock for gardeners this coming spring."
WORDS: 525 TIME: 00:30:00 DATE: 2008-8-2 10:29:28
In this memo, the owner of Green Thumb Gardening Center (GTGC) claims that an expand in the variety of vegetable seeds they supply will necessarily increase GTGC's profits in the coming spring. To support this conclusion, the author cites a national survey indicating dissatisfaction among consumers with the quality of fresh vegetables available the supermarkets. To further prove it, the author also cites the fact that the gardening magazine Great Gardens has sold out in the past three months. However, careful scrutiny of the argument reveals several critical problems, which render it unconvincing as it stands.
First of all, the author provides no specific information about the national survey, which makes the validity of the survey doubtful. On the one hand, it is questionable whether the surveyed subjects are randomly chosen and can represent a cross section of GTGC's target consumers. On the other hand, no information is supplied about the method conducted. If the subjects are merely asked by yes or no choices, or they are surveyed through telephone, there is a great chance that the surveyed consumers would be inclined to exaggerate complain toward current market for the hope that these complaints may serve to alarm businessmen and as a result improve the current condition.
Secondly, even if the author can substantiate that the national survey is statistically reliable, the author relies on the unwarranted assumption that what is true national wide is also true in the particular geographic region that the GTGC covers. Perhaps in supermarkets where GTGC's potential consumers mainly frequent, the quality of fresh vegetables is satisfying or even perfect. Or perhaps GTGC's potential consumers are generally low-income families thus bearing a low priority of vegetable quality despite of the dissatisfying quality in current market. Any of these or other scenarios, if true, would cast a considerable doubt on the author's reasoning.
Thirdly, the mere fact that the gardening magazine Great Gardens sold out three months in a row does not lend any sound credence that GTGC will necessarily earn a profit by supplying more varieties of vegetable seeds. It is entirely possible that Great Gardens decreased its supply due to small sales in the past, thus selling out does not necessarily prove that people are buying more. It is also possible that people who are buying Great Gardens are not buying it primarily for reference in growing own vegetables, thus not tending to be GTGC's future consumers. Moreover, even if I were to concede that people are buying Great Gardens for the concern of high quality vegetables, GTGC does not necessarily earn a profit concerning the expenses, competitors and potential market shifts.
To sum up, the author fails to adequately support the conclusion that GTGC will enjoy an increase in profits by expanding the variety of vegetable seeds they stock for gardeners. To strengthen it, the author must provide evidence to prove that the national survey is statistically reliable and can be appropriately applied in the particular geographic sphere that GTGC covers. To better bolster it, the author must also provide specific market analysis to prove that GTGC will earn a profit by adopting the recommended course of action. |
|