argument46 字数一段比一段少,要不要紧..

lindorUID: 2290025

TOPIC: ARGUMENT65 - The following appeared in a memo from the president of a chain of cheese stores located throughout the United States.

"For many years all the stores in our chain have stocked a wide variety of both domestic and imported cheeses. Last year, however, the five best-selling cheeses at our newest store were all domestic cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin. Furthermore, a recent survey by Cheeses of the World magazine indicates an increasing preference for domestic cheeses among its subscribers. Since our company can reduce expenses by limiting inventory, the best way to improve profits in all of our stores is to discontinue stocking many of our varieties of imported cheese and concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses."
WORDS: 489          TIME: 0:57:08          DATE: 2007-2-2

In this argument, the president of a chain of cheese wants to reduce expenses by limiting inventory, and he thinks the best way is to discontinue stocking many of varieties of imported cheese and concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses. To support the conclusion, the president cites the sale of domestic cheeses at newest store and a survey by Cheeses of the World magazine to predict an increasing popularity for domestic cheeses. In my opinion, this argument suffers from several critical flaws as follows.

The president points out that the five best-selling cheeses at newest store were all domestic cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin at the last year. However, the president fails to prove that the domestic cheddar cheeses made the greatest profits. Perhaps these five best-selling cheeses were at a discount to attract consumers, which could be a common strategy for a quite new store.  Maybe the sales of domestic cheeses rose, but the profits fell, and then the discount might not a long-lasting strategy. Therefore whether these five best-selling cheeses will still be domestic cheddar cheeses is open to doubt. Moreover, it is much possible that because the newest store is near or at Wisconsin and residents there prefer the local cheddar cheeses. Even domestic cheddar cheeses would get long-lasting welcome, consumers of other stores could prefer imported cheeses.  In this case, if the company discontinues imported cheeses, the profits in the newest store would stay stable, but other stores might lose a large group of consumers and drop sales sharply.

In addition, the president draws his conclusion on the basis of a recent survey which is full of questions. First of all, the authority of Cheeses of the World magazine is suspicious.  Who are the subscribers? Cheese chefs or normal cheese lovers? How many subscribers does it have? A little group less than 20 people, or a large number? Is this survey fair enough and did it collect the answer from all subscribers without missing any of those who prefer imported cheeses? The information about the magazine and the survey is not clear enough to prove that the domestic cheeses are increasingly preferred. Second of all, even if its most subscribers prefer domestic cheeses, they do not promise that they would buy domestic cheeses and refuse imported cheeses.

The last but not the least, the president fails to consider all possible measures to improve profits in all stores. Limiting cost in transportation of many of varieties of cheeses could be helpful. Perhaps increasing the storage of some popular kinds of imported cheeses could increase sales，or some stores pay too much on administrative cost. The president fails to analysis the different situation of stores in different places and then to take corresponding measures.

In a summary, the president should provide more information on sales of domestic cheeses and imported cheeses and preferences of consumers of all stores. What's more, it is better to clarify the effective measure to reduce expenses and improve profits.