argument117 [SJTU-ETB6 10G] 第7次作业

leafdropsUID: 2251505

117The following is a memo from the business manager of Valu-Mart stores.
"Over 70 percent of the respondents to a recent survey reported that they are required to take more work home with them from the workplace than they were in the past. Since Valu-Mart has not seen impressive sales in its office-supply departments in the past, we should take advantage of this work-at-home trend by increasing at all Valu-Mart stores the stock of home office machines such as printers, small copy machines, paper shredders, and fax machines. We will also increase stock of office supplies such as paper, pens, and staplers. With these changes, our office-supply departments will become the most profitable component of our stores."

提纲：
1调查结果不足以证实对家用办公设备的需求会上升
2家用办公的需求上升也不一定就会使得销售利益变得最大

In this argument the manager of Valu-Mart stores points out that the changes of increasing the stock of home office machines and stock of office supplies will inevitable lead to great profit. This conclusion is based on a survey revealing that over 70 percent of the respondents reported that they are required to take more work home with them nowadays. Although it seems quite reasonable at first sight, the argument is problematic in several critical respects.

The most critical problem in the argument is that the result of the survey does not prove the vast expanded demands of home office machines. First, although about three quarters of the respondents reported the increase amount of home-working, its total amount is possibly still insignificant comparing with the traditional way of work. If so, the increase of consumption of home office machines may be very limited. Besides, without knowing the method of this kind of working, the assumption of higher demands of the machines is groundless. It is entirely possible that the work taken home is in less need of the office machines than the common office work. Maybe the work they bring home, such as amending the documents and treating with statistical data, is not required to be printed or faxed. What is more, since the condition probably differs in various areas, taking these changes at all Valu-Mart stores is not a rational idea. Without proving the increase demand, the changes may turn out to be useless rather than effective.

Even assuming that the need of these home office machines would go up as the work-at-home trend spared, the arguer's sweeping claim that "our office-supply departments will become the most profitable component of our stores" is still open to doubt. For one thing, the home office machines are mostly those smaller machines with their prices relatively cheap, and their selling profit may not as much as the bigger ones which is provided for the office users. For another thing, the increase of these stocks would also add the original cost, which decreases the profit of selling. It is also possible that many other store managers has already noticed this trend and try to make profit from it, which may result in the drastic competition. Thus, the consequence of stocking would not be as profitable as the manager claims.

In sum，the argument is weak as it stands. To strengthen it, the manager should provide the evidence that the consumption of home office machines would increase with the work-at-home trend. Besides, the manager must reevaluate the profit these changes may bring and the expense they cost.