Argument65 【7\8\9\10】第十三次作业 8.2

DemiquaverUID: 203651

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: 436          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2008-8-2 21:44:12

In the argument, the author concludes that in order to improve profits in all of their cheese stores, discontinuing stocking many of their varieties of imported cheese and concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses is a best way. The argument seems to be well presented; however, under close scrutiny, I find it is flawed in several aspects.

To begin with, the argument is based on the evidence cited by the author that the five best-selling cheeses at newest store were all domestic cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin last year, which is insufficiently substantiated. It is weakened in two places. First, one year time is not a particular long time, during which the preference of the customers to choose cheeses might be influenced by some reasons. For example, the customs duties of last year might be comparatively higher than before so that the imported cheeses were consequently more expensive. Therefore, people changed to choose domestic cheeses for lower price. Second, a newest store's sell of cheeses is not representative of all stores. Perhaps there was promotion frequently in the newest store for selling the cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin. Or perhaps the newest store is just located in Wisconsin so that the price of cheddar cheeses might be low. All these could result in a good sell for domestic cheeses.

Furthermore, the reliability of the recent survey cited by the author in the argument is also incredible. The author fails to provide some critical information about the survey such as how many people were surveyed and how many of them replied. If there were only several people involved in the survey and even fewer people responded, I'm afraid the result of the survey is not representative of other people in general.

Last but not least, even assuming that the result of the survey is creditable, it is still hasty for the author to draw the conclusion in the argument. The author is failing to offer the information about the sell of imported cheeses in all stores last year and before. Perhaps there are still a lot of people prefer to buy the imported cheeses which bring stores more profits than domestic cheeses. Although some people convert to buy domestic cheeses, imported cheeses are still the best-selling kind among all cheeses. Therefore discontinuing stocking many of varieties of imported cheese might be a wrong idea.

To sum up, the argument is unconvincing as it stands. Before taking the conclusion into use, the author should acquire more information about the market of cheese selling. After all, a perfunctory suggestion might reduce the sell of cheese stores rather than improving profits of them.