Argument117 [AWB小组]第十次作业

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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."

The argument predicate that the office-supply departments will become the most profitable component of Valu-Mart stores according to a questionable survey and some reasoning which seem reasonable.

First of all, the survey indicates that over 70 percent of the respondents reported that they had to work at home more than before. There are no details to tell us who those respondents are and whether they could be representative the target customers of Valu-Mart or not. Does the survey reflect the real situation that a lot of people must work at home so that it is most probably the need of the office machines will increase accordingly? Maybe the survey was made just in one company and the people who are working in that company are not so many, but most of them have to do overtime works. Perhaps the employees in other companies, they can finish their works within office time.

Secondly, even if there are a high percentage of people who have to work at home, it is quite possible that they don’t need any home office machines. Maybe he or she is a software engineering who could code with the help of a laptop. Maybe he or she is an editor of local newspaper and magazine who could hand on his or her articles by internet and email without the help of printers. Or maybe he or she is working for a toy manufacture and produces traditional toys manually. There is no evidence to prove that small copy machines, paper shredders and fax machines are necessary for their work at home. If Valu-Mart increases the stock of those home office machines, maybe few people will purchase them.

Thirdly, the author considers that they should also increase stock of office suppliers, but he doesn’t explain to the reader whether he or she is sure that the market of office suppliers asks for the increase or not. As we have know, Valu-Mart has not seen impressive sales in its office-supply departments in the past, maybe the sales will keep the same or even become worse because the quality of the products. The business manager didn’t analyze the most important reason of the low sales in the past. No sufficient evidence suggests that the sales will rise.
  
The conclusion that office-supply departments will become the most profitable component of our stores is not persuasive. Even if the sales will go up a little, we cannot say that office-supply departments will be more profitable than other components. Maybe other departments, their products are more popular.

The manager of Valu-Mart should make the wisdom decision based on reliable survey and he or she has to make it clear that what could promote the sales finally, otherwise, any effort are not so useful to raise the sales.