argument65 第八次作业

jenniferganUID: 2443583

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: 503          TIME: 00:43:52          DATE: 2008-4-2 16:22:31

Acoording to the memo, the author asserts that the profits of their store can be increased to replace imported cheeses with domestic cheeses. He or she provieds several reasons to support the pointview. In my point of view, the author does not consider alternatives, a careful examination of the argument would reveal how groundless the conclusion is.

To begin with, the author mentions that the five best-selling cheeses at their newest store were all domestic cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin. At first glance, it seems reasonable that best-selling means popular among the customers. However, there are several fallacies. First, newest store cannot stand for all the stores. Maybe the newest store is in Wisconsin, and the store keepers are familiar with Wisconsin. Second, best-selling does not mean most profit. Perhaps the newest store charge a low price to attract customers as they are not know before. Third, best-selling when first opened last year, it does not mean that the sales will be good in the next years, as we know, first open stores usually decrease their price to attract customers, once they increase the price as it used to be, the customers meybe  not as many as before.

In addition, is the survey of the magzine accurate? I am not convinced by the author. First of all, the author does not give the number of the people who have  read the magzine. If only a few people read the magzine, the result of the survey is not representive. And, What are the profession of the readers? If they are professional chesses researchers or salers, the result is not convincing, neither. Third, is the survey just? Perhaps some people do not send back their suggestion about the cheeses, especially those who don't like domestic cheeses. So, the survey is not so persuasive to eliminate the above cases.

Moreover, even assuming the survey is true. The author still cannot say that this is the best way to improve their profits. There are many other ways to improve profit such as advertise their cheeses on the television, or open more stores in new area to attrat more customers, or decrease the price of the cheeses make it more easy to be sold. What is the best way? The author should do a detailed suvery of the market and supply a plan document about it. Especially provide data about the sales and the market.

To sum up, the conclusion lacks credibility because the evidebce cited in the analysis does not lend strong support to what the arguer maintains. To strenghthen the argument the arguer would have to provide more evidence concerning that domestic cheeses are also best-selling in other stores and it is a tendency that domestic cheeses are popular among the customers. And, he should do a more particular survey about Cheeses of the World magazine. Finally, the author should compare the way with other ways that can increase the profit. Only he or she give the above proofs can I be accept his or her view.