The following appeared in a memo from the business manager 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 above argument appeared in a memo from owner of a chain of cheese shores in which he is of the opinion that they should discontinue stocking varieties of imported cheese and concentrate on domestic cheese. His recommendation is based on the survey and sales in their newest store. On the surface level his recommendation seems sturdy but deeper scrutiny presents various flaws and loopholes which makes this recommendation vague.

First of all, his recommendation is based on sales at their newest store. The sample space is very small and he cannot conclude that since the sales at one store was domestic cheddar cheese then the demand at every store will be of domestic cheddar cheese. Since they have stores located throughout the United States so it is highly possible that other stores have demand for imported cheese. The sales in all the stores should be considered before reaching to any conclusion.

Similarly, the sales of last year in newest store are considered. Even if he base his decisions entirely on newest store, the sales of one year are not sufficient to come this conclusion. It is possible that due to some other reason the sales for domestic cheese increased. It is possible that there was some offer on domestic cheese during that specific period which no longer would be there and imported cheese will again become the priority of those people.

Furthermore, survey by Cheese of World magazine only indicated the increasing preference for domestic cheeses among its subscribers. The survey doesn't include all the population or all the customers of his stores rather it only includes the subscribers of the magazine. The subscribers of magazine can account for very small percent of his stores customers.

In conclusion, the argument under consideration is not well supported due to lack of evidence proving the preference of domestic cheese among the customers of the stores. To strengthen the argument, the owner should first address all the above mentioned flaws in the given argument and only then the decision about discontinuing the imported cheese can be made.