116. The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of a large, highly diversified company.Ten years ago our company had two new office buildings constructed as regional headquarters for two different regions. The buildings were erected by two dif

The following memorandum from a vice president indicates that the company needs to hire Alpha for their new building project since their former building projects proven that Alpha is more reliable that Zeta. Even if it sounds like it is very reasonable, we need to consider a few assumptions that might weaken the argument whether stated or not.

First of all, the memo does not consider that Alpha and Zeta had been in different circumstances. It mentions that two companies had constructed the same floor plans in two “different” regions. It means that they must have confronted difference costs and expenses. Even though both buildings have identical structures, prices of materials and repair cost could make a huge difference between them. Moreover, they might have to follow different codes and local authorities. Let us consider Quebec and British Columbia in Canada. Since they have different rules and regulations, it would affect construction and operating costs of buildings such as tax, permits, and prices.

In the regards of energy assumption, weather condition might affect the energy efficiency depending on regional conditions. Since two buildings have been built in different locations, the calculations of energy assumption might be different. Furthermore energy efficiency could be varied by people who work in the building. Some people who working in the Zeta’s building might be less care for energy savings in the building, so that it would cost more than the other building which Alpha built.

On top of that, the vice president points out that Alpha has more stable workforce than Zeta does. However, does employee turnover really shows that company’s soundness in workforce? Does it tell you that it is a good construction company? Some companies where it has little turnover in workforce are often less innovative and creative than others since there are no fresh bloods into company. Even if the vice president was right about their construction technic and skills, it does not necessarily means they are still good what they are doing after 10 years.

In conclusion, we need more information in order to make decision on which company they will contract out. Since Alpha and Zeta has built the buildings in the different locations, the result might be very different one to the other. Moreover, the vice president tries to make decision based on the performances from 10 years ago. Thus, it is not so sure whether Alpha is the better choice rather than Zeta since the argument is based on many assumptions unsound.