The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of marketing at Dura-Sock, Inc.
"A recent study of our customers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented Endure manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks are strong enough to last for two years. We have always advertised our use of the Endure process, but the new study shows that despite our socks' durability,our average customer actually purchases new Dura-Socks every three months. Furthermore, our customers surveyed in our largest market, northeastern United States cities, say that they most value Dura-Socks' stylish appearance and availability in many colors. These findings suggest that we can increase our profits by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
The author of the statement above, asserts that by discontinuing the Endure process to make durable socks the company would gain more profit than what currently earns. This conclusion is made via several assumption and a dubious survey that has made the authors’ conclusion untenable.
First, the author has taken for granted that the survey is correct. We do not know in what society is the survey conducted. Are they average wealth costumers? Or are the costumers in the average age? The phrase “average costumers” is not illustrating the surveyed society. The color might be the priority for the teenage girls liking variety and different colors. Furthermore, the costumers might buy the socks for their family or their friends as a gift. A three month period for buying socks is not a guarantee that the costumers are tired of the socks they have, as the author wrongly assumes so.
Secondly, still focusing on the survey, even if the society significantly encompasses an extendable sample of people, it does not mean that people are indifferent to the durability. The questions in the survey is not directly illustrating whether people are indifferent the durability of the socks. Costumers in the survey like the variety and stylish appearance at most, but this does not mean that durability is of no importance for them. Furthermore, the socks may be durable with no holes in them, but their color may change by the detergents. This might be the reason that people buy other socks after three month not the durability of the socks’ fabric.
Finally, as it is the patented process, the other companies may not be able to copy the same procedure. Interrupting the Endure process might jeopardize the competitive edge of this company. Furthermore, the author assumes that such change would not exact any significant price on the industry. To change in the production is equal to change the production line, and change in the advertisement. The identity of the socks is their durability after investment in the advertisements. Know a set of different production line and different advertising is needed to attract people to the new socks.
In short, as discussed, the author reaches the conclusion based on several assumptions. With the possibility of each assumption being unwarranted the whole profit predicted in the memo may not be achieved and the company may even lose a lot of money in such a change.
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argument 1 -- doesn't matter which class for the 'average customer', they purchases new Dura-Socks every three months.
suggested:
it cannot be concluded that durability should be neglected just because the consumers acquire new products more frequently. Durability could still be an important factor for consumers if they continue to use their old socks, instead, just adding more pairs to their collection. This argument could be strengthened with the inclusion of the assumption that customers are buying new socks every three months along with discarding the socks they had previously purchased.
argument 2 -- not exactly. Need to argue here:
'Furthermore, our customers surveyed in our largest market, northeastern United States cities, say that they most value Dura-Socks' stylish appearance and availability in many colors.'
suggested:
1. It works in northeastern United States cities, don't mean it works in other areas.
2. Even if they most value Dura-Socks' stylish appearance and availability in many colors, it doesn't mean people ignore durability.
argument 3 -- OK
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 23 15
No. of Words: 401 350
No. of Characters: 1963 1500
No. of Different Words: 180 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.475 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.895 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.744 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 136 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 99 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 66 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 57 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 17.435 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.781 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.435 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.291 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.497 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.113 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5