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69) 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 regions. The buildings were erected by different construction companies—Alpha and Zeta. Although the two buildings had identical floor plans, the building constructed by Zeta cost 30 percent more to build. However, that building's expenses for maintenance last year were only half those of Alpha's. In addition, the energy consumption of the Zeta building has been lower than that of the Alpha building every year since its construction. Given these data, plus the fact that Zeta has a stable workforce with little employee turnover, we recommend using Zeta rather than Alpha for our new building project, even though Alpha's bid promises lower construction costs.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
In this memo, the writer recommends to use Zeta rather than Alpha for their new building project based on these assumptions that expenses for maintenance of the buildings erected by Zeta were only half of the Alpha building every year since its construction and it seems better to have a stable workforce with little employee turnover. Although it seems reasonable at first glance, many following questions need to be answered.
In the first place, the writer seems to assume that it is worthy that expenses for maintenance of Zeta building were only half those of Alpha despite that the building constructed by Zeta cost 30 percent more to build. However, is it really valuable to choose Zeta for the new building project? It is questionable. There is no information about the two buildings in spite of the same floor plans. It is very possible that the Alpha building is much larger than the Zeta's, however, Zeta cost 30 percent more to build, maybe it can be an evidence to prove that it is unreasonable to choose Zeta. Even if expenses for maintenance were half those of Alpha's, the total fees of Zeta may be higher than Alpha. Thus it seems unreasonable to choose Zeta for the new building project.
In the second place, the writer assumes that lower expenses for maintenance of Zeta building due to Zeta's contribution. However, is it really owed to Zeta? I'm afraid not. There is no information about the scale of the two buildings. It is very possible that the Alpha building is two times of the Zeta's, therefore it is reasonable to have twice expenses for maintenance. In addition, maybe it is other factors such as the region that lead to different expenses for maintenance, since it is possible that expenses for maintenance in the Alpha building's region are originally higher than those in Zeta building's region. Thus it is unreasonable to choose Zeta based on the assumption that lower expenses for maintenance of Zeta building is owed to Zeta.
Finally, the writer makes an assumption that it is better for new building project to have a stable workforce with little employee turnover, therefore, using Zeta seems reasonable. However, is it really reasonable to choose Zeta? It should be carefully considered. It is very possible that Zeta is a small company which has a few employees then the building they build may not have a good quality. Compared to Zeta, Alpha may be a large company which have a large number of employees and the competition there may motivate employees to build buildings with higher quality. Thus it is unreasonable to choose Zeta only based on a stable workforce.
In conclusion, whether it is worthy to choose Zeta based on lower expenses for maintenance? Is it owed to Zeta that lower expenses for maintenance of Zeta building? Is it better to choose Zeta only because it has a stable workforce with little employees turnover ? The answers to these questions above lead this recommendation to a unpersuasive one. |
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发表于 2012-2-9 17:24:15
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