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Argument 69 求拍，求狠拍！ 先谢过大家了！
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.
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The vice president suggests that Zeta is the better choice for their new building project by considering the costs of erection and maintenance, the energy consumption and the stability of the workforce of one or both of the two construction companies---Alpha and Zeta. The evidence seems sufficient, at the first glance. However, there are several key questions the vice president must answer before we make the final choice.
Firstly, the vice president compares the two headquarters erected by the two companies on the cost of erection, maintenance and energy consumption. But, the vice president fails to provide the information about differences between the two regions. For example, what are the average prices of building materials and labor force in the two regions? If the level of consumption at the area where Zeta erects the building is much higher than it at where Alpha erects, it is inevitable that the cost of the building constructed by Zeta is more than the Alpha costs. Besides, what are the differences between the two regions in natural environments? Does either of them often has an inclement weather such as extremely cold or frequent typhoons? As we know, either too cold or too hot will causes a higher consumption of power for keeping the indoor a pleasant environment, and the frequent storm and rain will cause a higher cost for maintenance.
In addition, the vice president also needs to answer that is there any differences on business between the two headquarters. Considering that that is a diversified company, it is likely that the headquarters erected by Alpha is used to work on global business, while the one erected by Zeta is used to deal with regional business only. In this case, employees work in Alpha’s building may on a 24 hour shift duty, and as a result, the lights and air-conditions in Alpha’s building must work all days. In contrast, the energy may be cost at only 9:00am to 5:00pm in Zeta’s building. Thus, we can not make a judgment that the building erected by Zeta is more economical and durable than that erected by Alpha without the answers of those questions.
Finally, the vice president takes the stable workforce as one of the Zeta’s advantages. Actually, the stability of workforce can reflect the company’s cohesion. However, on the other hand, it may also indicate that the update rate of the talent and technology is low. It is likely that most of the experienced employees have retired, and the technology Zeta used now is outdated especially considering that ten years has past. Besides, the vice president doesn’t provide any information about the employees and technology in Alpha. It is hasty to make the final choice before we compare the current level of the two companies.
In sum, the recommend of the vice president is unconvincing, even though he/she takes several aspects into account such as the costs of erection, maintenance and energy consumption and the stability of the workforce. To better the argument, the vice president should offer definite answers to the above-mentioned questions about the difference of regions and business and also the current level of the two companies. |
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发表于 2012-5-8 22:12:16
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