Argument 56 (袜子) 求拍！

雨霖林

今天的作业，感觉这篇Argu质疑得不太给力，尤其是第一点，还请大家多指教！！！

Argument 56

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.

1. 买袜子频率高，不能说明袜子没必要那么耐用
2. 调查样本代表性（回应者年龄范围、调查地区市场占有率），不能说明顾客不注重质量
3. 信息不完整，停止使用Endure工艺对袜子质量、成本的影响，不一定能提高收益


The suggestion that the company can increase its profits by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process seems logical at first glance. After all, customers buy Dura-Socks in a high frequency and the survey in their largest market shows that customers most value Dura-Socks’ style and colors instead of its durability. However, the argument is flawed with a series of unwarranted assumptions.



Firstly, the author assumes that Dura-Socks’ durability is not necessary for customers. The assumption looks reasonable especially considering that Dura-Socks’ service life is two years while average customer purchases new Dura-Socks every three months. But the fact may be that most of their customers have a work of high labor intensity which causes a badly abrasion to socks. They choose Dura-Socks because Dura-Socks are more durable than other socks although the actual service life is much short than the expected useful life. Thus, the author should study the average service life of other socks with the same customers in order to make sure that whether durability is necessary for them.



Secondly, the author assumes that their customers do not value the durability of Dura-Socks. However, he/she fails to provide the information about the samples. What is the age range of the customers who response to the survey? If most of the customers involved in the survey are young who care more about style and fashion than durability, then the result of the survey is not representative. What is more, what is the market share of the northeastern United States cities? If that is less than 50 percent, it is necessary to take the customers in other areas into consideration. Without a more comprehensive survey on customers’ attitude toward Dura-Socks, we can not claim that durability of the socks is not valued by customers.



Finally, the author assumes that an increase of profits may caused by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process which ensures the durability of Dura-Socks. But that may not be the case because he/she fails to consider many other possible influences. For example, without the Endure manufacturing process, the quality of socks may be severely affected so that lots of customers may not purchase Dura-Socks again. To make things worse, the savings in costs may much less than the reduced gains. In this case, there may be a sharply decrease in profits instead an increase.



In sum, the recommendation is unconvincing with the assumptions mentioned above. To improve the argument, the author must compare the average service life of both Dura-Socks and other socks to make sure that whether durability is necessary for consumers. He/she also need to find out what is most valued by customers with a more comprehensive survey. What is more, only after weighing all the pros and cons, can we make a final decision.

普渡哥

写的很好，理由列的好

雨霖林

谢谢普渡哥鼓励~