TOPIC: ARGUMENT65 - The following appeared in a memo from the president of a chain of cheese stores located throughout the United States. "For many years all the stores in our chain have stocked a wide variety of both domestic and imported cheeses. Last year, however, the five best-selling cheeses at our newest store were all domestic cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin. Furthermore, a recent survey by Cheeses of the World magazine indicates an increasing preference for domestic cheeses among its subscribers. Since our company can reduce expenses by limiting inventory, the best way to improve profits in all of our stores is to discontinue stocking many of our varieties of imported cheese and concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses." WORDS: 371 TIME: 00:30:00 First, according to the memo, the five best-selling cheeses at the newest store were all domestic cheeses from Wisconsin. The speaker does not tell us where the store is and how many imported cheese are stocked in that store. If it is sited in Wisconsin, there can be large amounts of local cheeses and relatively fewer imported ones. Not having many choices, the consumer in that store can only buy the former, and that has made the former seem to sell better than the latter. The way I see it, nationwide investigations of every store should be made. Also, the way to promote plays an important role on selling. If the domestic cheeses are on sale during the investigation, they will certainly be the best-selling ones. Second, the survey of the magazine shows that its subscribers have more preferences of domestic cheeses than before. We need to know how many percentages have increased, but there is no such information. There could be only five percent of the readers preferring to the domestic cheeses, and then five percents increased. It is still not a convincing number to show that the domestic cheeses are favorable, even that the imported ones should be removed. Third, the speaker claims by discontinuing stocking imported cheese, profits can be improved. However, it is possible that they can earn more profits than the local ones because of the lower cost. Imported cheeses can be cheaper and be attractive to consumers. In addition, if we look at the other stores, we may find that things are different-- the imported cheeses sell better than domestic ones. If the cheese stores concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses, they may lose those who prefer to imported ones and profits are thus reduced. In sum, the statement is not as convincing as it stands. More details need to be clarified to know if the policy can really increase the profits. --

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