▶ Your Answer :
The vice president of Dura-Sock, Inc. argues that they
should stop using the Endure manufacturing process on behalf of several reasons
discussed in the memo. However, the vice president fails to convince the
readers of his argument because the assumptions he made might be groundless.
To begin with, the author relies on the recent study which
argues that the average customer of the company purchases new socks every three
months. However, since there had been no detailed explanation of how the study
was conducted, the conclusion of the study may not be reliable. For example,
the sample could have been small or biased to represent the general preference
of the customers. Also, even though the sampling was conducted fairly randomly
with adequate size, the average interval might be different with the general
trends of the customers. Thus, the standard deviation is necessary in order to
properly analyze the result of the study.
On top of that, the author believes that the largest market,
northeastern US cities, is the most important and is directly related to the
profit of the corporation. However, this assumption might be criticized
severely without the total percentage the market of northeastern US cities
constitutes. For instance, when the Dura-Sock company has globalized market
including Asia and Europe, the ratio the northeastern US market constitutes may
be smaller than one-tenth of the total market. In this case, the strategy
targeting only the market of northeastern US cities would be hardly successful.
In conclusion, the vice president should give data pertaining the market share
of the northeastern US cities in order to support his argument.
Even though the northeastern US cities account for more than
90 percent of the total market, discontinuation of the Endure manufacturing
process might not be profitable. It might be true that the majority of
northeastern US customers value the stylish appearance of the Dura-Socks.
However, there is no concrete evidence that these customers would be loyal when
the products become vulnerable to damage. These customers could have valued the
styles because the products were durable enough to use. When the customers feel
the socks are not strong enough, they might stop purchasing the product despite
the variety of styles.
In a nutshell, the author of this memo argues with numerous
assumptions regarding the results of the recent studies. However, since the
argument could be substantially weakened and even rendered groundless with the
further information about the conducted studies. |