▶ Your Answer :
The new vice president of Sartorian claims that resuming of the production of alpaca overcoat will increase company profit. To support this claim, the author states that there is a new fabric supplier for alpaca and consumer demand is expected to be high due to 5 year gap in production and the absence of competitor. However, this argument depends on several unsubstantiated assumptions and is therefore unpersuasive as it stands. I would recommend against resuming alpaca overcoat production unless he provides specific evidence to bolster his assumptions which are bases of the argument.
First, the author assumes that the new fabric supplier would be a reliable source of high quality wool fabric, which is the raw material for company’s alpaca overcoat. However, the author provides no clear evidence that this is the case. The author overlooks the possibility that the new fabric supplier could be just like the previous unreliable supplier who was responsibly for the company’s discontinued production of alpaca overcoat in the first place. To justify his assumption, the writer should provide evidences suggesting the new fabric supplier’s capability to reliably supply high quality fabric. For example, long term record of the fabric supplier’s previous business record, wool fabric quality guarantee from third party inspector, and documentation of wool fabric supply would strengthen the above assumption.
Second, the author’s prediction about pent-up customer demand is unconvincing for several reasons. The mere fact that there is no competitor in the market does not necessarily guarantee that there would be high demand for Sartorian product. It is very possible that the competitor’s discontinuation of the sale of alpaca overcoat is due to the unprofitability of alpaca overcoat business. Even if alpaca overcoat was once a very profitable business for company until they discontinued production 5 years ago, customer predilection for alpaca could have faded or alpaca overcoat may be considered out of fashion at this point. Therefore, before I could agree with his claim, I would need to know why the competitor discontinued alpaca overcoat production, and customer survey suggesting that there indeed is strong demand for alpaca overcoat in the market and customers are willing to purchase alpaca overcoat from Sartorian.
Finally, the author questionably claims that the customers should be willing to pay significantly higher prices for alpaca overcoats than they did five years ago just because the price of most types of clothing increased over past five years. However, the general trend in clothing price increase does not necessarily indicate that the customers will pay more for specific type of clothing, Sartorian alpaca overcoat. Even is the customers are indeed willing to pay more for alpaca overcoat, commonsense tells me that profits are a function of revenue and cost. It is possible that the increase in clothing price is due to general inflation in economy over 5 years of period, and if that is the case, the cost of production, such as fabric price, labor fee, and utility fee could also have increased as well. Therefore, in order to satisfy these claims, the author must show that the demand for alpaca overcoat is significantly higher compared to other types of clothing and compared to 5 years ago. Otherwise, the author cannot confidently draw a conclusion that the company profits will increase because the price of most types of clothing has increased.
To summarize, the author’s assumption that resuming alpaca overcoat production will profit company is logically flawed based on reasons mentioned above. To strengthen the author should closely examine all the conditions and possible factors I suggested and provide specific evidence to convince readers. |