“The Cumquat Cafe began advertising on our local radio station this year and was delighted to see its business increase by 10 percent over last year’s totals. Their success shows you how you can use radio advertising to make your business more profitable.”
Discuss how well reasoned... etc."
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The author of the article that appeared in the local newspaper has claimed that the cafe made a mistake in moving to a new location. However, the line of reasoning that the author has followed is problematic for several reasons.
First, the argument depends on the unwarranted assumption that because the cafe is doing the same volume of business in the new location as it was doing before, then moving to the new location has been a mistake for the cafe. However, such an assumption is a stretch. To illustrate, if it were the case that on staying in the old location, the cafe would have been unable to maintain its sales and would have had to witness a dip in the volume of business, then moving to the new location has definitely proved to be a good move for the cafe. To strengthen his claim, the author must provide evidence that if the cafe had stayed in the old location, then it would have been able to maintain at least the same volume of business.
Second, in coming to the conclusion that moving to the new location was a mistake for the cafe, the author depends on an unstated premise that if the wholesale outlet is doing better than the cafe in a location then the cafe would do just as well had it been in the same location. However, such an assumption is highly questionable because what holds true for the wholesale outlet may not hold true for the cafe as these two businesses may be vastly different in their nature. For instance, there may be a higher demand for plumbing supply at the old location than for the goods that are sold by the cafe. If the author had proved that both the businesses are similar in their nature of business then the argument would have been corroborated.
Finally, the claim that the owners of RoboWrench are doing better is unsubstantiated. The evidence that has been provided in support for this claim is weak at best. Just because the wholesale outlet is planning to open a store at the new location, it does not imply that the store is doing better. For example, it may be the case that the store is not able to do a good business at the old location, and must close its store in the old location and shift to a new location to stay in business. If this is the case, then the argument is considerably weakened. The author must provide further evidence that the owners are doing a good business in the old location to logically arrive at his conclusion.
In summary, the argument is flawed for the aforementioned reasons and is, therefore, unconvincing. If the author had included the items discussed above, the argument would have been more thorough and sound.