"Three years ago, Medmaster, our nearest competitor in the field of Health Insurance, adopted a strong credo for Corporate Social Responsibility; its revenues have increased by 25% since then. The credo must have played a strong role in establishing goodwill- a much-needed virtue in our nature of business, and led to this increase in revenue. Hence, to improve our company's profitability, it is recommended that we must shelve our ongoing Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and adopt a credo similar to that of Medmaster"
The argument states that Medmaster, Instar's nearest competitor in the field of health insurance, adopted a strong credo for corporate social responsibility and achieved 25% revenue increase. Hence, Instar should do the same to increase its revenues. Stated in this way, argument fails to mention several key factors on the basis of which it can be evaluated. The argument is based on various unwarranted assumptions for which there are no clear evidences. Thus, the argument is rather weak, unconvincing and open to debate.
First, the argument readily assumes that Credo is the only reason for 25% increase in revenue of Medmaster. However, there is a high probability that there were various other reasons for increase in revenue. Revenue may have increased because of new marketing strategy, new product , after sale services etc. But the argument fails to consider these possibilities and made unsupported conclusion by assuming credo as the only reason for increase in sales.
Second, the argument assumes that what worked for Medmaster will also work for Instar. Each and every organization has its own strengths and weaknesses and has a very different structure. There is a high possibility that the strategy used by Medmaster will not work for Instar. For example, Medmaster may have changed its whole corporate social responsibility department structure for new strategy but it may not be possible for Instar to do so because of high cost involved. The argument would have been considerably strengthened if it had mentioned what strategy Instar would follow for adopting Credo.
Finally, the argument concludes that Instar must shelve its ongoing Corporate social responsibility initiatives and adopt a credo similar to that of Medmaster. But what if ongoing initiatives prove to be more successful than credo in long term ? Also, what if by making some changes in ongoing initiatives Instar is able to adopt a more stronger credo than that of Medmaster ? Without any satisfactory answer to above questions, author's conclusion is unjustified and irrational.
In summary, the argument has several flaws and therefore, is unconvincing. The argument would have been considerably strengthened if it had mentioned how Instar will make adjustments for Credo and answered the above mentioned question with evidence. In order to assess the merit of a situation, it is important to have a working knowledge of all aspects of that situation. Without this information, the argument is unsubstantiated and open to debate.