The following appeared in a memorandum from the owner of Movies Galore, a chain of video rental stores.
“In order to reverse the recent decline in our profits, we must reduce operating expenses at Movies Galore’s ten video rental stores. Since we are famous for our special bargains, raising our rental prices is not a viable way to improve profits. Last month our store in downtown Marston significantly decreased its operating expenses by closing at 6:00 P.M. rather than 9:00 P.M. and by reducing its stock by eliminating all movies released more than five years ago. Therefore, in order to increase profits without jeopardizing our reputation for offering great movies at low prices, we recommend implementing similar changes in our other nine Movies Galore stores.”
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
While it is very important and critical to reverse the decline in Movie Galore's profits, it is important also very important to understand if the steps taken to reduce the operating expenditure at the downtown rental store would have same effect on other stores.
The primary question that needs to be answered is what all were the effects of the changes made at the downtown store. While it is clear that the operating costs were reduced significantly, there are no clear indications of the changes that it resulted in. As an example, were there any effects on the total sales since many people work until 5 to 6 PM so it is natural for them to visit the store at after work hours. Also, how does the reduction in the stock by eliminating all movies released more than 5 years ago affect the consumer satisfaction. For example, a number of movies that were released more than 5 years ago could still be popular among the renters, particulary movies like the Star-Wars that are still considered a classic among many.
The memorandum suggests for following the same steps taken by the downtown store at the other nine stores. While this might be good move, it is important to first know the difference in the demographics of the target renters at the store. As an example closing the store at 6 PM might be good idea in the downtown, but it might result in a huge drop in sales in a different more residential area.
Without facts regarding the renters of Movies Galore it is also difficult to predict if the store chain is still known for its special bargains. While the memorandum suggests that the store chain is still popular for that, a new survey seeking opnions of its consumer would be a good idea for the store to be up to date on the preferences and choices of its customers. Such survey might also include other questions regarding the timings of the store. Such surveys will help the store to make a better and more informed decision on the new policies.
The memorandum is also missing the information on the breakdown of the decrease in operating cost achieved by the downtown store. It might be a better idea to look at what was if any was the major factor in driving down the operating cost. For example, if just the reduction in the operating hours resulted in the majority of the cost reducion, then it would be a better idea to more carefully consider why others didn't work or how they can be improved.
While it is important to increase the profit by reducing the operating costs of the stores it is also very important to carefully consider and implement the changes from downtown store in other stores. This is warranted by the possible diversity in the demands and requirements of the consumers in different stores. Following such steps and answering the questions above would help the store chain make a much more informed decision which could possibly avoid a step in the wrong direction. Apart from this the question required for the proper analysis of the argument in memorandum would be helpful in identifying the more recent trends of the renters at Movie Galore stores.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 547 350
No. of Characters: 2518 1500
No. of Different Words: 221 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.836 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.603 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.502 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 159 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 128 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 92 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 53 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 27.35 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.493 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.75 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.35 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.595 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.115 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 6 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 17, column 415, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: didn't
...a to more carefully consider why others didnt work or how they can be improved. ...
^^^^^
Line 21, column 440, Rule ID: MAY_COULD_POSSIBLY[1]
Message: Use simply 'could'.
Suggestion: could
...ake a much more informed decision which could possibly avoid a step in the wrong direction. Ap...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, if, look, regarding, so, still, then, while, apart from, for example
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 31.0 19.6327345309 158% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 8.0 11.1786427146 72% => OK
Relative clauses : 8.0 13.6137724551 59% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 27.0 28.8173652695 94% => OK
Preposition: 79.0 55.5748502994 142% => OK
Nominalization: 10.0 16.3942115768 61% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2582.0 2260.96107784 114% => OK
No of words: 546.0 441.139720559 124% => OK
Chars per words: 4.72893772894 5.12650576532 92% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.83390555256 4.56307096286 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.5489110414 2.78398813304 92% => OK
Unique words: 223.0 204.123752495 109% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.408424908425 0.468620217663 87% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 818.1 705.55239521 116% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 5.0 8.76447105788 57% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 2.70958083832 295% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 27.0 22.8473053892 118% => OK
Sentence length SD: 46.5143794971 57.8364921388 80% => OK
Chars per sentence: 129.1 119.503703932 108% => OK
Words per sentence: 27.3 23.324526521 117% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.3 5.70786347227 75% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 5.25449101796 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 14.0 8.20758483034 171% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 6.88822355289 29% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.152354285854 0.218282227539 70% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0544620495484 0.0743258471296 73% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0505606368568 0.0701772020484 72% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.096541348626 0.128457276422 75% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0564443881834 0.0628817314937 90% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.5 14.3799401198 101% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 52.53 48.3550499002 109% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.6 12.197005988 103% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.45 12.5979740519 83% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.98 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 104.0 98.500998004 106% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.8 11.1389221557 115% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.