The following was presented as part of a business plan by Apex Corporation.
"To answer the increased demand for artisan coffee, Apex Corporation is releasing a new line of coffee, "Gourmet Select." Apex Corporation will first introduce the coffee into major supermarkets, where it hopes word-of-mouth advertising will sustain sales. After a few months Apex Corp. will run an advertising campaign aimed at television and radio while simultaneously releasing the brand to several major chain restaurants. Based on this strategy, Apex Corporation hopes to make "Gourmet Select" one of the top sellers in the coffee market."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
The business plan presented by Apex Corporation argues that "Gourmet Select" will be the top selling brand in the coffee market. The argument is based on the rigorous advertising campaign the company aims to follow. However, the validity of the argument can only be addressed after the below mentioned assumptions, made by the arguement, are addressed.
Firstly, the corporation is releasing a new line of coffee based on the increased demand for artisan coffee. Now the business plan assumes that the manner in which the information regarding artisan coffee was collected is reliable. It is possible that the survey held to collect this information was only conducted on a limited set of individuals who wanted too see more artisan coffee in the markets, whereas the majority of the population preffered other kinds of coffee to artisan coffee. Further, it is possible that survey held to choose the preffered type of coffee was in the format of a multiple choice question, and the choices were arranged in alphabetical order, artisan coffee being the first choice. Now majority of the people might have been indifferent towards the type of coffee and just marked the first choice they found to end the survey quickly. If the above are true, then the assumption that there is an increase in demand for artisan coffee is cast into doubt.
Secondly, the argument unwarrantly assumes that it will be able to go into its second phase of advertising: campaigns aimed at televison and radio. It may be possible that the introduction into major supermarket chain backfires, as competitors also see this as an opportunity and release their own lines of artisan coffee. It may also be possible that even without any competition, the consumers who do purchase "Gourmet Select" do not like the taste of the coffee. In both the above cases word of mouth advertising will not be able to sustain sales and will prove harmful to the product and the company.
Another unwarranted assumption made by the company is that the advertisements on television and radio will be effective. For instance, there might be a more pressing issue that might be ongoing in the country, and thus a consumer who prefers to know more about this issue may switch to another channel, which talks about the issue, rather than go through a commercial on coffee. In such a case the effectivity of the advertisement campaign is compromised and the argument that "Gourmet Select" will be a best seller in the coffee market is up for contention.
In conclusion, the argument as it stands is severely flawed due to several unwarranted assumptions the argument depends on. In order to completely evaluate the validity of the argument, the above stated assumptions need to be addressed in the form of a formal research study.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 359, Rule ID: TOO_TO[1]
Message: Did you mean 'to see'?
Suggestion: to see
...a limited set of individuals who wanted too see more artisan coffee in the markets, whe...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 513, Rule ID: THE_SUPERLATIVE[1]
Message: Use 'the' with the superlative.
Suggestion: the
...that 'Gourmet Select' will be a best seller in the coffee market is up ...
^
Line 9, column 125, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...ed assumptions the argument depends on. In order to completely evaluate the validi...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, firstly, however, if, may, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, thus, whereas, for instance, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.6327345309 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 11.1786427146 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 23.0 28.8173652695 80% => OK
Preposition: 67.0 55.5748502994 121% => OK
Nominalization: 21.0 16.3942115768 128% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2357.0 2260.96107784 104% => OK
No of words: 466.0 441.139720559 106% => OK
Chars per words: 5.05793991416 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.64618479453 4.56307096286 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.89173023311 2.78398813304 104% => OK
Unique words: 224.0 204.123752495 110% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.480686695279 0.468620217663 103% => OK
syllable_count: 750.6 705.55239521 106% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 19.7664670659 91% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 46.9934655295 57.8364921388 81% => OK
Chars per sentence: 130.944444444 119.503703932 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.8888888889 23.324526521 111% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.72222222222 5.70786347227 118% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 5.25449101796 57% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 8.20758483034 61% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
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: 0.309076082301 0.218282227539 142% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.103300593846 0.0743258471296 139% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.112958031083 0.0701772020484 161% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.145665968621 0.128457276422 113% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.123921111561 0.0628817314937 197% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.3 14.3799401198 106% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 48.3550499002 95% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.1628742515 156% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 12.197005988 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.36 12.5979740519 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.6 8.32208582834 103% => OK
difficult_words: 110.0 98.500998004 112% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4 Out of 6
---------------------
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.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 359, Rule ID: TOO_TO[1]
Message: Did you mean 'to see'?
Suggestion: to see
...a limited set of individuals who wanted too see more artisan coffee in the markets, whe...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 513, Rule ID: THE_SUPERLATIVE[1]
Message: Use 'the' with the superlative.
Suggestion: the
...that 'Gourmet Select' will be a best seller in the coffee market is up ...
^
Line 9, column 125, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...ed assumptions the argument depends on. In order to completely evaluate the validi...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, firstly, however, if, may, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, thus, whereas, for instance, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.6327345309 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 11.1786427146 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 23.0 28.8173652695 80% => OK
Preposition: 67.0 55.5748502994 121% => OK
Nominalization: 21.0 16.3942115768 128% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2357.0 2260.96107784 104% => OK
No of words: 466.0 441.139720559 106% => OK
Chars per words: 5.05793991416 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.64618479453 4.56307096286 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.89173023311 2.78398813304 104% => OK
Unique words: 224.0 204.123752495 110% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.480686695279 0.468620217663 103% => OK
syllable_count: 750.6 705.55239521 106% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 19.7664670659 91% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 46.9934655295 57.8364921388 81% => OK
Chars per sentence: 130.944444444 119.503703932 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.8888888889 23.324526521 111% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.72222222222 5.70786347227 118% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 5.25449101796 57% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 8.20758483034 61% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
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: 0.309076082301 0.218282227539 142% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.103300593846 0.0743258471296 139% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.112958031083 0.0701772020484 161% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.145665968621 0.128457276422 113% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.123921111561 0.0628817314937 197% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.3 14.3799401198 106% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 48.3550499002 95% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.1628742515 156% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 12.197005988 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.36 12.5979740519 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.6 8.32208582834 103% => OK
difficult_words: 110.0 98.500998004 112% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4 Out of 6
---------------------
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.