Argument Topic :
“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.”

Response:

While reducing operating expenses might help to reverse a store's decline in profits, the argument, in the way it's presesented, offers little evidence to support the fact that the same could be expected for the said video rental stores. The author, in order to burnish the credibility of his argument, needs to present several evidences and needs to ground the claims that he has made for his proposal to warrant an approval.

Primarily, the argument centers around the assumption that reducing operating expenses would reduce the decline in profit. However, no rational connectin has been established between these two events in the argument, whatsoever. In fact, for all we know, the decline in the profit could have been due to a variety of other reasons. What If the current levels of operating were vital for the success of the company? Or if the current expenditure on operating resources was actually low and was by itself the reason behind the decline in profit? If that was the case then reducing operating resources would only prove to detrimental to the intended cause of the move. If the author needed to strengthen this claim, evidences that show that operating resources are indeed being wasted should be presented to make his argument more cogent.

Furthermore, one can lucidly see that reducing stock of old movies and operating time can even turn counter-productive. In the case of getting rid of old movie stocks, the author is necessarily assuming that old movies won't be sold, which may or may not be the case. And in the case of reducing operating time by closing the store at 6:00PM the author doesn't consider the possibility of sales made after the said time and whether ending these sales would affect the profit of the company. A more deligent analysis of the situation by author would give more information to evaluate and judge the presented argument.

Finally, the author advices against the increase of rental prizes stating that their stores are famous for their bargain cost. Again here, famous doesn't translate to profit and the author fails to rationally assess the situation. Coherently, increased prices could also mean increased profit even if sales were to reduce a bit or more optimistically, there is the possibility that the customers don't mind the increased cost of rental price given the customers find the movie good enough. To avoid such speculations, the author needs to more explicitly established the connection between increased rental prices and sales with statistical and emprical data.

In sum, the argument lacks the necessary cogency to warrant an approval since most of the claims that are made are dubious and open to multiple interpretations. Strong factual evidences and a scrupulous analysis of the decline in profits of the stores, from the part of the owner, could help to shed light on the measures that would be needed to be taken to counter the sudden aberrant phenomena.