|
The following appeared as part of an article in the business section of a local newspaper. The owners of the Cumquat Cafe evidently made a good business decision in moving to a new location, as can be seen from the fact that the Cafe will soon celebrate its second anniversary there. Moreover, it appears that businesses are not likely to succeed at the old location: since the Cafes move, three different businessesa tanning salon, an antique emporium, and a petgrooming shophave occupied its former spot. Discuss how well reasoned... etc. In this argument the author concludes that Cumquat Cafe was correct in its decision to move to a new location. In support of this assessment the author points out that while the Cafe has been in business for two years at its new location, three businesses have failed at its previous location. The authors line of reasoning is that the cause of the failure of the three businesses is the fact that they all occupied the same location. This argument is problematic in two important respects. In the first place, no evidence has been offered to support the assumption that the reason the three businesses failed was their location. While location is an important contributing factor to a business success or failure, it is not the only such factor. Many other reasonspoor business practices, lack of advertising, or poor customer servicecould just as likely account for their lack of success. Lacking a detailed analysis of the reasons these businesses failed, it would be foolish to attribute their failure to their location. | 
