15
CHAPTER
Argumentation
in Business
differentiation, p. 249
cause and effect, p. 249
credibility, p. 255
When Thomas J. Watson, Jr., CEO of IBM Corporation, delivered a series of
lectures at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University in the
spring of 1962, his company was already 51 years old and stood at the pin-
nacle of successful industrial organizations. The thesis (proposition) of his lectures was
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 242 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 242 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
1. Respect the individual .
3. Drive for superiority in all things (13–39).
Success , defined in various ways, constitutes the ultimate purpose of all business argu-
mentation. In this chapter, we will discuss argumentation in business by looking closely at
the experience of what began as a group of small companies that joined together to form
International Business Machines Corporation, known today simply as IBM. Business is
far too complex to be discussed as a single sphere. And business argumentation is far too
complex to be covered in a single chapter. So, our look at IBM will examine only some of
the characteristics and contexts for argument that occur within that company.
Why use IBM as a model for business argumentation? First, IBM, for about three-
quarters of a century, was extraordinarily successful, held up as “the model of an all-con-
quering American multinational . . . it prevailed in every market it was allowed to enter;
it was more widely visible, more scrutinized, more admired. It was the lodestar for other
companies” (Mills and Friesen, citing The Economist 7). Second, IBM almost became
extinct not because it fell behind the curve of remarkable technological change at the end
of the twentieth century but because it broke its promises, stated in the basic beliefs, to
respect individuals and provide the best customer service (Mills and Friesen 8–9). Third,
IBM has, in the twenty-first century, recovered its world dominance as exemplified by its
challenge to the two most successful human champions of the TV quiz show Jeopardy!
STARTING POINTS FOR BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION
Over the years, business spheres have developed elaborate systems designed to establish
accepted language interpretation strategies, facts, presumptions, probabilities, and com-
monplaces on which argumentation could be based. Recall that without starting points,
argumentation is not possible; the greater the shared starting points, the easier it is to
develop an argument. Starting points are a springboard for argumentation. For example,
the more facts we share at the start of our decision making, the more we will be able to use
as support for our claims, and the fewer claims we will need to argue. We can reach the
proposition faster with a head start. Review our discussion of starting points in Chapter 2 .
It was language interpretation strategies that made the Watson computer competition
in Jeopardy! so challenging. You may have thought that of course a computer can store
and retrieve more information than humans, but think again. As IBM said, the nature
of the game Jeopardy! is particularly challenging for a computer because it is filled with
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 243 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 243 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
244 PART 3 Applications
puns, irony, complexity, ambiguity and double meanings. If human beings find that dif-
ficult, think how much harder it is to program a computer to deal with such subtleties of
ordinary language. Computers of the future will need to deal with the language of every-
Facts in Business Argumentation
In his 1962 lectures, Thomas Watson, Jr., wanted to cite facts that would quickly describe
his company since 1914 in ways that would be familiar to his business college audience.
What categories of fact did he select? Number of employees: from 1,200 to 125,000; rev-
enues: from US$4 million to US$1.6 billion; profits: from US$500,000 to US$200 million;
dividends: not since 1916 has the company missed paying a cash dividend; number of stock-
holders: from 800 to 225,000; shareholder value (share price): 100 shares purchased in 1914
for US$2,750, if left untouched until 1962, would be worth US$5,455,000; product type and
quality, from tabulating machines with Queen Anne legs to high-powered computers (9).
In 1995, after mostly restoring IBM to a successful path, Lou Gerstner, the CEO,
cited these facts: revenues up 12% from US$64 billion to US$72 billion; net earnings per
share grew by 40%, US$7.23 versus US$5.02; hardware, which produced half the com-
pany’s sales, grew by 10 points, the System/390 was selling well and software, producing
As a starting point for argumentation, then, the appropriate facts to be examined for
a business argument would include those we have found listed by Watson, Gerstner, and
the IBM Centennial announcement. Company size, earnings, profitability, shareholder
value, and products are commonly recognized as appropriate to understanding a business.
An important fact they did not mention, but which has become more important today
Presumptions in Business Argumentation
In the discussion of presumptions in Chapter 2 , we say that, in any argumentative sphere,
it is necessary to have agreement from the start on who has the burden of proof and
what the decision will be if that burden is not met. In policy questions, people generally
presume that the status quo will continue to be the policy of choice unless someone suc-
cessfully proves that the policy should change. In law, people are presumed to be innocent
CHAPTER 15 Argumentation in Business 245
of any crime unless the appropriate government agency assumes the burden to prove that
they are not. And if the prosecutor fails to sustain a prima facie case of guilt, the accused
will walk free even though some may suspect he or she really is guilty.
The basic beliefs outlined by Watson form the basis of many presumptions at IBM.
The belief in respect for the individual was particularly powerful in placing the burden
of proof in many decision-making situations. For example, it was presumed that once
an individual was hired by IBM, “He or she was set for life. Benefits were good; salaries
competitive; and the working environment excellent” (Mills and Friesen 9). In a decision
concerning the performance of an IBMer, anyone arguing that the employee be fired car-
ried a significant burden of proof. Most likely, poor performance in one IBM operation
By the same token, when a new process, product, or support needed to be developed,
the presumption was that it would be done either in-house or using outside vendors.
Anyone arguing to hire more IBMers to meet new needs carried a big burden of proof.
Because employment was meant to be for life and because layoffs were anathema, increas-
ing the number of IBMers was a difficult argument to sustain. It was virtually impossible
to argue successfully for hiring new employees who would be needed only for a specified
period of time and then let go.
In choosing new leaders from supervisors to the CEO, the presumption was that
someone already a part of the IBM family would be selected. When Thomas Watson left
the leadership of IBM, he was replaced by his son Thomas Watson, Jr. Years later, when
IBM faced a crisis so dire that its very existence was at stake, a new CEO was desperately
needed. Those who argued that an outsider should be chosen because a complete change
in direction was demanded bore a significant burden of proof. In fact, except for poor
From its beginning, International Business Machines or IBM was a manufacturer of
machines, as its name implies. It made measuring/timing devices, tabulators, typewriters,
mainframe computers, and the like. The presumption was that hardware would always be
the defining characteristic of the firm’s products. More particularly, again as the name im-
plies and as its experience proves, IBM presumed that good-sized businesses and government
agencies needing large systems would be its primary customers. And IBM had always been a
superior marketing company. They did not lead in the development of technology as much
246 PART 3 Applications
as they had a strong customer base and a superior sales staff. The presumption was that IBM
could always outperform their competitors, even those with better technology.
When the personal computer emerged as a major new product, IBM entered the com-
petition and produced a PC that quickly took command of the market. Based on the
presumptions that the machine itself combined with superior marketing would be key to
IBM’s success, and urged to avoid the appearance of monopolizing a market by the U.S.
Department of Justice antitrust charge then being pursued, it was decided to use an open-
systems approach that made the details of the PC’s functions publicly available, and the
company chose to use outside vendors for the computer chip (Intel) and the operating sys-
tem (Microsoft). When other companies found they could produce a clone of the IBM PC
that could run all its software more effectively and cost less, IBM lost its edge. Ultimately,
Probabilities in Business Argumentation
Among the many probabilities that provide starting points for business argumentation,
the most prominent are (1) the inevitability of cycles of booms and busts, (2) the expecta-
tion of upward movement in economies, and (3) the inevitability of change.
Booms and Busts. A look at any graph of economic activity—stock markets, consumer
prices, business earnings, housing, exports and imports, personal income, rates of infla-
tion, and so on—over time will show that good economies are followed by bad (or less
good) economies, which are followed by good (or better) economies, and so on. These are
called the booms and busts . When and to what extent the economy will change direction
is always a matter of speculation. There is money to be made by predicting accurately no
matter what the new direction will be.
At any time, whether the economy is more bust than boom or vice versa, there can be
strange arguments in the effort to predict the new direction. Eamonn Kelly, Peter Leyden,
and members of Global Business Network note in their 2002 book What’s Next: Exploring
the New Terrain for Business , “Busts and Booms are equally irrational” (20). By this they
mean that most people, when thinking rationally, would acknowledge the probability that
Then there is the Great Recession of 2008–2012. This is far too complicated an event
for us to review here, but we can use this downturn as another example of probabilities in
CHAPTER 15 Argumentation in Business 247
business argumentation. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, appointed to explain the
causes of the financial crisis, released its report on January 27, 2011—while acknowledging
that the recession was not yet over. Early on, the report recognizes the inevitability of booms
and busts, “While the business cycle cannot be repealed, a crisis of this magnitude need not
have occurred” (xvii). Having recognized the regularity of ups and downs, the commission-
ers wondered what made it so severe this time, and their answer was an excessive faith in
the continued rise in housing prices alongside the emergence of a global economy. Quoting
But even in the face of the probability of cycles in business activity, there is also a
probability of a long-term upward trend. Frequently noted is the fact that various eco-
nomic measures, such as those by Dow Jones, show a steady rise in value since, say, the
end of World War II. Even factoring in the years of bust, a steady upward line in the price
of securities can be shown. Thus, the probability is that, in the long term, values will rise.
People invest in individual retirement policies with the idea that when they retire, their
funds will have increased in value sufficient to support them. Unless, of course, they retire
just as the economy goes down once more.
Upward Economic Movement. Businesses predicate arguments about their success on
comparisons with the past quarter or year or more. Because of the probability of a con-
tinuing rise in the economy, the expectation is that successful companies will report more
earnings, more profits, more shareholder value, more command of the market, more sales,
and so on than in the past. In 2011, IBM could report significant growth in its business: it
is the largest technology and consulting employer in the world with over 400,000 employ-
ees; it does business in 170 different countries; it offers complex infrastructure, hosting,
and consulting services; a portfolio of middleware for collaboration, predictive analytics,
Probability of Change. Along with the probability of booms and busts, and the long-
term growth in business, is the probability of change . Jeffrey Garten says the world is now
experiencing extraordinary changes in technology and globalization that have “created a
level of competition that will lead to new categories of winners and losers and for a trans-
formation in how companies are organized and led” (19). We are now, he says, in the third
such revolution. He labels England between 1750 and 1840 and the United States between
the 1860s and the 1920s as the Industrial Revolutions. Now, we are in the information,
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 247 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 247 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
248 PART 3 Applications
communication, or knowledge age, depending on who is speaking. Business argumenta-
tion uses the probability of change as a starting point for claims about what businesses
and entire industries must do to anticipate and profit from the impending change, what-
ever it turns out to be. Remember that Thomas Watson, Jr., said in his lectures,
Watson can, “parse a problem across thousands of processors, race through its massive
data reserves, evaluate a near-infinite number of options, make the relevant correlations,
narrow the possibilities, and arrive at what it identifies as the highest-probability correct
answer. And it does all that in less than three seconds” (Forbes.com). IBM will lead as the
world changes.
Commonplaces/Forms of Argument in Business Argumentation
In Chapter 2 , we define commonplaces as lines of argument, forms of argument, or places
from which arguments can be built. In Chapter 4 , we explain various forms of argument
and we observe that spheres define the patterns of argument that are preferred and the
criteria by which they will be evaluated. It is possible to identify some commonplaces that
are generally characteristic of business argumentation. We will rely on reports about IBM
and a research report written by IBMers about telecom providers in a digital content mar-
ket to illustrate the commonplaces.
Comparison and contrast can be found in the argument of The Motley Fool that
IBM is strong and worthy of investment. The question was, “How does IBM compare
or contrast with its peers and competitors?” Using the measure of market capitalization
for evidence, IBM with US$160.3 billion is contrasted with Oracle with US$113 billion,
Accenture with US$23.7 billion, BEA Systems with US$7.2 billion, and TIBCO Software
with US$1.6 billion (October 16, 2007). The Motley Fool went on to support the compar-
ison and contrast argument in support of IBM by considering a bid by Oracle for another
company that would amount to US$6.6 billion, and a bid by Google to buy YouTube for
if they are to enter the digital content market, a report prepared by three IBMers, Ekow
Nelson, Howard Kline, and Rob van den Dam, entitled, A Future in Content(ion): Can
Telecom Providers Win a Share of the Digital Content Market , calls attention to the need
to upgrade their systems considerably. For example, they say that there is talk of provid-
ing six simultaneous HDTV streams, which would need a huge 120 megabits (Mbit/s).
“Delivering this kind of bandwidth over an access network that was fundamentally
CHAPTER 15 Argumentation in Business 249
designed to carry narrowband voice traffic is not straightforward.” They compare and
contrast the current capabilities in various parts of the world:
Another argument from comparison and contrast is found in the business concept of
differentiation . Differentiation is seen as critical to telecom providers who wish to profit
from new media markets. The report on A Future in Content(ion) , says “The most suc-
cessful operators will thus be those that can simultaneously control their costs and drive
penetration by differentiating themselves from their rivals with high-value offerings to
If traditional telecom providers do not differentiate themselves from their competitors in the cable
and satellites sectors, they will likely end up locked in a price war—and quite possibly risk alienat-
ing their institutional investors, too, since the capital markets will not support oversupply. (11)
AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, Qwest, and other voice communication
companies have expended great amounts of money to secure subscribers and distinguish
themselves from their competitors. Cingular bought the oldest communication company,
AT&T, and then adopted its name and dropped the use of “Cingular.” Apparently, the
company leaders believed that the old brand was a more viable way to differentiate them-
Cause and effect is a widely used commonplace in business argumentation. At the
Computer Dealers Exposition (COMDEX), a conference in Las Vegas of 200,000 makers
and purveyors of microchips and related wares, Lou Gerstner, IBM CEO, addressed the
large gathering. In his talk, he reasoned from cause to effect, effect to cause, and cause to
effect to cause.
Every now and then, a technology or an idea comes along that is so profound, and so powerful,
and so universal, that its impact changes everything. The printing press, the incandescent light,
the automobile, manned flight. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, the world is changed
forever. (Garr 4)
He said that information technology (IT) is such a cause of worldwide effect. If the cause
is the IT revolution, Gerstner proceeded to identify processor power, memory, disk ca-
pacity, and bandwidth as effects that will in turn cause the profound effects throughout
the world in information, communication, and technology. Members of his audience,
representing all his competitors, were aware that one of the causes of IBM’s decline at the
end of the twentieth century was a protracted antitrust suit pursued by the U.S. Justice
Department. From 1969 to 1982, the suit drained resources and weakened IBM’s ability to
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 249 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 249 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
250 PART 3 Applications
conduct business. Those representing Microsoft, including Bill Gates, were already feeling
the effects of such legal action because they had achieved the degree of market dominance
that had brought IBM to the attention of the government (Garr 6).
IBM suffered serious effects from forgetting one of its prime beliefs: Provide the best
customer service in the world. Instead, IBM technicians were focused on the technology
rather than the customer. An IBM team in Rochester, Minnesota, charged with develop-
ing a new product, realized that they had become product-driven rather than customer-
driven or market-driven. “We’d forgotten how to do something we’d always done so well
before. We didn’t listen to our customers” (Bauer et al. 6). They had been reasoning from
cause to effect: We produce a fine product and the customers will buy it. But that reason-
ing had not worked. Instead, they had to reason from effect to cause: What utility does
the customer need? How can we produce a product that meets that need? In the retail
market today, the company that seems to be doing the best job of producing products
the customers need and want is Apple with its iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and the effect is
Apple’s standing as the most valuable brand in the world.
IT assets and systems are vital to a retail environment and ensure that sales and inventory
data are readily available to help management make quick decisions. Due to Merkur’s strong
growth—IT assets within the organization had tripled in just three years—the company was
challenged to deliver the same high levels of service while reducing costs. Existing manual,
ad-hoc solutions for tracking and managing assets were expensive, error-prone and not scal-
able. . . . Merkur has started to roll out the software, with some 16,000 IT assets, including
notebook computers, cell phones, monitors, point-of-sale devices and network equipment, now
being managed by the Tivoli software. By the end of 2007, plans call for 30,000 assets to be
managed.
“By providing a single platform for asset and service management, Tivoli technology ena-
bles us to finally understand the true cost of our IT services and its impact on profitability,”
says Simon Znidar, CIO, Merkur Group. “With this information, we can proactively reduce
operational costs while maintaining exceptional service quality.” (IBM.com)
IBM reported that plans call for Merkur to use the Tivoli technology to measure service
delivery, track incident response times, and evaluate the performance of individual assets.
In this way, they can keep close track of costs and profitability.
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 250 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 250 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
CHAPTER 15 Argumentation in Business 251
At the same time, another IBM press release announced that AXA Group, a worldwide
leader in financial protection and wealth management, had extended its Infrastructure On
Demand contract with IBM. The AXA Group Managing Director said,
In this way, IBM has returned to its roots: providing customers with the means of doing
their businesses more efficiently, thereby producing greater benefit at lower cost.
Sign reasoning occurs throughout economic and business argumentation. Remember,
sign reasoning differs from cause and effect in that the sign may indicate something
without having played a major role, or any role, in its cause. For example, surveys of
consumer confidence are reported as signaling future business activity. The causes of the
activity may be many and complex, including products, pricing, weather, fashion, and
so forth, but the consumer confidence index has proved, over the years, to be a reliable
Sign reasoning can also be used to enhance the reputation of a company. For example,
on November 2, 2007, an IBM press release announced Project Big Green, a US$1 billion
investment toward dramatically increasing the efficiency of IBM products. The project
included a five-step approach to “energy efficiency in the data center that, if followed,
could sharply reduce data center energy consumption and transform clients’ technology
infrastructure into ‘green’ data centers” (IBM.com). Clearly, this effort was not aimed at
increasing IBM’s profits or reducing its costs. The energy consumed would be paid for
by clients who were using IBM products. However, the green project was intended to be
Penetration of markets is a commonplace used to argue a business’ control of sales
of certain products and to argue the future potential of a product in relation to the cur-
rent level of adoption. For example, the IBM study of telecommunications companies’
future potential in traditional voice telephony in Europe reports that the demand for wire-
less services is slowing down, as mobile penetration in Western Europe nears 100%. At
the same time, the report says, “the prospective market for Internet Protocol Television
(IPTV) is large because fewer than four million households currently have IPTV, but the
number of subscriptions is expected to rise to over 30 million by 2010” (Nelson et al.
5–6). There is not much point in pursuing a line of business for which demand is dropping
rapidly. There is good reason to pursue an expanding market.
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 251 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 251 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
252 PART 3 Applications
The wisdom of crowds is a commonplace that has emerged recently. Traditionally, the
idea of using what “everybody believes” as support for an argument has been denounced
as mere bandwagon propaganda. The IBM report argues, however, that today consum-
ers are demanding ubiquitous access; they want to control their own schedules, publish
FORMS OF SUPPORT IN BUSINESS ARGUMENTATION
Evidence, values, and credibility constitute the forms of support for arguments, as we
explained in Chapters 7 – 9 . In this section, we will discuss some of the ways business argu-
ments are supported. Our primary focus will be on how IBM has used its basic beliefs as
value support for its argumentation.
Evidence as Support in Business Argumentation
You learned in Chapter 7 that the common forms of evidence in arguments are examples,
statistics, and testimony. All three forms are used widely in business decision making.
Examples abound in business argumentation. When IBM argues that in recent years
it has presented the world with significant new technology and products, it can point
to the example of the number of patents held by the company: more than US$1 billion
earned each year from royalties. It can identify individual products introduced within the
past few years, for example, the IBM System i5, an “all-in-one” IT platform for small
Statistics are a vital part of business argumentation, as we have reported in the discus-
sion of facts as starting points. Other than the science spheres, business is probably the
largest user of quantitative data as support for arguments. For example, in the study of
telecom providers and the digital content market, the IBM report presents a graph show-
ing emerging content revenue in billions of U.S. dollars growing from US$56 billion in
2006 to US$135 billion in 2010 and breaking out the income according to source: Mobile
TV, IPTV, in-game advertising, Mobile advertising, online advertising, digital streaming,
interactive TV promotions, television, wireless games, online games, Mobile music, and
licensed digital music content. These statistics vividly support the IBM argument that the
future is not in voice communication but in the digital content market.
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 252 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 252 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
CHAPTER 15 Argumentation in Business 253
their skills and expertise in order to become global leaders, professionals, and citizens.
Palmisano said,
to be competitive, any individual—like any company, community or country—has to adapt
continuously, learning new fields and new skills. This package of capabilities enhances the abil-
ity of IBMers to acquire new skills and capabilities. (IBM.com)
Values as Support in Business Argumentation
We have spoken of the basic beliefs that have governed IBM decision making for almost a
century, and we have said that IBM more than any other business of which we are aware
explicitly states and relies on its values (basic beliefs) to develop and evaluate argumentation.
In a personal conversation with an IBM vice president at an Austin, Texas, site in the 1990s,
we asked what profound changes in their way of doing business IBM would consider. The
“But Watson’s most enduring contribution to business was his intentional creation of some-
thing that would outlast him—a shared corporate culture. He showed how the basic beliefs
and values of an organization could be perpetuated—to become its guiding constant through
time. By values we do not mean ethics or morals, which are requisites for every enterprise. We
mean the characteristics that identify what is both unique and enduring about any particular
enterprise . . . it’s about institutionalizing why the organization does what it does. When we
have lived our values, IBMers and our company have thrived. When we haven’t, it hurt us”
( The New York Times ; June 16, 2011; A16).
In an internal study of the decision making at the Austin site, and by extension of the
decision making throughout IBM because there is great conformity to process throughout
the huge company, Richard Rieke found more than 50 specific value statements employed in
IBM decision making.
1 We will identify a few of these that played significant roles in decision
making, and we will illustrate how they can come into conflict to complicate decisions.
The specific value statements are derived from the three basic values outlined by
Thomas Watson, Jr.: Respect the individual, provide the best customer service in the
world, and drive for superiority in all things. For example, based on the mandate to re-
spect the individual are these preferences: We prefer experienced individuals, the person or
team most prepared and ready to go, the person or team with the most market experience,
1 Richard D. Rieke, Analysis and Reasoning in Contention and Presentation, Being Effective in Management
Communication. A training seminar created exclusively for the IBM Corporation, Austin, Texas.
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 253 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 253 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
254 PART 3 Applications
the lowest headcount (never hire more people than will be needed to avoid layoffs at all
costs), to treat all people with dignity and respect, people neatly dressed, forthrightness,
optimism, loyalty, building from within, an open door (any IBMer can talk to any man-
ager including the CEO), managers who help and train their people, wild ducks (people
with an instinct for innovation and drama), multiple open channels of communication,
team play, letting managers manage their units.
From the demand for superiority in all things come these preferences: We prefer mak-
ing more rather than less money, high quality, excellence, maximum utilization of our
skills and resources, competence to incompetence, being competitive, superior products
and performance, education and retraining, the future to the status quo, improving the
image of the company, what has already succeeded, serving the stockholders, the free en-
terprise system, responding to markets, improving effectiveness.
In Chapter 8 , we describe how values work in argumentation, particularly the fact
that they most often appear as warrants and they operate in hierarchies. In IBM, the three
major values stated by Watson in 1962 are not given more or less importance in relation
to each other. Accordingly, the numerous specific values we have just listed do not carry
Price versus Schedule
Manufacturing is charged with the responsibility of getting the lowest per unit cost and
thereby keeping down the product price. However, this leads them to refuse to bend:
They won’t pressure vendors to speed up because they have negotiated that low unit
price. If they go back to the vendors and ask for more speedy delivery, they will jeopard-
ize their low price agreements. Then again, if we speed up the schedule the products will
reach the market faster and the money will start rolling in sooner.
Profit versus Compatibility
If we go in the direction Team A is recommending, clearly we can bring the product in pre-
cisely within set margins and profit will be just where management wanted it. However,
Team B can show rather persuasively, that if we go in their direction, the new product will
be more compatible with products that are currently being used by our customers, even
though it will require eating into profits more than management wanted.
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 254 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 254 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
CHAPTER 15 Argumentation in Business 255
How might the conflict between the two values be resolved? Under what conditions
might achieving compatibility be more or less important than profit?
Schedule versus Customer Acceptance
How might the conflict between the two values be resolved? Under what conditions
might improved products be more or less important the meeting announced schedules?
Credibility as Support for Business Argumentation
Credibility is defined in Chapter 9 as the perception that the arguer is competent and
trustworthy, and has good will toward the decision makers. Dynamism is also frequently
mentioned as a factor in credibility. In business argumentation, credibility plays a role in
arguments addressed to customers, shareholders, employees, the government, other busi-
nesses, and special interest groups such as environmentalists.
Thomas L. Friedman, the international affairs op-ed columnist for the New York
Times , describes at length what is happening throughout the world in business practices,
communication, argumentation, and business decision making in The World Is Flat: A
the newfound power for individuals to collaborate and compete globally. And the phenom-
enon that is enabling, empowering, and enjoining individuals and small groups to go global
so easily and so seamlessly is what I call the flat-world platform . . . [which] is the product of
a convergence of the personal computer (which allowed every individual suddenly to become
Credibility in business argument, from Friedman’s perspective, will come from those or-
ganizations prepared to succeed in this new flat world. The old image of the success-
ful business organization—large, nation centered, manufacturing oriented, and vertically
structured from making parts to marketing a finished product—is rapidly losing credibil-
ity. You might think that such twentieth-century U.S. business leaders as GM and IBM
would fall into that category. About GM, you might be correct. In the hundreds of pages
of Friedman’s book, there are only two pages on which he mentions GM. However, there
are 35 pages on which IBM is discussed.
IBM has maintained credibility by restoring its commitment to providing the best
customer service in the world (good will). As we learned earlier in this chapter, the software,
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 255 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 255 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401
256 PART 3 Applications
CONCLUSION
IBM Corporation has proved to be an excellent case study in business argumentation pri-
marily because it uses its basic beliefs of respect for the individual, best customer service
in the world, and striving for superiority in all things to generate warrants and criteria
for evaluating arguments and making decisions. The basic beliefs help us identify start-
ing points for argumentation, particularly in locating presumptions that assign burdens
of proof and help make decisions when no clear superiority of argument sets aside the
presumption. IBM provided examples of facts, probabilities, and commonplaces as other
starting points in business argumentation. We learned that such commonplaces as com-
EXERCISES/PROJECTS
1. Pick some businesses you know about or have heard of, and do a Google or other search for
them. Notice arguments the businesses make about themselves and their products or services.
2. Identify a business in which you have some interest and go to their website. Note the argu-
M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 256 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501M15_RIEK0596_08_SE_C15.indd Page 256 1/18/12 8:38 AM user-f501 F-401F-401