| # | Six Sentence Argument | Score | Review Comments |
| 1 | Over 6,000 letters urge Duolever to protect Nigeria’s forests by buying no more palm oil from Bilmar, our largest supplier. | 2 | Function: The introduction clearly outlines the problem that this 6SA is about. Namely, that thousands of protest letters critize the Bilmar palm oil case (1st Point).
Quality: Bringing up the large number of letters makes the problem current urgent and attracts attention as Duolevers supply chain seems to be in danger (2nd Point). |
| 2 | We should respond by immediately stop buying Nigerian palm oil and by pressuring Bilmar to halt their plans in Nigeria. | 2 | Function: The position applies perfectly to the situation of the case – the Bilmar palm oil deforestation – and the introduction connecting it to the strategic supply chain power of Duolever (1st point).
Quality: It clearly specifies who – Duolever – should do what: should instantly stop Nigerian palm oil purchases from Bilmar (2nd point). |
| 3 | Any other reaction will damage our reputation persistently and let our Strategy for Sustainability appear as an empty promise. | 2 | Function: The sentence puts the position in alignment with Duolevers corporate strategy and thus provides a reason why #2 is a good choice (1st point).
Quality: From my perspective, this is convincing, because indeed Duolever has built up a reputation which is at risk (2nd point). |
| 4 | However, we would risk losing our most important and shortly irreplaceable supplier of RSPO-certified palm oil. | 2 | Function: This is a challenge to #3, it highlights the costs and risks of maintaining the good reputation. Well done! (1st point).
Quality: In my view, this is the key challenge: Losing an irreplaceable supplier has a strong impact on the whole supply chain (2nd point). |
| 5 | Since without us, Bilmar could not sell large portions of their produced palm oil, the aforementioned risk is manageable. | 2 | Function: It is a clear point to counter #4 as it puts the risk of losing the main supplier into – a manageable – perspective (1st point).
Quality: This is a fair point. As a large buyer, Duolever has leverage (2nd point). In my opinion, the transition from this dependency to a manageable risk is still a bit difficult to grasp. It would be interesting – to some extent – to assess the details of such a risk management. Do you have an idea of how you would manage this risk? What would be the risk criteria and how would you connect them to the corporate strategy? |
| 6 | To protect our good reputation, we should stop sourcing Nigeria palm oil from Bilmar until they have improved.
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2 | Function: This summarizes the argument without introducing new points (1st point).
Quality: It emphasizes the action and the reason. It motivates me to take action. Keeping a good reputation is indeed a good motivator. Additionally, the summary ends with a positive connotation as the aspects of improvement highlight potential for future development (2nd point). |
| Overall Score and Assessment: | 12 | Overall: This is an excellent 6SA and it makes a good comprehensible recommendation. Through the explanation, you consistently give strong arguments to underline your position of an immediate purchase stop of Bilmar palm oil. This traceable impression comes also from the fact that you included a strong (maybe the biggest?) challenge in your argumentation which you counter with a fair point. It shows that you carefully weighted up the pros and cons of your position. In addition, all sentences fulfil the preconditions – namely the word limit and comprehensibility. Good job! Room for discussion: I wonder, if it is necessary to stop sourcing – meaning a full purchase stop of all Bilmar products from Nigeria- or whether threatening to stop sourcing – or divesting from only parts of Bilmars products – would be enough. Using Duolevers bargaining power as a main customer could be a valuable asset in negotiations without immediately losing one of its main supplier. Nevertheless, this is a point well made. |
Additional information on the language: the examples are based on actual student 6SAs. For these students, English is a second language.
