Search results

This study aims to determine the prospect of takaful funerals as an Islamic insurance product and its marketing strategy. The multicase study analyzed is the Takaful Funeral Amsterdam of Indonesia, launched in 2015, Millî Görüs of Turkey in 1970 and Arrahma of Morocco in 2006.

This study delivers an analytic hierarchy process to qualitatively and quantitatively describe Muslim customers’ priority choice and interest criteria for takaful funerals as a forerunner of Islamic insurance products.

Based on the priority choice and interest criteria, the highest priority element of takaful funeral products is market need (49.21%). The group subcriteria were dominant compared to the individual subcriteria. Product design is the second choice (20.9%), with function as the priority in subcriteria.

This indicates that the Muslim community urgently needs funeral service products that are consistent with Islamic law, which emphasizes its function. The market needs as the highest priority element implies that bundling products, affordable prices and simple design are the most suitable methods for developing takaful funeral products in Indonesia.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to discuss Islamic funerals in Indonesia, with the potential to be further developed with the increasing need of the Islamic insurance industry for new products. Previous research did not examine the PPME Al-Ikhlas Takaful Amsterdam, Millî Görüs of Turkey and Arrahma of Morocco as case studies for developing Islamic funeral insurance in Indonesia. Therefore, this gives the present study high originality.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of service flexibility in addressing consumer vulnerability for chronically-traumatized consumers within the funerary context.

Using phenomenological philosophy and a grounded approach, data was collected and analyzed through 12 depth interviews with funeral service providers, coupled with observations and photographs of three second-line funeral processionals.

Study results include the following three primary roles of service providers in supporting chronically-traumatized consumers: the role of service fluidity in addressing trauma, mitigating vulnerability via service providers as community members and alleviating suffering through compassionate service. Service flexibility and value co-creation efforts were executed through an expansive service ecosystem of vendors.

When consumers experience vulnerability that demands reliance upon service industries, service providers can intentionally implement fluidity and agility in service design, adopt understanding and altruistic practices, and operate with empathy and compassion to orchestrate mutually-beneficial service outcomes.

Rooted in transformative service research, providers are advised to consider modifying services to improve well-being and mitigate vulnerability for chronically-traumatized consumers via fluidity, community and compassion.

This study contributes originality to the body of service marketing literature by illustrating how service providers alleviate vulnerability for chronically-traumatized consumers through three adaptive service strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the service literature by investigating post-consumption evaluation in the context of unwanted services. In particular, it intends to delineate the main characteristics of funeral services.

Given the lack of substantive literature on funeral services, a qualitative exploratory design was used from in-depth interviews with ten managers of funeral services companies in Quebec (Canada).

The study shows that compared to other traditional services, funeral services are characterized by their strong emotiveness, non-recurrence, irreversibility, uncommonness, high level of symbolism and personalization and emotion control of the service provider. The study also argues that funeral services quality is strongly dependent on funeral houses’ integrated logistics, proximity and integrity.

Because of consumers’ lack of competency, funeral companies need to guide and educate consumers about the criteria they should use to evaluate the service quality. Because funeral consumers are strongly emotion-driven at the purchase time, funeral services providers should find the right balance of emotions to express. Thus, more staff training is needed.

Because funeral services are emotionally challenging and deal with grief and distressed clients, the present study contributes in shedding light on service quality assessment in the funeral industry. Although they have some characteristics of traditional services (intangibility, perishability and variability), funeral services are also different in many ways.

The Opentable strategy is considered a taboo because of its ability to take advantage of peoples’ grief. Therefore, this study aims to explore the Opentable (Exhibition) as a marketing strategy for modern Muslim funeral products, considered a luxury by most people in Indonesia.

This is a qualitative research with a phenomenological approach used to collect data from six Memorial Advisors (MAs) through interviews.

The result showed that the Opentable strategy was carried out to introduce the concept of a modern Muslim funeral home and its products. Furthermore, MA does not encourage sales during Opentable, rather, it uses the process to obtain complete data from potential customers.

This research serves as a guidance for MA and other similar professions to socialize products uncommon or considered taboo in society. It also provides a repertory of new marketing strategies, especially for targeted and uncommon products.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first research to explore Opentable (Exhibition) as a marketing strategy for modern Muslim funeral products in Indonesia. Therefore, future research is needed on other marketing strategies.

The research involved a funeral home manager who used case research within another funeral home to learn more about how to manage his own workplace. This research aims to investigate for the first time how funeral homes can strategically manage the marketing of their services to customers during emotional times in their lives.

The two methodologies of convergent interviewing and case research in a funeral home workplace are described in detail.

The case research revealed what strategic marketing management principles have to be emphasized in the unique context of funeral homes, and the related need to develop a hybrid strategy. The project demonstrated that a case research project can align a formal research project with the professional development of managers.

The paper provided the first author with a valuable learning experience of management in his industry, and provides other funeral home managers with a detailed guide to doing their strategic marketing management.

The authors’ contributions are the first example of case research used for workplace learning in a blend of formal academic research and workplace learning. It is also the first academically rigorous coverage of strategic marketing management workplace practices in the unique context of funeral homes; they were uncovered in interviews across a range of staff levels in a funeral home.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a particular type of property market, that of funeral homes, of which little is known, despite the fact that it is an expanding market, reflecting a social and cultural change in Italy.

A qualitative analysis of the funeral property market was carried out. Information and data were collected from funeral companies, with reference to their market strategy, and from institutional investors, in order to gauge their knowledge of that specific sector and their willingness to invest in this specific property type. The instruments used were questionnaires, telephone interviews and on-site visits.

The results of this study suggest that Italian funeral companies identified a new property market, responding to the demands of a changing social context, especially in Northern Italy. Limited experience in the management of this asset and the lack of a clear and uniform legislative regulation at the national level appear to be among the main difficulties. From the investors’ point of view, the main problems in investing in this property were the lack of adequate knowledge in the sector and moral qualms about the specific type of assets.

The small sample restricts generalization beyond the companies that participated in the research. Furthermore, the research only focused on the private sector related to niche market strategy and property investments.

The paper could raise awareness of a specific and not well-known property market among the real estate operators.

The originality of the analysis lies in investigating a relevant phenomenon from the social point of view that has been little or not at all addressed from the point of view of real estate, particularly in Italy.

American business models have been used as levers to open many industries in Japan to participation by foreign firms, from toy retailing to fast food restaurants and from consumer banking to direct selling of computers. This case describes the efforts of All Nations Society to apply an American approach to outsourcing, pricing, and service bundling in the very traditional industry of funeral services so as to create a competitive advantage for itself against companies that practice opaque pricing and have high overheads.

Suggests that female funeral service practitioners (FSPs), in particular, may be exposed to a combination of classic healthcare stressors (e.g. shift work, work/family balance), unique funeral industry stressors, and stresses associated with working in non‐traditional occupations. Explores the relationships betweeen the stressors, perceived stress and two m ental health outcomes: anxiety and depression. Suggests that there needs to be both direct and indirect relationships between these. Expands the knowledge regarding the types of work and non‐work stressor that can affect mental health outcomes among women working in onn‐traditional occupations. Comments that this information should be particularly useful as women are increasingly entering historically male‐dominated fields.

The literature available on how communities deal with mass death, in particular body handling procedures, is sparse. Describes the actions of the various people involved in the immediate aftermath of the Halifax (Nova Scotia) 1917 explosion. Also, but in less detail, examples the Rapid City flood, the Gander air crash, the Zeebrugge ferry disaster, the Tangsham earthquake, the Texas City explosion and the Kobe earthquake. Highlights the problems of handling bodies after a mass fatality incident: respect accorded to the dead individual; whether skilled individuals are there to take on the tasks, the tagging and identification procedures required and the setting up of temporary morgue facilities.