This 4 page paper examines this case study that looks at the funeral business. How the funeral business and the Internet merge is at the crux of this case. Recommendations are made. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: RT13_SA546fun.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
an internet presence is needed. Their intuition is right in that in todays marketplace, Internet presence is a necessity. However, they are in a very low key business that also
has a bad reputation. Generally, when someone dies they go to the funeral home and choose a casket off the cuff. However, this casket company wants to introduce people to
their products online so that they can either look at them during the time between a loved ones passing and the funeral, or prior to death. People who know that
they do not have long to live might actually like to view their choices in advance. Some people do choose their caskets and design funerals well in advance so that
their loved ones do not have to make any decisions when the time of their death arrives. Batesville does set up a web site but there are concerns about how
it might be received by the funeral homes in the area. II. Identification of a Major Problem The company has a choice to make in terms of recommending
a funeral home, or several funeral homes, at their site. Much has to do with how they are perceived. Some critics believe that Batesville has engaged in negative practices such
as price-fixing (Lubove, 2005). Their web site has numerous links to information about death and bereavement and so forth, but they have not made the leap to attaching themselves to
specific funeral homes. Several customers purchase from them, as well as other manufacturers, while another group of customers purchases all of their wares from them. Should Batesville only recommend those
funeral homes where there is 100% participation? If they do, they risk offending the companies that only purchase about 30% of their product from them. However, if they include all