Tanatology: reflections on the funeral market in paraná coast (Brazil), between the profitability and the respect
International Journal of Development Research
Tanatology: reflections on the funeral market in paraná coast (Brazil), between the profitability and the respect
Received 29th December, 2018; Received in revised form 04th January, 2019; Accepted 02nd February, 2019; Published online 29th March, 2019
Copyright © 2019, Adilson Anacleto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The death is a complex funeral ritual, and the phases of funeral and burial have become a farewell ceremony with the presence of the dead body, so important for those who were not at the time of the person’s death. The perception about the death has shown great changes over the last few decades, and some debates that were taken as complex have gained some space in the thanatology, including studies on the funeral market, also known as the death market. In Brazil, this market generates 19 thousand jobs, and moves approximately 2 billion dollars a year, and has presented a growth rate of 8% per year. Despite the sector relevance, few studies have been done on this issue so far. In this context and in order to promote a thanatological diagnosis related to the funeral market Paraná Coast, an exploratory and descriptive study was carried out between June and December of 2018, directed at nine managers of funeral companies. The study found that the majority of respondents (n = 66%) rated the competition as non-aggressive, and that the results were satisfactory and it is only necessary to maintain the prices in the regional range as the main business strategy. The majority of the respondents (n = 77%) reported that a service offering approach was not carried out and that they expected customers to look for the company, and only from that moment on the service process began, which revealed that the strategies are respectful, ethical and non-invasive. Regarding to the analysis of the threats in the perception of the interviewees that could be limiting the development of the sector in Paraná Coast, the most cited were the business unpredictability (n = 20.01), the need for companies to seek greater professional organization in the service provision (n = 19.69) and lack of skilled labor to deal with death situations (n = 11.62). The most part of the managers interviewed (n = 86%) were classified by the Miles and Snow taxonomy with the defensive strategic positioning, and this positioning may be the result of the perceived scenario, where the high demand and low competition result in simple and less innovative strategies and especially with low-cost advertising. It was concluded that even if it is a satisfactory market, the diagnosed threats can result in unfavorable conditions for the sector development, so the improvement of management, employees training, and the correct use of strategy and marketing tools could generate greater efficiency in service, as well as the innovation could be a relevant alternative to avoid that better structured competitors from other regions could settle in the region.