Assessing Disruption in the Death Care Industry

B|G reviewed relevant internal strategic documentation and conducted interviews with key internal and external stakeholders:

• A review of documentation related to the client’s corporate and business strategies provided a full understanding of the relevant context for the research engagement.
• Semi-structured interviews with client leadership, funeral professionals, association leaders, and trusted marketing partners provided expert insight into the research questions.

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Secondary research established a thorough understanding of markets, competitors, products, and services:

• Market trends that foreshadowed where and how the funeral industry would change were identified and ranked in order of potential likelihood and impact.
• Competitive profiles of innovative funeral industry firms were developed.
• Relevant case studies were examined in order to consider how and why disruption occurred in other similar industries.

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Industry-specific knowledge through interviews and market analysis was then integrated with accepted disruption models to predict future trends and outcomes.  These multiple scenarios helped the client envision the potential consequences of disruption in its industry:

• The effects of market trends on the client’s business model were analyzed.
• A value chain analysis illustrating where disruption was likely to occur and from which actors was mapped out.
• A final report that summarized key research findings and included recommendations for next steps was provided to the leadership team.

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B|G’s actionable insights allowed the client to develop strategies to prepare for future industry disruption:

• The client understood how it could better serve current and future consumers.
• The client understood several options for how it could evolve its business model to adapt to changes in the funeral landscape.
• The client understood areas in which it could take a proactive leadership role and engage in strategic innovation to create future real-options.

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