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REV: MARCH 4, 2002
op yo The Loewen Group, Inc. (Abridged)
In March 1999, John Lacey and the management team at the Loewen Group, Inc., had to decide what course of action to take in light of the company’s imminent financial difficulties. On
January 22, 1999, Lacey, a renowned turnaround specialist, was appointed chairman of Loewen, the second largest death care company in North America. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia,
Loewen owned over 1,100 funeral homes and more than 400 cemeteries in the U.S. and Canada; it also owned 32 funeral homes in the United Kingdom. The company had come a long way since its modest beginnings in Canada, where Ray Loewen, the founder (and, until recently,
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The Loewen Group, Inc. (Abridged)
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Loewen had not yet missed any payments on its debt, and had approximately $30 million of cash on hand. However, this would not be sufficient to meet several large interest and principal payments that were due over the coming months. A payment default would only make negotiations with creditors more difficult, and increase the likelihood of bankruptcy. This possibility would no doubt weigh heavily on the managers’ minds as they turned to the important task of restructuring the company’s debts.
The Death Care Business
op yo The primary activities of death care firms include the provision of funeral, burial, and cremation services, and related products like cemetery plots, caskets, urns, and gravesite markers. Funeral services and cemetery plots can be sold either on an “at-need” basis (i.e., at the time of death), or on a
“prearranged” or “pre-need” basis. In the latter case, payment for a funeral service or cemetery plot is made in advance, and the proceeds are either held in trust or invested in an insurance policy (that names the death care firm as beneficiary).
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Most people contact funeral homes whenever a relative of theirs has passed. In most cases, the family gets good services and everything goes right, but there are also scenarios where things go totally wrong. The sad truth is, in many cases, many families do not find out the truth that happens inside the funeral homes. Bodies have been misplaced, cremations have been done wrong or not done in some cases, and body parts have been stolen (FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY ABUSE). That is just some of the few things that have happened. Funeral homes are known for charging a lot for funerals and in many cases use their knowledge to convince people to buy more expensive things. Funeral homes have their ways where they outsmart people and they also in some
The amount of annual revenue allocated to funeral home versus cremation services is quickly evening out, and cremation is predicted by the NFDA to completely overtake burial selection within the next
Public burial sites were intended to serve the whole community and are closely integrated into community history. The sites carry multiple social and political
Source of payments: The petitioners claim liquidity and the ability to pay interest or principal on amount owed, but conclusive findings show the insufficiency to pay interest or principal balance. This factor supports the treatment of the advances as equity.
* The company has sufficient liquidity to finance ongoing operations without taking on additional debt.
The story of the origin of this thriving business dates back to some 34 years after the establishment of one of the first, if not the first funeral undertaker or mortician, who was appointed for the town of Boston, Mass., by the Boston Board of Health in June 1816.
It is an estate that will end automatically when the condition or stated event occurs.
b. Other indications of financial difficulties (default on loan or similar agreements, arrearages in dividends, denial of usual trade credit from suppliers, restructuring of debt, noncompliance with statutory capital requirements, the need to seek new sources or methods of financing, or the need to dispose of substantial assets).
Task 1, in this paper I choose to research Dahl Funeral Home. I will be discussing the facility’s location, history and services provided. Dahl Funeral home was first recognized in 1865 by Henry Dahl, which was located on Main St. in Cedar Falls. Later in 1983, it was relocated to 703 Washington St. In 1968, Sylvester Van Hove and Merwin Schoof purchased the funeral home from Dahl Family and later moved it to 1825 W, 12th Street, Cedar Falls. This facility hosts three licensed funeral directors on staff, who can aid in answering questions. Dahl Funeral home contains a chapel, which seating capacity for 250 people. It also includes two comfortable visitation rooms, a large foyer, as well as a lounge.
After some research on five current trends in the funeral service operations, I decided to choose the following submerging topics: personalization, technology, “green” funerals, women in the industry and pet funerals. In regards to personalization, Shivon loved the idea that more services were becoming specific to a deceased individual’s life. Families are trying to seek ways to make meaningful funeral services, while helping with the grieving process. “The idea of personalization has resulted in an explosion of unique services that reflect the hobbies, passions and interests of someone who has died” (National Funeral Directors Association, 2017). With technology on the rise, it is only appropriate for funeral homes to jump on the
The four P’s of marketing include; product, price, place or distribution, and promotion. In the movie Jobs, the entrepreneurs began with discovering a product, which the later called the Apple computer. One of their greatest struggles was figuring out a way to convince their customers that their computer was better than their competitor, IBM. In order to do this they had to convince the public that the quality of their computers was better. In funeral services, the product may include; caskets, flowers, cremation merchandise, a memorial service, an internment, etc.… For a funeral home to be successful, they should do something to make them stand out, so their products and services seem superior than other funeral homes in the area. Just like the cost of the Apple computer depended on the cost of materials used and the amount of labor used to make one, the cost of funeral services may be based on; the cost of merchandise, the cost of cremation or internment, the cost of funeral director and staff, etc... Keeping a good relationship with suppliers and competitors is a component of good
Coming Home Funeral Services is located in the United Kingdom and “was the largest operator of funeral
The Holy Gardens Crematorium will cater services not just the clients of Funeraria Royale but also to the other Funeral Service. They will serve as the primary clients or customers of the Crematorium.
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The funeral home is usually the buyers first point of contact, therefore the funeral home has first chance at selling all related services and supplies.