. One tactic which has made the John Doe group unique in the industry is its recognition of the importance of community in the viability of individual enterprises. Its damaged relationship with the communities in which it has sought to operate can be rectified by aspects of its model which are already in place. Though the company operates thousands of funeral service establishments from a centralized point of authority, its acquisition strategy incorporates the families who have owned and operated the newly purchased assets into the business plan. As a result, John Doe's holdings are hybrid entities, armed with the resources of a large parent company but endowed with the close community relationship of an independent business. Taking advantage of this model should be central to the company's overall reversal of its negative public image. This will demand that the new core of central leadership make an effort to increase the role and visibility of family proprietors in individual locations while removing impressions of its own management role. The negative image of the corporation should play less of a role in its day-to-day operations due to its importance only as an umbrella corporation and not as an active member of the relationship between the funeral home and the community. This is a proposal that ultimately will seek to push John Doe in a direction of more silent management. A systematic reduction of corporate visibility in the communities of its operation will have the effect of stimulating positive community relations for individual establishments while removing from its holdings any lingering sense of hostility or distaste in the public. Certainly, it is also essential that those practices perceiving...

It seems that the strategy of acquisition was only an effective one under the previous model for a fraction of its duration of implementation. At this point, it must make as its main focus the development of existing holdings. This demands not only the halting of any new acquisition efforts, which is itself already a significant reversal of the prevailing strategy heretofore, but also a reduction in costs through the sale of tactically selected holdings.
When key holdings have been identified, we can begin a phase of development that is centered around bringing a central coordination to the company. While the visible funeral service establishments will be identified within their communities by the families to whom they are operationally beholden, John Doe must instate unifying standards amongst its homes. Among these, the corporation must tailor prices to meet specific demographic and regional needs, avoiding a repeat of the difficult impressions delivered by its previously discrediting operations. Additionally and perhaps most importantly, John Doe must take on a strategy that is regional rather than community-based in scope with regard to corporate resource distribution. By allotting a fleet of limousines to a region of funeral homes rather than to a single home, for example, we can simultaneously improve cost effectiveness for a whole region and bring individual establishments into a more closely coordinated structure for collective viability.