1 company, few websites

Hi,

Is it OK for a company to have a few websites and try to rank all of them at the same time in terms of SEO?

I mean the case where the websites offer exactly the same services (but have unique content and layout of course) and are targeting specific locations.

So for example, a company offers services which can be done remotely and doesn't need an office. So it has one website targeting the whole country (so very competitive keywords) and at the same time it has other websites, trying to position them for keywords such as serviceNew York, serviceChicago, serviceLos Angeles etc.

Is it this a normal strategy or is it something shady?