Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

This exploratory study examines the differences in perceptions between managers of corporate firms in the financial services industry and those of a sample of the low income market concerning funeral insurance needs. The purpose is to understand these differences and whether the opportunity exists for corporates to achieve greater market orientation.A sample was drawn from the corporate firms, banks and insurance companies who currently offer funeral products. Qualitative interviews were conducted with senior managers who had an influence on the developing products for the market. A second sample representing the LSM1-5 group (low income) was drawn from a township outside Johannesburg. The resultant perceptions were compared to each other.Findings reveal a lack of market orientation on the part of most service providers coupled with low levels of market understanding. However, service providers have also displayed a willingness to re-orientate themselves to the market.Further, the market displays a willingness to purchase formal products but certain incorrect perceptions and a shortage of appropriate products could be preventing greater uptake. Recommendations for managers and for policymakers on more meaningful ways of understanding and designing for the market are offered.The exploratory nature of the study has also yielded ideas for future research that could be of value in accessing and serving the market.The author presents a model for researching low income markets based on the findings of this study coupled with precepts of consumer behaviour theory. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

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With economic sustainable development and improvement of the living standard, China insurance industry has been developed quickly as the result of reforms and development of national economy since 1980. The average annual rate of growth nearly reached 30%. The premium income of whole insurance industry are about 564,140 million RMB, and total assets about 1.97 trillion RMB in year 2006. The differences in regional GDP and personal income as its uneven distribution of natural resources and economic inequalities caused. It is also caused uneven development of the Chinese insurance industry nationwide. This study refers to the report of the State Council of China as indicated 4 major economic areas that 1. The North-East region: to revitalizing the old industrial base. 2. The Western region: to implementing the great development as blueprint by government. 3. The Central region: to promoting as key position of economy development. 4. The East region: encouraged to take the leading position in order to implementing policy of central government, etc. To submitted regional strategy of insurance operations in China, the study also refers the dissertations of the domestic and international scholarship with analytic approach of SWOT, analysis of covariance and Chi-Square test. And also carries the directive analysis and the summary of operational strategy of insurance business. It is also concluded that along with the individual income increase will resulting service demand widely. Key words: China Economy, China Insurance Industry, Regional Strategy.

No description available.

Abstracts in English, Zulu, Sesotho and Venda / The focus of this study was to investigate the employment difficulties faced by individuals who had been retrenched from the insurance industry during the years 2000 to 2013 in order to develop an understanding of the continuity in the specialist type of work after their retrenchment. The study also aimed to investigate the actual and perceived barriers that need to be addressed in the South African small business environment and the specific soft skills and business skills of small business owners and non-small business owners. The research design of this exploratory study entailed a positivist research philosophy using a deductive research approach. This quantitative research was conducted by means of a survey questionnaire. A questionnaire was designed and used to determine the level of importance and the level of own skills for small business owners and non-small business owners respectively in terms of predetermined soft and business management skills. The answers provided on these questions were then analysed to determine whether there was a gap between the level of importance assigned to these skills and their own skill ratings. This research determined the barriers faced by small businesses in South Africa as well as the level of agreement regarding the predetermined actual and perceived barriers pertaining to the small business environment. Notable findings of this study include that there was a distinct lack of continuity in the specialist type of work by the small business owner respondents in the insurance industry. There was a marked difference between the level of importance and own skill ratings assigned to the predetermined soft skills and business management skills with non-small business owner respondents mostly rating themselves as better skilled than small business owners did. However, the fact that these non-small business owner respondents did not start their own small businesses points towards higher risk aversion. This study also found that small businesses in South Africa are facing pronounced barriers within the small business environment. / Tsepamo ya boithuto bona e ne e le ho batlisisa mathata a ho hloka mosebetsi a tobaneng le batho ba ileng ba hulwa mosebetsing indastering ya inshorense nakong ya dilemo tsa 2000 ho isa 2013 e le ho theha kutlwisiso ya tswelopele ya mofuta wa mosebetsi ona o ikgethileng kamora ho hulwa hwa bona mosebetsing. Boithuto bo boetse bo ne bo reretswe ho batlisisa dithibelo tsa nnete le tse nahanwang tse hlokang ho tojwa ke tikoloho ya kgwebo tse nyane ya Afrika Borwa le bokgoni ba tsebo tsa botho tse qollehileng le tsa kgwebo tsa beng ba dikgwebo tse nyane le beng ba dikgwebo tse seng nyane. Moralo wa patlisiso wa boithuto bona ba kutullo bo ne bo kenyelletsa filosofi ya dipatlisiso tse se nang leeme le katamelo ya dipatlisiso e etsang diteko ho fumana na thiori e itseng ke nnete kapa tjhe maemong a itseng. Patlisiso ena ya boleng e entswe ka lethathamo la dipotso. Lethathamo la dipotso le ile la ralwa mme la sebediswa ho fumana boemo ba bohlokwa le boemo ba bokgoni ba hao bakeng sa beng ba dikgwebo tse nyane le beng ba dikgwebo tse seng nyane ho latela bokgoni bo fumanweng esale pele ba ditsebo tsa botho le tsa tsamaiso ya kgwebo. Dikarabo tse fanweng ho dipotso tsena di ile tsa manollwa ho fumana na ho na le sekgeo pakeng tsa boemo ba bohlokwa bo filweng ditsebo tsena le ditekanyetso tsa bona tsa ditsebo. Dipatlisiso tsena di fumane dithibelo tse tobileng dikgwebo tse nyane Afrika Borwa hammoho le boemo ba tumellano mabapi le dithibelo tse fumanweng esale pele tsa nnete le tse nahanwang tse amang tikoloho ya dikgwebo tse nyane. Diphumano tsa bohlokwa tsa boithuto bona di kenyeletsa hore ho na tlhokeho e kgolo ya tswelletsopele mofuteng wa mosebetsi o ikgethileng ke baarabi bao e leng beng ba dikgwebo tse nyane indastering ya inshorense. Ho bile le phapang e kgolo pakeng tsa boemo ba bohlokwa le ditekanyetso tsa ditsebo tsa bona tse fuweng bokgoni ba bona ba ditsebo tsa botho le ditsebo tsa tsamaiso ya kgwebo moo baarabi bao e seng beng ba dikgwebo tse nyane boholo ba neng ba ikala jwalo ka ba nang le ditsebo ho feta kamoo beng ba dikgwebo tse nyane ba ikadileng ka teng. Leha ho le jwalo, taba ya hore baarabi bana bao e seng beng ba dikgwebo tse nyane ha baa qala dikgwebo tseo e leng tsa bona e supa boemo bo phahameng ba tshabo ya kotsi. Phuputso ena e boetse e fumane hore dikgwebo tse nyane Afrika Borwa di tobane le dithibelo tse kgolo kahare ho tikoloho ya dikgwebo tse nyane. / Zwo sedzwaho kha ngudo heyi ho vha u ṱoḓulusa vhukonḓi ha mushumo ho livhanaho na vhathu vhe vha fhungudziwa u bva kha nḓowetshumo ya ndindakhombo nga tshifhinga tsha miṅwaha 2000 u swika 2013 u itela u bveledza kupfesesele kwa u bvela phanḓa kha lushaka lwa vhomakone lwa mushumo nga murahu ha u fhungudzwa mushumoni havho. Ngudo yo dovha ya livhiswa kha u ṱoḓisisa zwithivheli zwa vhukuma na zwine zwa khou humbulelwa zwine zwa tea u ambiwa nga hazwo kha vhupo ha mabindu maṱuku Afrika Tshipembe na zwikili zwa vhuṋe zwo tiwaho na zwikili zwa vhubindudzi zwa vhaṋe vha mabindu maṱuku na vhathu vha si vha mabindu maṱuku. Nyolo ya ṱhoḓisiso ya ngudo iyi ya ṱhoḓisiso i katela fiḽosofi ya ṱhoḓisiso ine ya khwaṱhisedza nga u sedza hu tshi shumiswa kuitele kwa ṱhoḓisiso kwa u ṋea zwiitisi. Ṱhoḓisiso iyi ya khwanthethivi yo itwa nga nḓila ya mbudzisambekanywa dza ṱhoḓisiso. Mbudzisambekanywa dzo itwa na u shumiswa u ta ḽeveḽe ya ndeme na ḽeveḽe ya zwikili zwa vhuṋe ha zwikili zwa vhaṋe vha mabindu maṱuku na vhathu vha si na mabindu maṱuku nga u tevhekana zwi tshi ya nga zwikili zwa vhuṋe na zwa ndangulo ya bindu zwo tiwaho u thoma. Phindulo dzo ṋetshedzwaho kha mbudziso hedzi dzo ḓo saukanywa nga murahu u ta arali hu na tshikhala vhukati ha ḽeveḽe ya ndeme yo ṋetshedzwaho zwikili izwi na phimo dza zwikili zwavho. Ṱhoḓisiso heyi yo khwaṱhisedza zwithithisi zwo livhanaho na mabindu maṱuku Afrika Tshipembe na ḽeveḽe ya thendelano zwi tshi ḓa kha u ta zwithivheli zwa vhukuma na zwine zwa khou lavhelelwa zwi tshi ḓa kha vhupo ha mabindu maṱuku. Mawanwa a ndeme a ngudo iyi a katela zwa uri ho vha hu na ṱhahelelo yo fhambanaho ya u bvela phanḓa kha lushaka lwa mushumo wa makone nga vhadzheneli vha vhaṋe vha mabindu maṱuku kha nḓowetshumo ya ndindakhombo. Ho vha na phambano khulwane vhukati ha ḽeveḽe ya ndeme na phimo ya zwikili zwa vhuṋe zwo ṋetshedzwaho zwikili zwa vhuṋe zwo tiwaho na zwikili zwa ndangulo ya bindu na vhadzheneli vha vhathu vhane vha si vhe vhoramabindu vhaṱuku vhunzhi havho vho ḓipima sa vha re na zwikili zwa khwine kha vhaṋe vha mabindu maṱuku. Naho zwo ralo, ngoho ya uri avho vhadzheneli vhane vha sa vhe na mabindu maṱuku a vho ngo thoma mabindu maṱuku avho zwo livhisa kha khohakhombo khulwane ya vengo. Ṱhoḓisiso heyi yo dovha ya wanulusa uri mabindu maṱuku Afrika Tshipembe a khou livhana na zwithivheli zwihulwane nga maanḓa kha vhupo ha vhubindudzi vhuṱuku / Ukugxila kwalolu cwaningo bekungukuphenya ngobunzima bokuqashwa obubhekene nabantu ababedilizwe embonini yomshwalense phakathi konyaka ka-2000 kuya ku-2013 ukuze kuthuthukiswe ukuqonda kokuqhubekayo kohlobo lomsebenzi oyingcweti ngemuva kokudilizwa kwabo. Lolu cwaningo futhi luhlose ukuphenya izithiyo zangempela nezibonwayo ezidinga ukubhekelwa esimweni samabhizinisi amancane aseNingizimu Afrika kanye namakhono athile athambile namakhono ebhizinisi osomabhizinisi abancane nabaninimabhizinisi abangebona abancane. Ukwakheka kocwaningo kwalesi sifundo esichazayo kubandakanye isimo esiyisisekelo solwazi, iqiniso nokuba khona (ifilosofi) kokucwaninga okuhle kusetshenziswa indlela yocwaningo yokuthuthukisa umbono ngokuya komqondo osukhona. Lolu cwaningo lokuqoqa nokuhlaziya imininingwane yezinombolo lwenziwe ngohlu lwemibuzo yocwaningo. Uhlu lwemibuzo lwenziwa futhi lwasetshenziswa ukuthola izinga lokubaluleka kanye nezinga lamakhono abo abaninimabhizinisi abancane nabaninimabhizinisi abangebona abancane ngokulandelana ngokwamakhono anqunywe kusengaphambili namakhono okuphatha amabhizinisi. Izimpendulo ezinikezwe kule mibuzo zabuye zahlaziywa ukuthola ukuthi ngabe likhona yini igebe phakathi kwezinga lokubaluleka elinikezwe kulawa makhono kanye nezilinganiso zabo zamakhono. Lolu cwaningo lunqume izithiyo ezibhekene nosomabhizinisi abancane eNingizimu Afrika kanye nezinga lesivumelwano maqondana nezithiyo zangempela ezinqunywe kusengaphambili nezibonwayo ezimayelana nendawo yamabhizinisi amancane. Okutholakele okuphawulekayo kwalolu cwaningo kufaka phakathi ukuthi kube nokuntuleka okuhlukile kokuqhubekayo kohlobo lomsebenzi wobungcweti ngabaphenduli bamabhizinisi amancane embonini yomshuwalense. Kube nomehluko omkhulu phakathi kwezinga lokubaluleka nezilinganiso zamakhono abo ezinikezwe kumakhono athambile anqunyiwe ngaphambili namakhono okuphatha amabhizinisi nabaphenduli baninimabhizinisi abangebona abancane ikakhulu abazikala njengabanekhono elingcono kunalokho okwenziwa ngosomabhizinisi abancane. Kodwa-ke, iqiniso lokuthi laba baphenduli abangabaninimabhizinisi abancane abangaqalanga amabhizinisi abo amancane likhomba ekuvikeleni ubungozi obuphakeme. Lolu cwaningo luphinde lwathola ukuthi amabhizinisi amancane eNingizimu Afrika abhekene nezithiyo ezibekiwe ngaphakathi kwendawo yamabhizinisi amancane / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Includes bibliographical references / This thesis explores the relationship between the commercial insurance industry, global environmental change (GEC) and what Beck (1992; 1999) termed the 'risk society'. In recent decades, there have been growing concerns that many of the risks impacting contemporary society have undergone fundamental changes. Many of these risks are increasingly being linked to the unintended consequences of humankind's remarkable progress in science and technology, and have been described as debounded, given that they so often transcend both geographical and temporal boundaries (Beck 1992). Within the risk society, the commercial insurance industry - which relies on statistical (actuarial) analysis to help it assess and manage its risk exposure - has been described as demarcating the frontier barrier between bounded (i.e. insurable) and debounded (i.e. uninsurable) risk. However, this claim has been a highly contested one, leading to calls for more empirical data to help clarify how commercial insurance is actually responding under conditions of uncertainty. Of all the debounded risks, GEC has emerged as one of the risk society's most recognisable. Now understood to be a result of the anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gasses, particularly since the onset of the industrial revolution, its impacts have risen so sharply in recent decades that it has prompted claims that Earth has moved away from the era of the Holocene and into the Anthropocene (Crutzen 2002). Given that at least 40% of the cost of environmental catastrophes is now borne by commercial insurance, GEC provides an excellent opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how the industry is responding to debounded risk at the risk society's frontier barrier. Early commentators suggested that the commercial insurance industry would be well motivated to respond proactively to GEC, by taking a more mitigative approach to managing its drivers at both the global and local levels. However, the industry, so far, has been described as more adaptive of its own business activities than mitigative. This raises questions about whether such claims are true across all three of the insurance industry's activities - as risk carriers, risk managers and as investors, why they have responded in such ways, and what implications this has for broadening our understanding of the complex relationship between commercial insurance, debounded risk and the risk society's frontier barrier. To consider these questions, a collective case study was undertaken with a variety of commercial insurance companies, re-insurers, asset managers, clients, brokers, industry associations and regulators across South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Belgium. The research identified how commercial insurers have indeed responded more by adaptation of their business activities than mitigation of the drivers of GEC. This is mainly through the use of defensive underwriting to help them manage their exposure. However, the research extends this analysis by highlighting some of the nuances of the industry's response. This includes its focus on centralisation, the influence of the existing paradigm framing its understanding of risk, and by highlighting the irony that the area of insurers' activities, initially believed to be most suited for responding to GEC (i.e. their investment portfolios), have, in practice, been the area recording the least response. In exploring why this is so, the study draws on understandings of the Anthropocene to argue that commercial insurers are finding their existing risk assessment tools progressively out-dated in a world where risk is no longer as predictable as it once was. This is further compounded by increasingly plural access to the risk society's science and technologies, which, in some instances, are undermining the role commercial insurance plays as society's primary financial risk manager. This raises questions around the role commercial insurance plays in demarcating the risk society's frontier barrier which, ultimately, has far broader implications for why so many of society's institutions are struggling to adapt to risk in the 21st Century.

Financial analysis - the classical and special ratios for insurance industry and how to analyse them.

Operational risk management has been identified as one of the primary risk types that short-term insurance companies will have to deal with on a rigorous basis in the future.

Over the last decade, numerous changes have occurred in the insurance industry due to international expansions and stiff competitiveness. As a result of these changes, employees are suffering from stressful work conditions such as pressure to perform and work-life conflict, which lead to feelings of distrust, tension, strain in interpersonal relations, interpersonal conflict and difficulty in coping with pressure to perform. Tracking and addressing the work wellness of these employees are important to improve their work-related performance, as well as the quality of their service. Burnout, work engagement and workaholism are focal points in this regard. In order to measure these constructs it is important to have valid and reliable instruments. However, there is a lack of research which measures burnout, engagement and workaholism in the South African context. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between burnout, work engagement and workaholism amongst employees in the insurance industry. The research method consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional design was used. An availability sample (N = 153) from employees in the insurance industry was taken. The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), an adapted version of the Work Addiction Risk Test (AWART), and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The statistical analysis was conducted with the aid of the SPSS program and AMOS program. The statistical method employed in the study consisted of descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and a structural equation modelling method. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine the significance of differences of workaholism between demographic groups. It was evident in this study that employees in the insurance industry experience workaholism due to their tendency to work long hours overtime, to work weekends and to take work home. Results indicated that work wellness of employees in the insurance industry does comprise well-being (Burnout and Work Engagement) and Workaholism. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.