Creating Competitive Advantage with Electronic Commerce:A Study of the German Insurance Industry

Inhaltsangabe: Abstract: As electronic commerce is quickly increasing within some industries such as computers, software and retail banking the question arises whether and how insurance companies can profit too. This dissertation evaluates the impact of electronic commerce on the German insurance industry with the overall goal of creating competitive advantage. The dissertation proceeds by reviewing the literature for definitions and perspectives of electronic commerce, the suitability of electronic commerce for insurance products and services, the impact on existing business processes and value chains as well as the sources for creating competitive advantage within a mature insurance industry. Additionally, its organizational implications have also been examined. This dissertation contains fieldwork on the issues focused on in theory. Primary data was gathered using a questionnaire and a few interviews that were conducted with Chief Information Officers (CIO). The results of these activities were analysed and discussed by comparing them with both theory and experiences of other industries. Inhaltsverzeichnis: Table of Contents: Abstract1 1.Introduction2 1.1Objectives2 1.2Approach3 2.Hypothesis and Objectives4 3.The German insurance industry5 3.1Status quo5 3.2Future trends7 4.Literature review10 4.1E-Commerce - characteristics and perspectives10 4.2Insurance products and services in electronic commerce14 4.3Electronic commerce and the value chain17 4.4Competitive advantage20 4.5Business processes within the insurance industry26 4.6Organisational implications for electronic commerce31 4.7Success factors for Electronic commerce34 4.8Summary of literature research35 5.Fieldwork39 5.1Research and objectives39 5.2Methodology and scope - outline39 5.3Questionnaire on e-commerce40 5.4Interviews with CIOS41 5.5Limitations of the research41 6.Findings and analysis of Fieldwork Data42 6.1General findings42 6.2Future industry trends44 6.3Consu