Organization and Strategy in Insurance Empirical Research into the Sector in Spain

In 1993 the insurance sector in Spain achieved a premiums volume of 18.7 billion dollars (4.29 percent of the Gross Domestic Product) and, even within the widespread economic crisis in the Spanish and European economic framework, with 7% of growth respecting 1992 due to the sector's considerable development potentials.The most significant results gained in this study point towards major changes in the company culture of these institutions in Spain, expanding their image of confidence with a greater commitment from their organizations towards the client. These are strongly centralized organizations where the principal business unit is formed by the product branch.The preferred strategies in these companies have been those resulting from a growth of their activities in local markets, with zero penetration abroad (apart from certain exceptions) and where the diversification that is planned for the final decade of the century will be based on expanding the business branches: life, medical, pension funds, etc. The most complex bodies in the sector place a fair amount of importance in diversification into financial products, assistance services and risk management.The organizational structures of a divisional nature are predominant in bodies with greater complexity, while it is diversifying strategies that have conditioned company groups characterized by multibusiness, with strategies based on price having been the variable on which organizational structures with a functional nature are based.In general, the main organizational criterion for companies is the branch much more than the geographical area. The strategies existing in the past characterized their present structures.