IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/roswps/81.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Single- versus multi-channel distribution strategies in the German life insurance market: A cost and profit efficiency analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Trigo Gamarra, Lucinda

Abstract

Until its liberalisation in 1994 exclusive agents dominated the distribution of products in the German life insurance industry. Since then, their importance has been declining for the benefit of both distribution via direct distribution channel and independent agents. However, the market shares of specialized direct and independent agent insurers have remained small, while multi-channel insurers increasingly incorporate direct and independent distribution channels, and represent the dominant distribution strategy. The aim of this paper is twofold: First, it analyses the performance of single and multi-channel distribution firms in the German life insurance. Thus, we are able to explain the development and the coexistence of the industries' distribution systems. Our study contributes to research on coexistence of different distribution systems in insurance industry which had been limited to the comparison of exclusive versus independent agent insurers so far. Second, our paper gives insight into cost and profit efficiency levels of German life insurance firms for the period 1997-2005, and delivers information about scale economies in the German life insurance industry. Applying an empirical framework developed by Berger et al. (1997) we estimate cost and profit efficiency for three groups of life insurance firms differing in their distribution systems: multichannel insurers, direct insurers, and independent agent insurers. Non-parametric DEA is used to estimate efficiencies for a sample of German life insurers for the years 1997-2005. Testing a set of hypothesis, we find economic evidence for the coexistence of the different distribution systems which is the absence of comparative performance advantages of specialised insurers. Further, we find evidence for scale economies in the German life insurance industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Trigo Gamarra, Lucinda, 2007. "Single- versus multi-channel distribution strategies in the German life insurance market: A cost and profit efficiency analysis," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 81, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:roswps:81
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/39777/1/610623869.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cummins, J. David & Rubio-Misas, Maria, 2006. "Deregulation, Consolidation, and Efficiency: Evidence from the Spanish Insurance Industry," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(2), pages 323-355, March.
    2. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Vanden Eeckaut, Philippe, 1999. "Estimating returns to scale using non-parametric deterministic technologies: A new method based on goodness-of-fit," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 206-214, February.
    3. repec:bla:scandj:v:87:y:1985:i:4:p:594-604 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Cummins, J. David & Tennyson, Sharon & Weiss, Mary A., 1999. "Consolidation and efficiency in the US life insurance industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(2-4), pages 325-357, February.
    5. Andrew M. Yuengert, 1993. "The measurement of efficiency in life insurance estimates of a mixed normal-gamma error model," Research Paper 9308, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    6. Elgeti, Rolf & Maurer, Raimond, 2000. "Zur Quantifizierung der Risikoprämien deutscher Versicherungsaktien im Kontext eines Multifaktorenmodells," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 00-43, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    7. Chris Easingwood & Filipe Coelho, 2003. "Single versus multiple channel strategies: typologies and drivers," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 31-46, March.
    8. Paul J. M. Klumpes, 2004. "Performance Benchmarking in Financial Services: Evidence from the UK Life Insurance Industry," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 77(2), pages 257-274, April.
    9. DeYoung, Robert & Hasan, Iftekhar, 1998. "The performance of de novo commercial banks: A profit efficiency approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 565-587, May.
    10. Regan, Laureen & Tennyson, Sharon, 1996. "Agent Discretion and the Choice of Insurance Marketing System," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 637-666, October.
    11. Michiel van Leuvensteijn & J.A. Bikker, 2005. "An exploration into competition and efficiency in the Dutch life insurance industry," CPB Discussion Paper 48, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    12. Ferrier, Gary D. & Lovell, C. A. Knox, 1990. "Measuring cost efficiency in banking : Econometric and linear programming evidence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 229-245.
    13. J. Cummins & Hongmin Zi, 1998. "Comparison of Frontier Efficiency Methods: An Application to the U.S. Life Insurance Industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 131-152, October.
    14. Ray,Subhash C., 2012. "Data Envelopment Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107405264.
    15. Banker, Rajiv D., 1984. "Estimating most productive scale size using data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 35-44, July.
    16. Patrick L. Brockett & William W. Cooper & Linda L. Golden & John J. Rousseau & Yuying Wang, 2005. "Financial Intermediary Versus Production Approach to Efficiency of Marketing Distribution Systems and Organizational Structure of Insurance Companies," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 72(3), pages 393-412, September.
    17. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    18. K Tone, 2002. "A strange case of the cost and allocative efficiencies in DEA," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 53(11), pages 1225-1231, November.
    19. Allen N. Berger & David B. Humphrey, 1992. "Measurement and Efficiency Issues in Commercial Banking," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 245-300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Hancock, Diana, 1985. "The Financial Firm: Production with Monetary and Nonmonetary Goods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(5), pages 859-880, October.
    21. Berger, Allen N & Cummins, J David & Weiss, Mary A, 1997. "The Coexistence of Multiple Distribution Systems for Financial Services: The Case of Property-Liability Insurance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(4), pages 515-546, October.
    22. Berger, Allen N. & Cummins, J. David & Weiss, Mary A. & Zi, Hongmin, 2000. "Conglomeration versus Strategic Focus: Evidence from the Insurance Industry," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 323-362, October.
    23. Joseph W. Meador & Harley E. Ryan Jr., 1997. "Product Focus versus Diversification: Estimates of X-Efficiency for the US Life Insurance Industry," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 97-16, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    24. Wilson, Paul W, 1993. "Detecting Outliers in Deterministic Nonparametric Frontier Models with Multiple Outputs," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 11(3), pages 319-323, July.
    25. J. David Cummins & Jack VanDerhei, 1979. "A Note on the Relative Efficiency of Property-Liability Insurance Distribution Systems," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(2), pages 709-719, Autumn.
    26. Michiel van Leuvensteijn & J.A. Bikker, 2005. "An exploration into competition and efficiency in the Dutch life insurance industry," CPB Discussion Paper 48, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    27. Yuengert, Andrew M., 1993. "The measurement of efficiency in life insurance: Estimates of a mixed normal-gamma error model," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 483-496, April.
    28. Fenn, Paul & Vencappa, Dev & Diacon, Stephen & Klumpes, Paul & O'Brien, Chris, 2008. "Market structure and the efficiency of European insurance companies: A stochastic frontier analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 86-100, January.
    29. Trigo Gamarra, Lucinda, 2007. "Does the product quality hypothesis hold true? Service quality differences between independent and exclusive insurance agents," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 76, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    30. Paul L. Joskow, 1973. "Cartels, Competition and Regulation in the Property-Liability Insurance Industry," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 4(2), pages 375-427, Autumn.
    31. Walter Briec & Kristiaan Kerstens & Hervé Leleu & Philippe Eeckaut, 2000. "Returns to Scale on Nonparametric Deterministic Technologies: Simplifying Goodness-of-Fit Methods Using Operations on Technologies," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 267-274, November.
    32. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    33. Filipe J. Coelho & Chris Easingwood, 2004. "Multiple channel systems in services: pros, cons and issues," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 1-29, September.
    34. Mayers, David & Smith, Clifford W, Jr, 1981. "Contractual Provisions, Organizational Structure, and Conflict Control in Insurance Markets," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(3), pages 407-434, July.
    35. Tim Coelli & Denis Lawrence (ed.), 2006. "Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3801.
    36. Mountain, Dean C. & Thomas, Hugh, 1999. "Factor price misspecification in bank cost function estimation," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 163-182, April.
    37. William W. Cooper & Lawrence M. Seiford & Kaoru Tone, 2006. "Introduction to Data Envelopment Analysis and Its Uses," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-0-387-29122-2, February.
    38. J. David Cummins & Mary A. Weiss & Hongmin Zi, 1999. "Organizational Form and Efficiency: The Coexistence of Stock and Mutual Property-Liability Insurers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(9), pages 1254-1269, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leverty, J. Tyler & Grace, Martin F., 2010. "The robustness of output measures in property-liability insurance efficiency studies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1510-1524, July.
    2. Jarraya, Bilel & Bouri, Abdelfettah, 2012. "Efficiency concept and investigations in insurance industry: A survey," MPRA Paper 53544, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2013.
    3. Chakraborty Kalyan & Dutta Anirban & Sengupta Partha Pratim, 2012. "Efficiency and Productivity of Indian Life Insurance Industry," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, December.
    4. Shuji Yao & Zhongwei Han & Dan Luo, 2010. "Performance of the Chinese Insurance Industry under Economic Reforms," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12788.
    5. Biener, Christian & Eling, Martin & Wirfs, Jan Hendrik, 2016. "The determinants of efficiency and productivity in the Swiss insurance industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 703-714.
    6. Yao, Shujie & Han, Zhongwei & Feng, Genfu, 2007. "On technical efficiency of China's insurance industry after WTO accession," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 66-86.
    7. Cummins, J. David & Weiss, Mary A. & Xie, Xiaoying & Zi, Hongmin, 2010. "Economies of scope in financial services: A DEA efficiency analysis of the US insurance industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1525-1539, July.
    8. Sen Subir, 2020. "Analysis of Cost Efficiency of Indian Life Insurers: A comparison of Quantity vs Value based DEA Approach," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-25, January.
    9. Eling, Martin & Luhnen, Michael, 2010. "Efficiency in the international insurance industry: A cross-country comparison," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1497-1509, July.
    10. J. Cummins & Georges Dionne & Robert Gagné & A. Nouira, 2009. "Efficiency of insurance firms with endogenous risk management and financial intermediation activities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 145-159, October.
    11. María Rubio‐Misas, 2022. "Analysis of insurers' performance using frontier efficiency and productivity methods. The great contributions by David Cummins and Mary Weiss," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 25(4), pages 445-489, December.
    12. Amel, Dean & Barnes, Colleen & Panetta, Fabio & Salleo, Carmelo, 2004. "Consolidation and efficiency in the financial sector: A review of the international evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2493-2519, October.
    13. Chrysovalantis Gaganis & Iftekhar Hasan & Fotios Pasiouras, 2013. "Efficiency and stock returns: evidence from the insurance industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 429-442, December.
    14. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2015. "Efficiency of the banking system in Vietnam under financial liberalization," OSF Preprints qsf6d, Center for Open Science.
    15. Milton Nektarios & Panos Xenos & George Nektarios & Kostas Poulakis & Michalis Chouzouris, 2015. "Efficiency Analysis of Lloyd’s Syndicates: A Comparison of DEA and SFA Approaches," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 65(1-2), pages 27-46, January-M.
    16. Eling, Martin & Jia, Ruo, 2018. "Business failure, efficiency, and volatility: Evidence from the European insurance industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 58-76.
    17. Saowaros Yaisawarng & Preecha Asavadachanukorn & Suthathip Yaisawarng, 2014. "Efficiency and productivity in the Thai non-life insurance industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 291-306, April.
    18. Jacob A. Bikker, 2017. "Performance of the life insurance industry under pressure: efficiency, competition and consolidation," Chapters, in: Jacob A. Bikker & Laura Spierdijk (ed.), Handbook of Competition in Banking and Finance, chapter 9, pages 152-182, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Georges Dionne & Robert Gagné & Abdelhakim Nouira, 2007. "Determinants of Insurers’ Performance in Risk Pooling, Risk Management, and Financial Intermediation Activities," Cahiers de recherche 07-03, HEC Montréal, Institut d'économie appliquée.
    20. Trigo Gamarra, Lucinda, 2008. "The effects of liberalization and deregulation on the performance of financial institutions: The case of the German life insurance market," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 93, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insurance markets; distribution systems; efficiency analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:roswps:81. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ivrosde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.