IRANIAN JOURNAL OF INSURANCE RESEARCH (SANAAT-E-BIMEH)
Year:2012 | Volume:27 | Issue:1 (105)|Papers Count:8

Existence of an accurate perception of the relation between strategies used by organizations and their performance can provide managers with accurate knowledge they need for decision making. This paper tries to identify strategies used in Iranian private sector insurance companies and to determine the relationship between these strategies and organizational performance. We use Porter`s generic strategies framework, and cluster sampling to identify strategies used in insurance industry. Three groups of strategies were identified: those "using compound strategies" which use a combination of Porter`s generic strategies; "cost leaders" which focus on cost leadership and lower prices and "differentiators" which use differentiation strategies. Then three organizational performance indices, "market share", "sales growth" and "return on investment" of each identified group were calculated from 2007 to 2009. According to the market share index, "differentiators" had best performances while based on the sales growth and return on investment indices, "cost leaders" had best performances.

This paper investigates the degree to which the process of human resource management in an Iranian insurance company is influenced by current and desired organizational culture as well as identifying a dominant culture. We surveyed 320 staffs and managers in Iran Insurance Company. The opinions of 173 members were selected using stratified sampling methods. Data analyses were conducted in four phases: one sample t-test, Friedman test, Pearson correlation and relationships based on structural equations. The t-tests indicate that responsive ad-hocery culture typifies at an undesirable level in current organizational culture. The results of Friedman test also indicate that there is a stable hierarchy culture which is the dominant culture in corporations. Correlation tests show that the current and desired organizational culture and the process of human resource management are correlated with existing organizational culture. Further they show that desired organizational culture is not correlated with the process of human resource management. Also, the results of structural equations modeling indicate that the selection process is mostly influenced by organizational culture.

We apply Monte Carlo simulation methods to estimate the simple Value-at-Risk (VaR-MC) as well as optimal or adjusted Value-at-Risk (VaR-OP) in daily collision insurance claims in Iran.In this paper, we randomize daily data of collision insurance claims in Iran. Monte Carlo simulation is used through an iterative procedure in considering adjusted processes to accommodate shocks.Adjusting is a process of reducing potential biases of VaR estimates. Coefficients from simple VaR and the adjusted VaR are compared. Depending on the times when loss exceeds VaR, the coefficient may increase or decrease the variance of claims and consequently causing VaR-OP to become smaller or larger than the simple VaR. Model validation was by back testing methods on the basis of unconditional covering in order to examine the accuracy of the model.Empirical validation shows that VaR estimation via the adjusted process is relatively reliable and appropriate. The results obtained by the simple VaR, underestimate the risks, it shows that the adjusting coefficient is useful for reaching a better estimate of VaR within 99% confidence level.

The success of an organization is based on a series of clear objectives which are set by the organization. For most service-providing institutions profit is a major goal, which can be a combination of short-term monetary benefits (a growth in resources or cash flow) and an increase in brand special value. Factors such as perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand associates are aspects forming brand special value.This paper looks into factors affecting brand special value of insurance companies. We carry out a survey questionnaires consisting of 26 questions on 200 buyers of auto-body insurance policy of four private insurance companies including Asia, Alborz, Mellat and Parsian, which hold the biggest shares in auto-body insurance market. Our results indicate that the perceived quality, brand loyalty and brand associates directly influence the brand special value of the insurance firms. However, brand awareness does not have a direct impact on brand special value.

Asset and liability management are important strategic planning issues in financial institutions. The object of this paper is presenting ALM model for insurance companies which due to multiple, conflicting and complicated goals, we use goal planning. To reach this purpose, we choose an Iranian insurance company as a case study and then investigate financial statements and their relations with each other. In this model, we try to satisfy regulatory requirements in insurance companies and management goals such as achieving a certain market share and reduce loss ratio to a certain amount. We use Lingo and Matlab software to solve our model. The results of this model help optimize allocation of resources (investment optimization) and achieve optimum value in them (reach certain amount of premium at certain insurance lines).

This paper studies and evaluates transaction costs in insurance markets between insurer and insured. We divide transaction costs into four parts and study E-insurance in reducing transaction costs. The results show that insured transaction costs are 10.4 percent and the insurer transaction costs are 2.07 percent of company total costs. We use EViews, SPSS and Excel software in our analyses.

This paper investigates the relationship between management of knowledge with organizational innovation in Iran Insurance Company headquarters. From a total of 186 personnel, 86 were selected. Data on knowledge management was obtained using Wiig's (1993) model whereas data on organizational innovation was obtained using "Moghimi" (2004) and Shah-Hosseini's and Kavusi's (2009) models.Data analyses results showed that knowledge management and their indicators have a significant relationship with organizational innovation. In addition, it showed that among management of knowledge components, the highest and lowest correlation coefficients are related to knowledge application (0.878) and retention knowledge (0.878) respectively. They also show that knowledge management, its indicators and organizational innovation are not favorable in Iran Insurance Company. Managers need to integrate knowledge management in various sectors, having knowledge of internal and external forces for organizational innovation. However, knowledge acquisition should be distributed throughout the organization; Better distribution of knowledge will increase the likelihood of organizational innovation.