Insurance Product Development: Managing the Changes

Deregulation, advances in enabling technology, and aggressive competition from new suppliers, including banks, are causing more and more traditional insurance companies to revise the way in which product development is undertaken. A study of ten companies offering life insurance and ten companies offering general insurance in Britain shows that a few of them are now putting into place amended managerial systems. The marketing function is undergoing changes in responsibilities in all these companies. While most companies have key managers who have visions of how markets can be reshaped to give distinct competitive advantages, effecting such changes within existing operating constraints poses major challenges.