Identify and discuss the key features of the online insurance industry
What will be an ideal response?
The insurance industry is part of the financial services sector. It has four major segments: automobile, life, health, and property and casualty. Insurance products can be very complex and have not become true online products. Some policies can only be explained by an experienced sales agent and there are many types of policies and products – for example, different types of non-automotive property and casualty insurance. In addition to the complexity of the product, other distinguishing characteristics make it difficult for it to be completely transferred to the new online channel, such as a traditional reliance on thousands of local insurance offices and agents to sell complex products uniquely suited to the circumstances of the insured person and/or property. In addition, the industry is regulated not at the federal level but separately in each state, with differing regulations, successful in attracting visitors who are looking to obtain prices and terms of insurance policies. While many national insurance underwriting companies initially did not offer competitive products directly on the Web because it might injure the business operations of their traditional local agents, the Web sites of almost all of the major firms now provide the ability to obtain an online quote. Even if consumers do not actually purchase insurance policies online, the Internet has proven to have a powerful influence by dramatically reducing search costs and changing the price discovery process.
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Forces which may permit fraud to occur do not include
a. a gambling addiction b. lack of segregation of duties c. centralized decision making environment d. questionable integrity of employees
A form of business entity owned by one person is called a(n) ________.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
Once company managers have decided on a strategy, the emphasis turns to
A. establishing policies and procedures that instruct company personnel in the ways and means of executing the strategy. B. developing a detailed implementation plan that sets forth exactly what every department and every manager needs to do to proficiently execute the company's strategy. C. building the core competencies and competitive capabilities needed to execute the strategy. D. converting the strategy into actions and good results. E. empowering employees to revise and reorganize value chain activities to match the strategy.
A focus of material flow in a process-focused layout should be on?
a. Placing frequently used departments close to each other b. Placing rarely used departments close to each other c. Placing rarely used departments far from each other d. Placing frequently used departments far from each other