Creating Competitive Advantage with Electronic Commerce

Master's Thesis from the year 1999 in the subject Computer Science - Commercial Information Technology, grade: 1,8, Henley Business School University of Reading (Business Administration), language: English, abstract: Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:§As electronic commerce is quickly increasing within some industries such as computers, software and retail banking the question arises whether and how insurance companies can profit too. This dissertation evaluates the impact of electronic commerce on the German insurance industry with the overall goal of creating competitive advantage.§The dissertation proceeds by reviewing the literature for definitions and perspectives of electronic commerce, the suitability of electronic commerce for insurance products and services, the impact on existing business processes and value chains as well as the sources for creating competitive advantage within a mature insurance industry. Additionally, its organizational implications have also been examined.§This dissertation contains fieldwork on the issues focused on in theory. Primary data was gathered using a questionnaire and a few interviews that were conducted with Chief Information Officers (CIO). The results of these activities were analysed and discussed by comparing them with both theory and experiences of other industries.§Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents:§Abstract1§1.Introduction2§1.1Objectives2§1.2Approach3§2.Hypothesis and Objectives4§3.The German insurance industry5§3.1Status quo5§3.2Future trends7§4.Literature review10§4.1E-Commerce - characteristics and perspectives10§4.2Insurance products and services in electronic commerce14§4.3Electronic commerce and the value chain17§4.4Competitive advantage20§4.5Business processes within the insurance industry26§4.6Organisational implications for electronic commerce31§4.7Success factors for Electronic commerce34§4.8Summary of literature research35§5.Fieldwork39§5.1Research and objectives39§5.2Methodology and scope - outline39§5.3Questionnaire on e-commerce40§5.4Interviews with CIO S41§5.5Limitations of the research41§6.Findings and analysis of Fieldwork Data42§6.1General findings42§6.2Future industry trends44§6.3Consumer profiles, expectations and behaviour47§6.4Products and services50§6.5Value chain and competitive advantage53§6.6Business processes59§6.7Focused areas63§6.8Constraints64§6.9Summary of fieldwork66§7.Conclusions67§7.1Conclusions drawn from the literature67§7.2Conclusions drawn from the fieldwork68§7.3Final conclusions-correlations between the literature and fieldwork69§8.Recommendations70§9.Appendices73§9.1Appendix 173§9.2Appendix 274§9.3Appendix 3: Questionnaire75§9.4Appendix 4: Interview guide80§9.5Appendix 583§10.Bibliography84