Abstract
Life insurance firms are increasingly reliant on information technology (IT) to maintain and enhance operating efficiency as well as to purse new strategies such as direct delivery, customer segmentation, and product innovation. The size of the commitment to IT by the average life insurance company is staggering: one study estimates that life insurance companies spent as much as 5% of premium income on IT in 1996 (Bell, 1998) and that IT represented over 50% of insurance company capital expenditure throughout the 1980s (Francalanci and Hossum, 1998). As one observer succinctly stated, “today you can’t do anything in a life insurance company without technology” (Harnett, 1997).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bazinet, G.G., S.A. Kahn, and S. Smith. “Measuring the Value of Outsourcing,” Best’s Review 98(12) (1998), 97–100.
Barua, Anitesh. Charles H. Kriebel, and Tridas Mukhopadhyay. “Information Technologies and Business Value: An Analytic and Empirical Investigation,” Information Systems Research 6(1) (1995), 3–23.
Bell, A. “Life Insurers Spending More on Info Technology,” National Underwriter 102 (no. 35, 1998), 3–49.
Bender, D.H. Financial Impact of Information Processing, 3 (no. 2, 1986), 22–32.
Berger, A.N. and L.J. Mester. “Inside the Black box: What Explains Differences in the Efficiencies of Financial Institutions?” Journal of Banking and Finance 21 (1997), 895–947.
Berger, Allen N., J. David Cummins, and Mary Weiss. “The Coexistence of Multiple Distribution Systems for Financial Services. The Case of Property-Liability Insurance” Working Paper, Wharton Financial Institutions Center, Philadelphia, 1995.
Berger, Allen N., W.C. Hunter, and J. Timme. “The Efficiency of Financial Institutions: A Review and Preview of Research Past, Present and Future,” Journal of Banking and Finance 17 (1993), 221–250.
Boynton, A.C., G.C. Jacobs, and R.W. Zmud. “Whose Responsibility is IT Management?” Sloan Management Review, (Summer 1992), 32–38.
Bresnahan, T. “Computerization and Wage Dispersion: An Analytic Reinterpretation.” Mimeo, Stanford University, 1997.
Bresnahan, T., E. Brynjolfsson, and L. Hitt. “Information Technology, Workplace Organization and the Demand for Skilled Labor: A Firm Level Analysis.” Mimeo, MIT, Stanford University, and the Wharton School, 1998.
Brynjolfsson, E. and L. Hitt. “Information Technology and Organizational Design: Evidence from Micro-Data” Mimeo, MIT, Stanford University and the Wharton School, 1997.
Brynjolfsson, E. and L. Hitt. “Computers and Economic Growth: Firm-level Evidence,” Working Paper 3714, Sloan School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994.
Brynjolfsson, E. and L. Hitt. “Information Technology as a Factor of Production: The Role of Differences Among Firms.” Economics of Innovation and New Technology 3 (no. 4, 1995), 183–200.
Brynjolfsson, E. and L. Hitt, “The Customer Counts,” Informationweek (September 8, 1996), 38–43.
Brynjolfsson, E. and L. Hitt. “Paradox Lost? Firm-level Evidence on the Returns to Information Systems Spending.” Management Science 42 (no. 4, 1996), 541–558.
Brynjolfsson, E. and L. Hitt. “Computing Productivity: Are Computers Pulling Their Weight?” Mimeo, MIT and the Wharton School, 1998.
Brynjolfsson, E. and S. Yang. “The Intangible Benefits and Costs of Computer Investments: Evidence from Financial Markets,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, Atlanta, GA, 1997.
Brynjolfsson, E., L. Hitt, and S.K. Yang. “Intangible Assets: How the Interaction on Information Systems and Organizational Structure Affects Stock Market Valuations”, forthcoming in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, Helsinki, Finland, 1998.
Carr, R. and J. David Cummins, 1997, “Strategic Choices, Firm Efficiency and Competitiveness in the Life Insurance Industry” Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School.
Clemons, E.K. and M.C. Row. “Information Technology and Industrial Cooperation: The Changing Economics of Coordination and Ownership.” Journal of Management Information Systems 9 (no. 2, 1992), 9–28.
Cummins, J. David and Zi Hongmin. “Comparison of Frontier Efficiency Methods: An Application to the U.S. Life Insurance Industry,” Journal of Productivity Analysis 10 (1998), 131–152.
Cummins, J. David. “Efficiency in the U.S. Life Insurance Industry: Are Insurers Minimizing Cost and Maximizing Revenues” in J.D. Cummins and A. Santomero (eds.), Changes in the Life Insurance Industry: Efficiency, Technology and Risk Management, 1999.
Cummins, J. David, Sharon Tennyson, and Mary Weiss. “Life Insurance Mergers and Acquisitions,” in J.D. Cummins and A. Santomero (eds.), Changes in the Life Insurance Industry: Efficiency, Technology and Risk Management, 1999.
Cummins, J. David, Mary Weiss, and Hongmin Zi. “Organizational Form and Efficiency: An Analysis of Stock and Mutual Property-liability Insurers,” Management Science, forthcoming 1999.
Davenport, Thomas H. and James E. Short. “The New Industrial Engineering: Information Technology and Business Process Redesign.” Sloan Management Review 31 (no. 4, 1990), 11–27.
Drucker, Peter F. “The Coming of the New Organization.” Harvard Business Review, (January-February, 1988), 45–53.
Francalanci, C. and G. Hossam. “Information Technology and Worker Composition: Determinants of Productivity in the Life Insurance Industry.” MIS Quarterly 22 (no. 2, 1998), 227–241.
Franke, Richard H. “Technological Revolution and Productivity Decline: Computer Introduction in the Financial Industry,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 31, 1987, 143–154.
Frei, F.X., P.T. Harker, and L.W. Hunter. “Inside the Black Box: What Makes a Bank Efficient?” Working Paper 97–20, Wharton Financial Institutions Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, 1997. Also available at http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers.html
Frei, F.X., P.T. Harker, and L.W. Hunter. “Innovation in Retail Banking,” in R. Landeau and D. Mowrey (eds.), America’s Industrial Resurgence, Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1998.
Friel, W. “Prudential Agents Now Make House Calls”, Information Week, 738, (October 26,1998).
Gardner, Lisa A. and Martin F. Grace. “X-efficiency in the US Life Insurance Industry”, Journal of Banking and Finance 17 (1993), 497–510.
Grace, Martin F. and Stephen G. Timme. “An Examination of Cost Economies in the United States Life Insurance Industry”, Journal of Risk and Insurance 59 (1992), 72–103.
Gurbaxani, V. “The New World of Information Technology Outsourcing,” Communications of the ACM 39 (no. 7, 1996), 45–46.
Harnett, W. “Deciding How to Spend Your Technology Budget,” National Underwriter 101 (no. 40, 1997), 14–42.
Hammer, M. “Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate.” Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1990, 104–112.
Hammer, M. and J. Champy. Reengineering the Corporation, New York: Harper Business, 1993.
Harris, S.E. and J.L. Katz. ‘Organizational Performance and Information Technology Investment Intensity in the Insurance Industry,” Organizational Science 2 (no. 3, 1991), 263–296.
Hitt, L. Economic Analysis of Information Technology and Organization. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, 1996.
Hitt, L. and E. Brynjolfsson. “Productivity, Business Profitability, and Consumer Surplus: Three Different Measures of Information Technology Value,” MIS Quarterly 20 (no. 2, 1996), 121–142.
Hitt, L. and E. Brynjolfsson. “Information Technology and Internal Firm Organization: An Exploratory Analysis,” Journal of Management Information Systems 14 (no. 2, 1997), 81–101.
Hitt, L. and E. Brynjolfsson. “Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organization and Productivity,” Mimeo, MIT, Stanford University and the Wharton School, 1998.
Hitt, L., Frances X. Frei, and Patrick T. Harker. “How Financial Firms Decide on Technology,” Working Paper 98–34, Wharton Financial Institutions Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Also available at http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/98.html.
Huselid, Mark. “The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity and Corporate Financial Performance,” Academy of Management Journal 38 (no. 3, 1995), 635–672.
Ichniowski, C., T.A. Kochan, D. Levine, C. Olson, and G. Strauss. “What Works at Work: Overview and Assessment.” Industrial Relations 35 (no. 3, 1996), 299–333.
Lacity, M.C. and R. Hirscheim. “The Information Systems Outsourcing Bandwagon,” Sloan Management Review 35 (no. 1, 1993), 73–86.
Lichtenberg, F.R. “The Output Contributions of Computer Equipment and Personal: A Firm-Level Analysis.” Economics of Innovation and New Technology 3 (1995), 201–217.
Loveman, G.W “An Assessment of the Productivity Impact of Information Technologies,” in T.J. Allen and M.S. Scott Morton (eds.), Information Technology and the Corporation of the 1990s: Research Studies, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994. (Initial working paper published as an MIT Management in the 1990s Working Paper, 1986).
McFarlan, J. “CSC/General Dynamics: Information Systems Outsourcing,” Harvard Business School Case Study,” Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1991.
Moore, J. and A. Santomero. “The Industry Speaks: Results of the WFIC Insurance Survey”, in J.D. Cummins and A. Santomero (eds.), Changes in the Life Insurance Industry: Efficiency, Technology and Risk Management, 1999.
Prasad, B. and P.T. Harker. “Examining the Contribution of Information Technology Toward Productivity and Profitability in U.S. Banking,” Working Paper, Wharton Financial Institutions Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1997.
Quinn, J. and F. Hilmer. “Strategic Outsourcing,” Sloan Management Review 35 (no. 4, 1994), 43–55.
Roach, S.S. “America’s White-Collar Productivity Dilemma.” Manufacturing Engineering, (August, 1998), 104.
Rockart, J. and A.D. Crescenzi. “Engaging Top Management in Information Technology,” Sloan Management Review, (Summer 1984), 3–16.
Rockart, J.F. “The Line Takes the Leadership—IS Management in a Wired Society,” Sloan Management Review, (Summer 1998), 57–64.
Rockart, J.F., M.J. Earl, and J.W Ross. “Eight Imperatives for the New IT Organization,” Sloan Management Review 38 (no. 1, 1996), 43–55.
Solow, R.M. “We’d Better Watch Out,” New York Times Book Review, (July 12 1987), 36.
Strassmann, Paul E. The Business Value of Computers. Information New Canaan, CT: Economics Press, 1990.
Sviokla, J. and A. Wong. “Profiling at National Mutual”, Harvard Business School Case 9–191–100, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1991.
Vitale, M.R., J.J. Elam, and J. Morrison. “United Services Automobile Association (USAA),” Harvard Business School Case, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1989.
Youngblood, T. “Outsourcing is a ‘savior’ for IT.” National Underwriter 102 (no. 34, 1998), 3–11.
Zaheer, A. and N. Venkatraman. “Determinants of Electronic Integration in the Insurance Industry: An Empirical Test,” Management Science 40 (no. 3, 1994), 549–566.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hitt, L.M. (1999). The Impact of Information Technology Management Practices on the Performance of Life Insurance Companies. In: Cummins, J.D., Santomero, A.M. (eds) Changes in the Life Insurance Industry: Efficiency, Technology and Risk Management. Innovations in Financial Markets and Institutions, vol 11. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5045-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5045-7_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7293-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-5045-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive