TY - JOUR
T1 - Electronic integration and strategic advantage
T2 - A quasi-experimental study in the insurance industry
AU - Venkatraman, N.
AU - Zaheer, Akbar
PY - 1990
Y1 - 1990
N2 - Strategic advantage through'information technology is a popular and an important theme, but the extent of research support is minimal, anecdotal, and sporadic. This paper reports the results of a quasi-experimental study on the impact of dedicated electronic integration [between a focal insurance carrier and its independent agents in the property and casualty (P&C) market] for the focal carrier. The results indicate that the agents that are electronically interfaced with the carrier report improvements in a set of four performance factors in the expected direction (six months after system installation), but statistically different from a matched set of non-interfaced agents (based on size, state, and location category) only in terms of increases in new business policies, but not in terms of effectiveness-namely, neither increases in premiums and commissions nor operating efficiency. Some explanations, extensions and research implications are outlined.
AB - Strategic advantage through'information technology is a popular and an important theme, but the extent of research support is minimal, anecdotal, and sporadic. This paper reports the results of a quasi-experimental study on the impact of dedicated electronic integration [between a focal insurance carrier and its independent agents in the property and casualty (P&C) market] for the focal carrier. The results indicate that the agents that are electronically interfaced with the carrier report improvements in a set of four performance factors in the expected direction (six months after system installation), but statistically different from a matched set of non-interfaced agents (based on size, state, and location category) only in terms of increases in new business policies, but not in terms of effectiveness-namely, neither increases in premiums and commissions nor operating efficiency. Some explanations, extensions and research implications are outlined.
KW - Electronic integration
KW - Electronic interfacing
KW - Insurance industry
KW - Quasi-experimental study
KW - Strategic advantage
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U2 - 10.1287/isre.1.4.377
DO - 10.1287/isre.1.4.377
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:73549108972
SN - 1047-7047
VL - 1
SP - 377
EP - 393
JO - Information Systems Research
JF - Information Systems Research
IS - 4
ER -