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Types of competitive behavior in the insurance market. Development of the competitive environment of the Russian insurance market Vladimir Vladimirovich volkov

Russia's transition from a planned-directive economy to a market economy has led to the emergence of competition in almost all areas of activity of economic entities, including insurance. There was no need to study the problem of competition and competitiveness in our country until the 90s of the last century. The term "competition" was not used in the Soviet economy. The elements of competition and competition were familiar only to the managers of enterprises whose products were sold to the foreign market. The lack of private ownership of the means of production and the establishment of plans for all enterprises was the reason for the lack of competition.

There are a large number of definitions of the concepts competition and competitiveness. The word competition comes from the Latin “concurrer”, which means to collide.

Competition is an integral part of the developed insurance market. A real market economy is unthinkable without competition. In this regard, there is an urgent need to study competition, its level and intensity, to know the strengths and market opportunities of the strongest competitors, and the prospects for competition in selected insurance markets. The presence of competitors forces each insurer to be extremely attentive to the requests of its clients.

The scheme for collecting data on the activities of competing insurance companies and its analysis is shown in Appendix A.

The first stage of competition analysis in the insurance market is an assessment of the degree of its exposure to competition processes based on an analysis of the main factors determining the intensity of competition. These factors include:

the number and comparable capacity of competing insurance companies;

changes in the volume of demand for insurance services and its structural and cost dynamics;

barriers to entry into the insurance market (features of licensing insurance activities);

the situation in the related credit market;

differences in the strategies of competing insurers;

special motives for competition in a given insurance market.

The number of competing insurance companies and their comparative capacity largely determine the level of competition. All other things being equal, the intensity of competition is greatest when a significant number of insurance companies of approximately equal strength compete in the insurance market. To collect this information, they resort to compiling special dossiers. Based on the results obtained, conclusions are drawn regarding the level of competition.

At the second stage of analyzing the level of competition, the main competing insurance companies are identified and their role in the overall sale of insurance services is examined. Data for this category of competitors is compiled into a single table using a specific form.

It is customary to distinguish between price and non-price competition among insurers. Price competition is based on the tariff rate at which it is proposed to conclude an insurance contract of this type. Reducing the tariff rate has always been the basis by which the insurer, highlighting its insurance services from the general list, attracted the attention of the potential policyholder to them. In the modern world, when the insurance markets of industrialized countries are mainly divided between a number of large insurance companies, the use of price competition in the fight for the policyholder looks problematic. Price competition is used mainly by outsider insurers in their struggle with the giants of the insurance business, to compete with which outsiders do not have the strength and capabilities in the field of non-price competition Shcherbakov, V.A. Insurance / V.A. Shcherbakov, E.V. Kostyaeva. - M.: KnoRus, 2009. - P. 203..

Non-price competition highlights additional services provided by insurers to their clients (preemptive right to purchase shares of an insurance company, assistance in purchasing real estate, free legal advice, etc.). Advertising has always been the strongest tool of non-price competition, but today its role has increased many times over. With the help of advertising, insurance companies in industrialized countries strive to create a prestigious image of their company in the eyes of policyholders. Traditional in this policy is the holding of “business development days”. On this day, a breakfast (lunch or lunch) is held, during which the president of the insurance company communicates with 100-200 clients. The focus is primarily on government, institutional and corporate clients. Clients are told about new types of services offered by the insurance company, plans for further development and participation of the insurance company in the public life of the region. Clients are asked their opinion about the image of the insurance company, their attitude to the range and quality of the insurance services offered. The same goals are served by periodically held conferences, in which leading managers of the insurer, as well as certain groups of policyholders, participate. Conferences differ from “business development days” in that they are held on a specific topic. At the end of such events, a souvenir advertisement with the branding of the insurance company is presented. Thanks to this approach, insurance companies are actively developing new methods for promoting insurance services on the market. Illegal methods of non-price competition include espionage of know-how, poaching of specialists who know the professional secrets of organizing the insurance business, and forgery of insurance certificates.

Competition is the antithesis of monopoly. At the same time, the monopoly position of the insurer in the economic environment can cause a number of diverse and interrelated negative phenomena. The insurer, which has no serious competitors, seeks to realize its economic interests, and not the insureds dependent on it. He dictates his terms to them when concluding insurance contracts, can increase the tariff rate, etc. A market economy based on the use of the law of value and competition by its nature must reject monopolism Yudanov, A.Yu. Competition: theory and practice. Educational manual / A.Yu. Yudanov. - M.: Finance and Statistics, 2009. - P. 67..

Our country pays great attention to suppressing monopolistic activities and unfair competition in the insurance market. Prevention, limitation and suppression of monopolistic activities and unfair competition in the insurance market is ensured by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) in accordance with the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation. These issues also fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Insurance Supervision of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation Kosarenko, N.N. System of state bodies ensuring compliance with state interests in the field of insurance activities / N.N. Kosarenko // Modern law. - M.: New Index. - 2009. - No. 2. - P. 30..

The presence of competition in the market for goods or services in which the enterprise operates requires it to ensure a certain competitiveness or, otherwise, threatens to displace it from these markets.

Speaking about the competitiveness of insurance companies on the scale of the national economy, it is necessary to note the similarity of the competitiveness factors of insurance companies and the competitiveness factors of other economic entities. The same principles apply to competition among any economic entity. Thus, when considering the factors of competitiveness of insurance companies, it is necessary to be based on the general principles and methodology of the theory of competitiveness. Of course, competition between insurance companies has specific features, but, as a rule, they do not contradict the general principles and only detail them.

Any insurance services are tested to determine the degree of satisfaction of public needs, which are expressed in collective, group and individual insurance interests. This check is carried out on the insurance market, where each policyholder purchases exactly the insurance policy that most fully satisfies his insurance interests. In this regard, the competitiveness of the insurer represents the possibilities of selling insurance products in a given market, taking into account existing insurance interests.

An assessment of an organization's competitiveness can only be carried out among enterprises belonging to the same industry or producing the same goods or services. The competitiveness of an organization largely depends on how well the company can adapt to changing competitive conditions in the market. Unlike the competitiveness of a product, the competitiveness of an organization cannot be achieved in a short period of time. The competitiveness of an organization is achieved through long-term and flawless work in the market. From this we can conclude that a company operating for a longer period of time in the market has greater competitive advantages over those just entering this market or operating for a short period of time in it. In other words, the competitiveness of an organization is determined by its competitive advantages.

Competitive advantages, in turn, are divided into external and internal. The organization is not able to influence external factors, but internal factors are almost entirely controlled by the management of the organization, or rather, the management of the organization has all the necessary conditions to control these factors. Achieving internal competitive advantages of an organization is carried out by staff, with a special role assigned to the manager.

One of the distinguishing properties of a service from a product is that in the process of selling a service, personal contact arises between the seller and the client. This difference requires special skills of the personnel of insurance companies, since they work directly in the service sector. In this case, it is advisable to apply the concept of “staff competitiveness”. A specialist working in a competitive environment is characterized by the desire to be competitive, which depends on the abilities of the specialist himself.

The success of any insurance company largely depends on the effectiveness of the company's management. A company's competitive personnel is only part of the competitiveness of the company itself.

Thus, the competitiveness of an insurer is the ability to sell insurance products (through the conclusion of insurance contracts of a certain type) in a given insurance market, based on the existing insurance interests identified by the insurer’s marketing service.

Economic and organizational parameters characterizing the competitiveness of the insurer are identified. Economic parameters include costs for personnel training, commissions of insurance agents, taxation of income from insurance activities, etc. Organizational parameters include a system of discounts and benefits for policyholders according to the terms and conditions of insurance contracts, additional services to clients (for example, free legal advice to policyholders) , system for selling insurance policies.

Ideally, the economic and organizational parameters of an insurer's competitiveness should be focused on taking into account the needs of all potential clients of the insurer.

The activities of an insurance company are influenced by various factors (elements) of the external and internal environment, the consideration of which is necessary in order to improve the efficiency of its work.

One of the elements of the immediate environment is “competitors”, among which we can distinguish not only insurance, reinsurance companies, mutual insurance companies, both already established in the insurance market and newly created ones, but also other financial institutions, whose services may be substitutes in relation to to some insurance services. In particular, this applies to accumulative types of insurance. Financial institutions should be considered as competitors here.

The labor market in the field of insurance is of particular importance for insurers, since on the one hand, the insurance industry in our country is quite new, the formation of personnel in many insurance organizations has not been completed, and secondly, insurance is a labor-intensive process, and personnel is almost decisive factor of production; thirdly, the personnel of an insurance organization includes specialists from different professional fields.

The insurance industry, as part of the financial infrastructure of the market, plays an important role in acquiring national competitive advantages. To strengthen the infrastructure and increase its efficiency, along with other institutions of national infrastructure, it is necessary to develop the insurance institution and increase the competitiveness of Russian insurance companies. This becomes all the more relevant in connection with the upcoming liberalization of the financial market as part of our country’s accession to the WTO and the lifting of restrictions on the admission of foreign insurers to the Russian insurance market, which will affect the intensity of competition in the industry and establish more stringent requirements for the competitiveness of insurance companies, operating in the Russian insurance market.

Competition in insurance is the rivalry of insurance companies to attract policyholders, profitable investment of accumulated funds of insurance funds in order to achieve high final results.

Competition is an indispensable prerequisite for the development of the insurance business, expansion of insurance services and improvement of their quality. Competition is an integral part of a developed insurance market in a market economy.

A market economy based on value and competition by its nature must reject monopolism. An insurer that has no competitors seeks to realize, first of all, its economic interests, and not the interests of policyholders.

In countries with developed economies, a situation in which there are 10 or more competitors in the industry is considered safe in terms of monopolization, and the share of one (the largest) should not exceed 31% of total sales of insurance services, two - 44%, three - 54% and four - 64%. If this is violated, the state imposes economic sanctions.

Competition arises on the basis of overcoming the state monopoly in insurance. But this does not mean the liquidation of state insurance organizations, but they should not establish themselves in equal competition with joint-stock companies, corporate companies and OVS. It is under such conditions that competition is more effective, since policyholders should have the opportunity to choose.

Competition relates to the provision of voluntary types of insurance. It involves creating opportunities for policyholders to conclude property and personal insurance contracts on terms that best meet their interests.

Competition encourages insurance companies to develop and introduce new types of insurance, constantly improve them, and expand the range of services focused on the interests of specific socio-economic groups of the population, as well as enterprises based on various forms of ownership.

When carrying out the same types of insurance, competition is expressed in the creation of convenient forms for concluding contracts and paying insurance premiums, reducing tariff rates, fast work, and prompt payment of insurance amounts. It follows that competition is possible even when carrying out compulsory types of insurance.

There is price and non-price competition.

Price competition is based on the tariff rate at which contracts are concluded. This method of competition is applicable to outsider insurers who are unable to compete with larger and more successful companies.

Non-price competition - additional services are brought to the fore (preemptive right to purchase shares of an insurance company, free legal advice, etc.) A strong weapon of non-price competition is advertising. The purpose of advertising is to facilitate the conclusion of new and renewal of previously existing insurance contracts. With its help, the insurance company seeks to create a prestigious image of its organization in the eyes of policyholders.

Advertising may not be limited to information about types of insurance, the procedure for concluding contracts, and payment of the insurance amount. It must also contain information about the insurance organization, its authorized capital, shareholders, assets and liabilities of the balance sheet. Only under such conditions will insurers have a real opportunity to decide which insurance company to entrust funds to.

Illegal methods of price competition include: espionage, poaching specialists who have valuable information, and forgery of insurance certificates.

From the assumption that competition is the main condition for the transition to market relations, the right of various types of organizations and citizens to engage in insurance business follows.

But insurance is a special field of activity that should provide protection for legal entities and individuals in the event of severe events. This area must be reliable and guaranteed, therefore, insurance requires special measures of government regulation. It must be based on a solid economic and legal foundation.

Thus, the country is creating a mechanism for registering insurance organizations, licensing insurance operations and control by insurance supervision (so that insurance companies do not cross the threshold when the interests of policyholders may suffer). It is unacceptable to reduce tariffs to a level where the financial stability of the company is compromised. In investing insurance reserves, priority is given to the most reliable, rather than the most profitable companies.

The combination of competition and government regulation is necessary to stimulate the development of the insurance business in areas where there is no hope for significant profits (crop insurance, environmental risks).

Competing organizations, based on their interests, give priority to less labor-intensive and more expensive types of insurance, operations with low risk and high financial results. Thus, a mechanism is needed to ensure the survival of the insurance company providing socially significant types of insurance.

Economic and organizational parameters characterizing the competitiveness of the insurer are identified.

Economic:

  • - expenses for highly qualified personnel;
  • - commission remuneration of insurance agents;
  • - taxation of income from insurance activities.

Organizational: system of discounts and insurance benefits according to the terms and conditions of insurance contracts.

Ideally, both dimensions of competitiveness should be focused on taking into account the needs of all potential customers.

The main stage of analyzing competition in the insurance market is assessing the degree of exposure of the market to competition processes based on an analysis of the main factors determining the intensity of competition.

Since the competitive environment is formed not only under the influence of the struggle of intra-industry competitors, to analyze competition in the market in accordance with M. Porter’s model, the following groups of factors are taken into account:

· rivalry among operators competing in a given market (“central ring”) - the situation in the industry;

· competition from services that are substitutes - the impact of substitute services;

· the threat of the emergence of new competitors - the influence of potential competitors;

· consumer positions, their economic capabilities - the influence of buyers.

Each of the competitive forces under consideration can have a different impact on the situation in the industry, both in direction and in significance, and their total impact ultimately determines the characteristics of competition in the industry, the profitability of the industry, the company’s place in the market and its success.

The main factors determining the level of competition in the industry, grouped into groups, as well as signs of their manifestation are presented in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1

Factors of competition in the insurance market

Competition factors

Signs of manifestation of factors in the market

1. Industry situation

There is a group of insurance companies equal in power or there is one or more insurance companies that are clearly superior in power to the one under study.

Effective demand for services is falling, the forecast is unfavorable.

Competing companies are not specialized in types of insurance services. The company's services and those of its competitors are practically interchangeable.

The costs of switching a client from one insurer to another are minimal, i.e. the likelihood of customers leaving for competitors and vice versa is high.

The costs of a company leaving the market for these services are high (retraining of personnel, loss of a sales network, etc.).

The initial costs for launching work on the market for these services are low.

The level of competition in adjacent markets is high.

Individual firms are implementing or are ready to implement an aggressive policy of strengthening their positions at the expense of other competitors.

There is clearly expanding demand, great potential opportunities, favorable forecast

The amount of capital required to enter the industry market is not high. Efficient scale can be achieved quite quickly. Insurance companies in the industry do not tend to use aggressive strategies against newcomers and do not coordinate their activities within the industry to reflect expansion into the industry

Access to distribution channels

Creating your own distribution network or attracting existing intermediaries to cooperate does not require significant costs on the part of “newbies”

Industry benefits

Insurance companies in the industry do not have significant advantages over new competitors related to access to sources of raw materials, patents and know-how, fixed capital, convenient locations of the enterprise, etc.

3. Buyer influence

Buyers status

There are many buyers in the insurance industry. These are both individuals and legal entities

What needs does this or that insurance product satisfy for a particular consumer?

The product is standardized (low degree of differentiation). The cost of switching buyers to a new seller is negligible.

Thus, it becomes possible to assess the significance of factors according to the degree to which their symptoms manifest themselves in the insurance market and draw a conclusion about the general level of competition in this market.

Let us analyze the nature of the influencing factors included in the “situation in the industry” group. Now we will consider the theoretical basis for further analysis of the level of competition in the Russian insurance market.

The number and power of insurance firms competing in the market largely determine the level of competition. In principle, the intensity of competition is considered to be greatest when there are a significant number of competitors of approximately equal strength in the market, and it is not at all necessary that the competing firms be particularly large. However, this rule is not universal and is always true from the position of a company conducting market research. Thus, for a large company with powerful resources and numerous advantages, competition is, as a rule, only from companies of a similar size with similar capabilities. On the contrary, for a medium-sized and, especially, a small insurance company, the presence of even one large competitor can be a significant obstacle to successful sales.

The presence on the market of a large number of competing insurance companies with a high degree of diversification of services indicates the impossibility of moving into a “niche”, that is, avoiding competition through specialization in some insurance services. Thus, the high degree of unification of insurance services in the industry tends to reduce competition in the market under study.

Changes in effective demand in the market strengthen or weaken the effect of the first two factors. Indeed, an increase in volume softens, and a decrease, on the contrary, intensifies competition in the market.

The degree of standardization of the insurance product offered on the market tends to increase competition. Indeed, when each manufacturer offers its own product model or its own set of services intended for one market segment, competition is reduced to a minimum. And, on the contrary, when all manufacturers produce homogeneous products intended equally for all consumers, competition between them is high. Of course, these are extreme cases. In practice, products in any market are differentiated to one degree or another, which does not eliminate competition, but only somewhat reduces the degree of competition.

The costs of switching a client from one insurer to another, especially with significant volumes of after-sales service, can to some extent reduce the level of competition threatening the insurance company. Indeed, pre-determined features of the supplied product may make it unprofitable or simply impossible to invite a third party to provide after-sales service.

Market exit barriers work towards increasing competition in the market. If switching to another industry market or exiting a given area of ​​business is associated with significant costs, then it is natural to expect greater persistence of firms being forced out of the market in the struggle for their positions.

Barriers to market penetration are closely related to the previous factor and act in exactly the opposite direction, that is, increasing barriers helps reduce competition and vice versa. This is due to the need for significant investments, the need to acquire special knowledge and qualifications, etc. The higher the differentiation by type of insurance product and other factors, the higher the penetration barriers. In this case, existing insurance companies have advantages over newly emerging competitors due to their prestige and experience.

The strategies of competing insurance companies operating in the market are examined in order to identify the differences and commonalities of the competitors' strategic objectives. Thus, if most insurance companies adhere to the same strategy, then the level of competition increases. On the contrary, if most companies follow different strategies, the level of competition is relatively reduced.

The attractiveness of the market for a given product significantly determines the level of competition. For example, a sharp increase in demand causes a rapid influx of competitors. Now let’s look at how the influence of potential competitors affects the level of competition in the industry.

The seriousness of this threat depends on the magnitude of the barriers, that is, the difficulties and costs that a “newcomer” has to overcome in comparison with the “old-timers” of the industry.

Factors that reduce pressure from new competitors are: the need for initial capital to penetrate the industry; effective scale of sales of an insurance product, temporarily unattainable for a beginner; difficult access to distribution channels, etc.

Buyers can greatly influence the strength of competition in an industry. This power increases in the following cases:

· products are standardized and not differentiated;

· purchased insurance products do not occupy an important place in the buyer’s priorities;

· the buyer has good information about all possible insurance companies.

The influence of buyers weakens with the expansion of the boundaries of the industry market, differentiation and specialization of the product, coordination of the efforts of manufacturers of insurance products, and the absence of substitute products.

Each of the factors characterizing competition in the market (see Table 2.1) is assessed by experts on a point scale. Managers and leading specialists of insurance companies can be involved as experts. For example, if a factor, in the expert’s opinion, does not appear on the market or there are no signs of its manifestation, then the strength of manifestation of this factor is assessed as 1 point; if the factor is weakly manifested - 2-3 points; if the factor is clearly manifested - 4-5 points.

In addition, the factors considered have different effects on competition in the market. To take into account the relative importance of various factors, the specific “weight” of each of them is determined directly during the analysis.

The assessment of the degree of influence of each of the five forces of competition in the market obtained in this way is a weighted average score:

where K is an indicator of competition in the market,

Rf - score of the j-th expert on the degree of manifestation of the i-th factor;

N - number of experts;

W - coefficient of importance of the i-th factor,

Based on the obtained weighted average score, the following conclusions are drawn: if the K value is less than 20, then competition in the market is low. If the value of K is between 20 and 40, then competition in the market is average. If the K value is greater than 40, then competition in the market is high.

Using this methodology, we will calculate the level of competition in the Russian insurance market. Table 2.2 presents an assessment of competition factors in the Russian insurance market, carried out by four experts. Specialists from RESO-Garantiya Insurance Company acted as experts. The assessment was carried out on a five-point scale.

Table 2.2

Analysis of competition factors in the Russian insurance market

Competition factors

Coef. importance of the factor

Experts / Assessment

1. Industry situation

Number and power of insurance companies competing in the market

Change in effective demand

Degree of standardization of services offered on the market

Costs of switching a client from one insurer to another

Barriers to exiting the market (company costs for re-profiling)

Barriers to market entry

The situation in related markets (service markets with similar areas of application)

Strategies of competing firms (behavior)

Attractiveness of the market for this insurance product

2. Influence of potential competitors

Difficulties in entering the industry insurance market

Industry benefits

3. Buyer influence

Buyers status

The importance of the insurance product for the buyer

Insurance product standardization

The K indicator for our case is 44.07. Thus, we can say that the level of competition in the Russian insurance market is above average.

With this level of competition, the basis of any insurance company’s business is, of course, built on product sales channels: agency, direct office and brokerage sales. Let's consider which sales channels are most often used by domestic insurance companies.

The majority of domestic insurers consider agency sales to be the most effective: we are talking about both agents with their own portfolio and those who work only for a given company, either full-time or freelance. The advantage of this implementation is, first of all, that this method does not require any costs, except for the costs of training, incentives, sometimes office supplies, etc. (and not all companies do even this). However, the vast majority of agency sales are for standard retail products - auto insurance, compulsory motor liability insurance, life insurance, and personal property insurance. This is due to the large rotation of personnel in the agency sector and, as a consequence, the insufficient qualifications of most agents to work with relatively complex products for corporate clients.

Only a small cohort of company agents - the so-called "super agents" - are capable of dealing with corporate sales. "Super Agents" are the most experienced and successful group of professional service sellers. These are people who have significant experience in insurance (often 10 years or more) and have built a large client portfolio. In order to manage it effectively, “super agents” often create their own “back office”, entrusting it with routine work, while they themselves conduct negotiations, agree on the main parameters of contracts and monitor the quality of customer service.

The second channel for selling insurance services in terms of effectiveness is office (passive) sales, when managers serve clients who themselves came to the insurer’s office. Its advantage is that. that it focuses on both retail and corporate sales - of course, of all available products. In addition, if the buyer himself came to the company, then the probability of a successful transaction is maximum. But there is also a minus: maintaining this channel requires significant investments (renting premises, salaries to employees, searching for qualified specialists, etc.). And since these sales are passive, dependence on the effectiveness of advertising, brand promotion, office location, etc. is inevitable.

And finally, the last of the traditional channels is brokers. The advantages of this distribution channel are obvious: knowing the market well and having a large client base, insurance intermediaries promote not only standard products, but are also able to sell complex ones.

In addition, they enjoy great confidence from corporate clients and private entrepreneurs who take a balanced approach to choosing an insurer. However, in our country this channel is only at the stage of development. While in the West it accounts for up to 70-85% of sales of insurance products, in Russia it accounts for the share of profits. related to the activities of brokerage companies is only about 5%.

Today in Russia the idea of ​​combining sales of retail banking, investment and insurance services in one place is becoming increasingly popular. Its advantages are obvious: for clients it is a significant time saving, and for integrating companies it is an increase in sales. However, testing the concepts of new channels for promoting financial services has shown that their success will require a lot of educational effort.

To illustrate this, here is the result of a qualitative test of the “financial supermarket” concept. We emphasize that our research questions were answered by individuals - clients of banks and insurance companies, that is, people who have some experience in using these services. Despite this, the concept of a “financial supermarket” turned out to be unfamiliar to everyone - spontaneous associations of people were associated with products, the market, and supermarket carts. Moreover, as the survey showed, the word “financial” in this phrase had a secondary meaning for the respondents and was devalued by associations with food.

However, after some thought, our respondents put forward two hypotheses. One of them was that, according to them, a “financial supermarket” is a place similar to a market where different companies are collected that provide identical services.

The second hypothesis was already fully true: with this concept they identified a place where interconnected companies offer a full range of financial and insurance services. Moreover, respondents found rational advantages in the concept being studied - saving time and the opportunity to receive a more advantageous offer. But still, as the study showed, no one expressed emotional delight about the innovation. Although, speaking objectively, selling insurance services through a “financial supermarket” still has some disadvantages. As a rule, this form of sales arises on the basis of the retail network of banks; employees of their branches are not sufficiently motivated to sell “foreign” services, despite the relatedness of the companies.

In addition, consultations on insurance issues and the process of drawing up contracts take a lot of time. In order not to create queues - after all, speed of service is one of the most important criteria for the quality of banking services - the sale of insurance policies is carried out separately. Thus, perfect cross-selling cannot be created.

In parallel with traditional sales channels for insurance products, insurers began to find alternative ones, primarily aimed at retail. One of them was online sales. The development of this sales channel is primarily due to the growth in the number of network users in Russia.

There are several different approaches to the use of the Internet by insurance companies. Thus, most insurers view the website solely as a marketing tool - a means to “hook” a client, bring him to the office or send an agent. But a more modern concept is to directly sell products online. This is, for example, the operating scheme of the online insurance supermarket of the Renaissance Insurance company, a pioneer in Russian online insurance. The client is asked to select the service he is interested in on the company’s website, calculate the cost using a web calculator and fill out an application form. The next step is payment, and the client receives ready-made documents from the insurer by courier. If the product is non-standard (for example, comprehensive insurance), the potential buyer makes a formal request for a quotation, and experts calculate the cost of insurance. In addition, the potential policyholder always has feedback: if something is not clear, you can send an email or call.

The main advantage of such a distribution channel is a reduction in costs by about 30 percent. Firstly, online sales cost companies. cheaper than agents in terms of commission. Secondly, the Internet allows you to save time for company employees. The website contains all the necessary information about the product, and this minimizes the number of customer questions. In addition, the policyholder also takes on part of the work associated with paperwork: he himself fills out an application for insurance electronically via the Internet. With traditional sales schemes, the application is filled out by hand, and the specialist then enters the data into the company’s information system.

According to statistics, insurance policies are usually purchased via the Internet by fairly active, knowledgeable people, many of whom have already used insurance services before. They are attracted by the opportunity to save time and avoid intrusive attention from agents.

However, there are reasons that hinder the development of the distribution of insurance policies via the Internet in Russia. The most obvious are the rather low insurance culture of the population and the concentration of network users only in large cities.

In addition, some policyholders trust direct visual contact with the seller more - before concluding a contract, they want to see what the insurer is like and what kind of office it has. This is where the role of the brand comes to the fore. Therefore, it is more advisable to engage in Internet insurance for companies with a well-known name in the market.

Finally, a serious problem is a certain wariness of our compatriots towards e-commerce in general. One negative experience, for example, buying a cell phone in an online store, is enough for a person to develop an “allergic” reaction to the entire virtual business.

One of the main factors that determine the level of competition in the insurance market are the factors that determine the decision on insurance. Such factors are, on the one hand, a high assessment of the insured risk (risk sensitivity), the quality of the insurance product, and, on the other hand, its price. If a consumer wants to protect his own property, he makes a decision about insurance, and then chooses the appropriate insurance product and the company that offers it. The set of factors by which the quality of an insurance service is assessed, as well as their significance, can be determined, like other market characteristics, through sociological research. The significance of the properties of the insurance product for policyholders - individuals and legal entities - according to the results of sociological studies of the Zircon group and the GFK company is given in table. 2.3 and 2.4.

Table 2.3

The importance of the properties of an insurance product for the population

Table 2.4

The significance of the properties of the insurance service for legal entities (represented by the decision-making manager). What criteria will most influence your choice of insurance company? (on a five-point scale)

Fame

Reliability

Kudos

Service level

Territorial proximity of the company

Qualification and friendliness of the company representative

Type of enterprise:

Government agency

State or mixed enterprise

Russian private enterprise

Foreign owned enterprise, joint venture

These tables summarize the properties of the company itself (reliability, fame, proximity to the policyholder’s place of residence, range of insurance services, quality of advertising), as well as its product (understandability of insurance conditions, free consultations, quality of service). As already noted, from a marketing point of view, the characteristics of the insurer and its services must be considered together, as a single package of product properties, opposed to its price. This is due to the fact that in the consumer’s view they act as an inseparable whole and the company’s properties are transferred to its product, and the characteristics of the service are transferred to the insurer. This reveals the subjective nature of insurance and its inseparability from the company providing the corresponding service.

The main component of a comprehensive package of properties of an insurance product is the reliability of the insurer. Another study by GFK (September 2005) allows us to determine the importance of another property of the insurance service - the speed and completeness of payment of compensation. As follows from his results, this is the second most important property of a product after the reliability of the company. The speed (completeness) of payment of compensation is perceived as a projection of the company’s efficiency, the insurer’s readiness and ability to fulfill its obligations. In consumer perception, it merges with the concept of reliability.

Very similar to this list are the most important properties of a bank. This is what the gradation of consumer assessment of the properties of banking institutions looks like (GFK data, September 2005, unlimited number of answers):

· Bank reliability - 99%;

· Investment security - 97%;

· Speed ​​and quality of service, wide range of services - 93%.

In view of the great importance of the reliability of the insurer, it makes sense to consider in more detail its components in the consumer understanding. From a mathematical point of view, reliability is expressed through the probability of refusal to pay for reasons not specified in the insurance contract, primarily due to the bankruptcy of the insurer. Its value can be determined with sufficient accuracy based on an analysis of objective parameters characterizing the state of the company. At the same time, it is clear that practically no insurer is capable of making such calculations. In the consumer understanding (especially in relation to individuals), reliability is a qualitative indicator formed on the basis of a set of factors, such as, for example:

· scale of the company,

· assessment of insurance experience, including the quality of service, timeliness and completeness of payments, the presence of unmotivated refusals to pay or delays in compensation known to the policyholder;

· prestige and fame of the brand, often determined by advertising or articles in the press, as well as the volume of the company’s operations, the appearance of the office;

· long experience in the market;

· level of service, completeness and quality of the set of additional services provided by the insurer;

· provision of risk coverage in foreign currency, reinsurance of risks abroad, as well as other factors.

Thus, reliability is a qualitative indicator that is only indirectly related to the likelihood of non-payment of compensation. The study showed that the most significant factors influencing the recognition of a given company as reliable are the positive experience of insurance (including the positive experience of reference groups) and the popularity of its brand, determined, first of all, by familiarity with the insurer’s advertising. But the positive experience of insurance - completeness, speed of payments and quality of service - has practically nothing to do with the long-term reliability of the company, which is clearly confirmed by a number of bankruptcies of quite prestigious insurers. The image of a reliable company can be formed on the basis of images, cliches and subjective ideas inspired by advertising, which, moreover, has nothing to do with its sustainability. Moreover, there is an inverse relationship: the more the insurer spends on advertising, the more likely it is that it is trying to build a financial “pyramid”, covering losses through a sharp influx of new clients.

The activity of an insurance organization in a market environment involves not only compensation for insured losses and its costs of doing business, but also making a profit. In insurance, the term “profit” is used conditionally, since insurance organizations do not create national income, but only participate in its redistribution.

Profit from insurance operations is understood as such a positive financial result of insurance activities in which an excess of income is achieved over the costs of providing insurance protection to policyholders. The main source of profit for an insurance organization in most civilized countries is not the collection of insurance payments, but investment activities, which are carried out by investing part of the temporarily free funds of the reserve insurance fund in profitable scientific and technical projects, commercial transactions, securities, government short-term bonds, and deposits. and etc.

Funds from investment activities are used, as a rule, to finance insurance operations, subsidies to unprofitable types of insurance, development of new types of insurance (ecology, etc.), personnel training, etc.

In contrast to the turnover of funds for the provision of insurance protection, the turnover of funds associated with the organization of insurance business and the development of an insurance organization is regulated by current legislation, the charter of the insurance organization and other factors.

The peculiarities of the distribution of possible damage in risk (usually short-term) and accumulative (savings or long-term) insurance have given rise to two types of insurance funds:

1. insurance reserve funds for risk types of insurance;

2. insurance reserve funds for accumulative types of insurance (life insurance, pensions, etc.).

Directions for investing reserve funds (investments in deposits, securities, government bonds, etc.) must be in strict accordance with the Rules regulating the activities of insurance organizations in the placement of insurance reserves (approved by order of Rosstrakhnadzor dated 06/09/1993 No. 02-02 /17). According to the Rules, in order to ensure financial stability, insurance organizations invest insurance reserves formed from insurance premiums received from policyholders for upcoming insurance payments, subject to mandatory compliance with the following ratios:

· at least 10% of reserve funds - in government securities of regional, regional and local governments;

· no more than 40% - in real estate;

· no more than 50% - on bank deposits (deposits)

· no more than 40% - in securities of joint-stock companies and other valuables;

· no more than 10% - in currency values ​​in accordance with the Law “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control”;

· at least 5% - to a bank account for current payments of insurance amounts for the types of insurance provided;

· at least 80% of insurance reserves must be invested in the territory of the Russian Federation, unless otherwise provided by international agreements.

According to the Law of the Russian Federation “On Insurance” (Article 27, paragraph 3), the placement of insurance reserves must be carried out by insurers on the terms of diversification (forced investment of free money in government bonds and other securities), repayment (return of insurance premiums to the policyholder upon early termination of the contract), liquidity (ability to meet claims made by policyholders) and profitability.

It is prohibited to use funds from insurance reserves for:

· concluding loan agreements (credit agreements) by individuals and legal entities, except for the cases provided for by the Law “On Insurance” (also issue loans to policyholders who have entered into personal insurance agreements, within the limits of the insured amounts under these agreements, Article 26, clause 3);

· concluding purchase and sale agreements, except for cases of acquisition of shares and units of commodity and stock exchanges;

· investments in intellectual property. Insurance reserves of ASO (ASC, LLP, etc.) are divided into reserves for personal, property and liability insurance, as well as for financing measures to prevent insured events, loss or damage to insured property.

Insurance reserves formed by insurers are not subject to withdrawal to federal and other budgets. Insurance organizations, as a rule, are actively involved in investment processes, participate in a variety of financial and credit activities, so they must be financially stable not only with respect to insurance risks, but also with respect to other types of risks (financial, currency, banking, etc.) .

As a result, in real insurance activities situations arise when, even with impeccable calculation of the tariff, the insurer will need additional funds to fulfill its obligations to other clients. For example, insurance premiums cannot cover:

a) a significant increase in the loss ratio of the insured amount unexpected for the insurer (sharp change in exchange rates);

b) a change in the market situation, which leads to a decrease in the cost of investments and income on them.

The economic importance of the investment activities of insurance companies is due to the large volumes of their investment resources. The experience of Western countries, studied in this study, irrefutably demonstrates the leading role of insurance companies in the investment processes of developed countries. The amount of investment made by insurance companies in European countries in 2000 amounted to 50% of the total gross domestic product of the European Economic Community. In countries such as Great Britain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, which have a developed stock market and international financial authority, insurers' investments have reached or even exceeded the annual volume of GNP.

Moreover, if in developed countries most of the investments are represented by long-term investments made at the expense of life insurance companies, then in Russia their main part is short-term assets. The participation of Russian insurers in the investment process is sometimes speculative in nature. In addition, medium and small insurance companies, lacking sufficient investment potential, do not seek to independently enter the stock market.

These circumstances explain the lack of development of issues of scientific substantiation and development of approaches to organizing the investment activities of insurance companies in our country. However, as the domestic economy and the insurance market develop, the situation will change. Then investment problems will take leading positions in insurance science, as is observed abroad.

The asset structure of the insurance market is currently changing. Companies are paying less and less attention to reliable but low-yielding government securities and bank deposits. They are much more attracted to corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, mutual funds and corporate bills. Such investments are considered much riskier. But insurers are increasingly saying that they lack quality financial instruments.


Competition- an indicator of the development of the insurance market. A real market economy is unthinkable without competition. In this regard, there is an urgent need to study competition, its level and intensity, to know the strengths and market opportunities of the most significant competitors, and the prospects for competition in selected segments of the insurance market. The presence of competitors forces each insurer to be extremely attentive to the requests of its clients.

The essence of competition is utility balance insurance products. Comparing the utility-to-price ratio for each of them reveals the advantage of each insurance product. In the competition, the one with this ratio greater than others wins. Based on the balance of utility, competition can be carried out (increase the ratio of utility to price) by price and non-price methods.

At the core price competition is the tariff rate at which it is proposed to conclude an insurance contract of this type. Reducing the tariff rate has always been the basis by which the insurer, highlighting its insurance services from the general list, attracted the attention of the potential policyholder to them. Price competition is used mainly by outsider insurers in their struggle with the giants of the insurance business, with which outsiders do not have the strength and capabilities to compete in the field of non-price competition.

Non-price competition highlights additional services provided by insurers to their clients (preemptive right to purchase shares of an insurance company, assistance in purchasing real estate, free legal advice, etc.). The strongest weapon of non-price competition is advertising. With its help, insurance companies strive to create a prestigious image of their company in the eyes of policyholders.

Any insurance services are tested to determine the degree of satisfaction of public needs, which are expressed in collective, group and individual insurance interests. This check is carried out on the insurance market, where each policyholder purchases exactly the insurance policy that most fully satisfies his insurance interests. In this regard insurer's competitiveness represents the possibilities of selling insurance products in a given market, taking into account existing insurance interests. Economic and organizational parameters characterizing the competitiveness of the insurer are identified. To the number economic parameters include expenses for personnel training, commissions of insurance agents, taxation of income from insurance activities, etc. Organizational parameters draws up a system of discounts and benefits for policyholders according to the terms and conditions of concluded insurance contracts. Ideally, the economic and organizational parameters of an insurer's competitiveness should be focused on taking into account the needs of all potential clients of the insurer.

Conclusion (trends in the development of the insurance business in modern Russia)

There are significant opportunities and prospects for the development of the insurance market and insurance business in the Russian Federation, namely: the vast territory of the country, almost 150 million population, the presence of business entities of various organizational and legal forms and types of ownership, the emergence of new types of insurance, etc.

To solve the problems of ensuring the reliability and financial stability of the insurance system, one of the priority areas of activity of insurance organizations and reinsurance companies is to increase the minimum amount of authorized capital, as well as its formation exclusively at the expense of cash.

One of the main trends in the development of the insurance services market is the concentration of the insurance business, as a result of which financially weak insurance organizations will cede the market to the most stable companies capable of developing the national insurance business in accordance with modern requirements.

Regulation of structural transformations should include the protection of fair competition in the insurance market, prevention and suppression of monopolism.

In connection with Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), there has been a growth in the reinsurance system, which makes it possible to encourage the development of various forms of association of insurers in order to implement large insurance projects.

The arrival of a large number of foreign insurers requires special attention from the state to support national insurance companies. It is necessary to implement reasonable protectionist measures, including tax regulation in combination with the development of insurance infrastructure.

The financial resources of insurance companies can become the investment basis for the dynamic development of the Russian economy in the near future.

INTRODUCTION

Since the beginning of market reforms, the Russian insurance market has shown steady growth rates. For the development of the insurance system in Russia, which is in a stage of active growth, effective administrative and economic methods are needed to activate the insurance market at both the state and regional levels, which will allow, on the one hand, the use of insurance as a financial instrument for protecting the interests of the population, businesses subjects and the state, reducing the burden of budgets, and, on the other hand, to involve the funds of insurance companies as effective financial institutions that accumulate the monetary resources of policyholders by means of providing insurance protection, in innovation and investment activities to meet the needs of the economy and social sphere in capital investments and ensure sustainable social development.

The main fundamental feature of the organization of the insurance business in the modern period (as opposed to the Soviet period) is its demonopolization and the development of competition among insurance organizations. Along with state insurance, private insurance has emerged and is developing. Competition usually relates to voluntary insurance. Competition encourages insurance organizations to develop and introduce new types of insurance, constantly improve them, expand their range and cover additional segments of the insurance market. When carrying out the same types of insurance, competition between insurance organizations is expressed in the creation of convenient forms for concluding an agreement and paying insurance premiums, reducing tariff rates, and promptly paying insurance compensation and insurance coverage.

Competition in all areas is the main condition for the transition to a market economy. At the same time, insurance is a special type of activity designed to provide insurance protection to individuals and legal entities. Therefore, it is important to organize insurance in such a way that insurance companies do not go bankrupt or cease their activities. This is achieved through special methods of state regulation of insurance activities, as well as a clear development of the legal and economic foundations of insurance. Hence the second principle - the need for state regulation of insurance activities, based on a solid legal and economic foundation.

The relevance of the topic of this work is determined by the processes occurring in the economy. In such a situation, the desire of an economic entity to develop stably and successfully collides with the newly emerging apparatus for managing the activities of the entity. Insurance rivalry, inherent in competition, cannot be viewed as an absolute category. In many cases, especially when accepting large risks for insurance, the cooperation of insurers is necessary. This cooperation is carried out in the form of coinsurance and reinsurance. An important principle of organizing insurance as part of international economic relations is international cooperation in the field of insurance, which is caused by an objective need in the context of deepening and expanding world economic ties. Thus, cooperation between insurance organizations both within the country and abroad is also an important principle of organizing the insurance business.

The subject of research of this thesis is competitiveness and the organization of measures to increase competitiveness in the organization.

The purpose of the thesis is to design measures to increase the competitiveness of the services of an insurance organization.

The object of the study is “RESO-Garantiya”.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following problems: - determine the theoretical aspects of the foundations of competitiveness;

Research the insurance market;

Conduct an analysis of the activities of RESO-Garantiya

Determine the prospects for the development of insurance in Russia

Justify the effectiveness of the proposed measures and calculate technical and economic indicators

The methodological basis of the diploma project was the concepts and views of domestic and foreign specialists, magazine and newspaper articles related to the problems of competitiveness and insurance. In the domestic economic literature, the organization of the insurance business and insurance technology were studied by S.A. Efimov, A.P. Pleshkov, V.A. Sukhov, V.V. Shakhov, A.K. Shikhov. Historical development and theory of insurance are reflected in works of K.G. Voblogo, B.G. Dansky, K. Marx, V.I. Lenin, V.K. Reicher, M.I. Reitman, M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky. Research on a number of important issues of state regulation of the insurance market would be impossible without an in-depth acquaintance with the works of foreign researchers such as: J.M. Keynes, P. Samuelson, M. Friedman, S. Fisher, R. Dornbusch, R. Shmalenzi, D. .Norta.

Chapter 1. Problems and prospects for the development of the insurance services market.

1.1. Insurance as one of the important factors in ensuring the stability of the country’s socio-economic development

The participation of insurance in the system of state regulation of socio-economic processes has a dual nature. The specificity of insurance is that it is both an object and a subject of government regulation. This means that, on the one hand, insurance is regulated by the state and operates within the framework of both general and specific rules that apply only to the insurance industry. On the other hand, insurance is an element of state regulation of socio-economic processes and ensuring the sustainability of production and consumption.

These phenomena are two sides of the same process, closely interconnected: state regulation of insurance activities directs the development of insurance in a way that seems most appropriate to the state in terms of its influence on other macroeconomic and social phenomena. And on the contrary, for the effective use of insurance in regulating socio-economic processes, a well-established mechanism for influencing insurance itself is necessary. Any decision made by the state in the field of insurance must be assessed both from the position of the insurance market (that is, in accordance with its immediate result in the field of regulation of insurance activities), and taking into account its further impact on the economy as a whole, as well as its social effect.

As an anti-cyclical (anti-crisis) regulator, insurance is important because, firstly, it itself is a natural, purely market stabilizer of the economy. It ensures the continuity of production and consumption and the stability of the functioning of the financial and credit system. In addition, insurance companies provide a relatively constant influx of investment resources into the economy, which is favorable for economic growth.

Another important aspect of government regulation is the regional redistribution of resources. This corresponds to one of the essential features of insurance - the territorial distribution of damage, that is, insurance itself, without the participation of the state, partially redistributes the resources of prosperous regions in favor of disadvantaged ones that have suffered from various disasters and catastrophes.

No less important is the role of insurance in regulating the social sphere. In a market economy, the main principle of regulating social guarantees using insurance is as follows: the minimum is provided by compulsory types of insurance (the basis is medical), and voluntary insurance provides the citizen with additional insurance protection (the basis is voluntary life insurance).

Regulation of social guarantees through insurance has a number of advantages over the budgetary one: strictly targeted use of insurance fund funds is achieved, there is no deepening of the budget deficit, and therefore acceleration of inflation processes, from which the least protected categories of citizens primarily suffer. In addition, insurance guarantees individual, targeted social support to each citizen, and at his request, in accordance with his financial capabilities, compulsory insurance can be supplemented with voluntary insurance.

The use of insurance in the implementation of state social programs has not only social, but also macroeconomic significance. By regulating the welfare of citizens through insurance, the state ensures that a certain level of consumer demand is maintained. And as you know, the effective demand of the population is one of the main factors in the development of a market economy.

This applies to the greatest extent to health insurance, since among other types of insurance it has the greatest social role, and the entire healthcare system is built on its basis in developed countries. No less important is the insurance of annuities, pensions, benefits and other payments to socially vulnerable categories of citizens. In developed countries, cultural objects (historical and cultural monuments, objects of art, etc.) are also subject to insurance protection; this is of great importance in the field of humanitarian relations.

An important place in the regulation of macroeconomic processes is occupied by the investment activities of insurers. Directions for investing insurers' funds in all countries are subject to strict government regulation. In countries where the insurance market is the largest source of investment, these regulations are important for regulating demand in the financial asset market.

For example, the requirement to place insurance reserve funds in government securities has a double meaning. On the one hand, the purpose of such a rule is to maintain the solvency of the insurer: by investing in highly reliable government securities, the insurer ensures the return and profitability of its investments. That is, ultimately, with this norm, the state ensures that the insurer will timely and fully fulfill its obligations to policyholders, and therefore ensures the continuity of the reproduction process at the micro- and macro-level. On the other hand, with this norm the state influences the market of financial assets. By obliging insurers to invest in government securities, the state ensures a stable demand for them and facilitates their placement. Thus, the movement of public debt, and, consequently, other macroeconomic processes associated with it, partially depends on the state of the insurance market and the volume of formed insurance reserves.

Such types of insurance as deposit insurance, insurance of agricultural enterprises and others may also have important regulatory significance. In general, absolutely all areas of activity of insurers and all types of insurance have a regulatory impact on the economy.

The use of insurance to regulate socio-economic processes requires a high level of development of the insurance business in the country. Mandatory conditions are the formation and stability of the insurance market, the smoothness and efficiency of insurance supervision, and a high level of insurance culture among consumers of insurance services. In addition, it should be taken into account that the insurance market reacts sensitively to all negative macroeconomic phenomena (inflation, low level of effective demand from enterprises and the population, etc.), and this also complicates its use for the purposes of government regulation.

Thus, the presence of an effective system of state regulation of the insurance business is a necessary condition for the use of insurance as an economic regulator.

However, the domestic insurance market is developing dynamically, and with its development, the regulatory potential of insurance also increases. Therefore, Russia has great prospects in the field of using insurance as a socio-economic regulator, subject to general economic stabilization.

The Russian insurance market today needs not only state regulation, but also state support. It should be a system of decisions made at the highest level of legislative and executive power, aimed at creating favorable conditions for the work of domestic insurance companies and developing a system of state insurance supervision. In addition, it is necessary to develop state targeted programs for the development of certain types of insurance that have the greatest economic and social significance.

1.2 Analysis of the main factors determining the intensity of competition among insurance companies

The main stage of analyzing competition in the insurance market is assessing the degree of exposure of the market to competition processes based on an analysis of the main factors determining the intensity of competition.

Since the competitive environment is formed not only under the influence of the struggle of intra-industry competitors, to analyze competition in the market in accordance with M. Porter’s model, the following groups of factors are taken into account:

· rivalry among operators competing in a given market (“central ring”) - the situation in the industry;

· competition from services that are substitutes - the impact of substitute services;

· the threat of the emergence of new competitors - the influence of potential competitors;

· consumer positions, their economic capabilities - the influence of buyers.

Each of the competitive forces under consideration can have a different impact on the situation in the industry, both in direction and in significance, and their total impact ultimately determines the characteristics of competition in the industry, the profitability of the industry, the company’s place in the market and its success.

The main factors determining the level of competition in the industry, combined into groups, as well as signs of their manifestation are presented in Table 1.2.1

Table 2.1.1. Competition factors in the insurance market

Competition factors

Signs of manifestation of factors in the market

1. Industry situation

Number and power of insurance companies competing in the market

There is a group of insurance companies equal in power or there is one or more insurance companies that are clearly superior in power to the one under study.

Change in effective demand

The main factors influencing the state of the insurance market: The growing unprofitability of voluntary medical insurance due to a sharp increase in the number of applications from the insured, as well as against the backdrop of lower tariffs; Implementation of programs by large insurers to create their own medical institutions and clinics; Contraction of the credit segment of insurance from NS due to a sharp reduction in lending volumes; Reducing the volume of state support in agricultural risk insurance; A sharp, in some cases unjustified, reduction in rates on the corporate insurance market; A decrease in car sales and a general decrease in insurance penetration against the backdrop of low effective demand were reflected in the fall of the auto insurance market in the 1st quarter; Maintaining low rates of premium growth due to the crisis; Lack of tax incentives; Uncertainty regarding the replacement of licensing with imputed liability insurance.

The degree of standardization of the insurance product offered on the market tends to increase competition. Indeed, when each manufacturer offers its own product model or its own set of services intended for one market segment, competition is reduced to a minimum. And, on the contrary, when all manufacturers produce homogeneous products intended equally for all consumers, competition between them is high. Of course, these are extreme cases. In practice, products in any market are differentiated to one degree or another, which does not eliminate competition, but only somewhat reduces the degree of competition.

The costs of switching a client from one insurer to another, especially with significant volumes of after-sales service, can to some extent reduce the level of competition threatening the insurance company. Indeed, pre-determined features of the supplied product may make it unprofitable or simply impossible to invite a third party to provide after-sales service.

Market exit barriers work towards increasing competition in the market. If switching to another industry market or exiting a given area of ​​business is associated with significant costs, then it is natural to expect greater persistence of firms being forced out of the market in the struggle for their positions.

Barriers to market penetration are closely related to the previous factor and act in exactly the opposite direction, that is, increasing barriers helps reduce competition and vice versa. This is due to the need for significant investments, the need to acquire special knowledge and qualifications, etc. The higher the differentiation by type of insurance product and other factors, the higher the penetration barriers. In this case, existing insurance companies have advantages over newly emerging competitors due to their prestige and experience.

The strategies of competing insurance companies operating in the market are examined in order to identify the differences and commonalities of the competitors' strategic objectives. Thus, if most insurance companies adhere to the same strategy, then the level of competition increases. On the contrary, if most companies follow different strategies, the level of competition is relatively reduced.

The attractiveness of the market for a given product significantly determines the level of competition. For example, a sharp increase in demand causes a rapid influx of competitors. Now let's look at how the influence of potential competitors affects the level of competition in the industry.

The seriousness of this threat depends on the magnitude of the barriers, that is, the difficulties and costs that a “newcomer” has to overcome in comparison with the “old-timers” of the industry.

An analysis of the factors and conditions influencing the insurance market showed that

main factors influencing the state of the insurance market: the growing unprofitability of voluntary medical insurance due to a sharp increase in the number of applications from the insured, as well as against the backdrop of lower tariffs; implementation by large insurers of programs to create their own medical institutions and clinics; Contraction of the credit segment of insurance from NS due to a sharp reduction in lending volumes; reduction in the volume of state support in agricultural risk insurance; a sharp, in some cases unjustified, reduction in rates on the corporate insurance market; a decline in car sales and a general decline in insurance penetration against the backdrop of low effective demand were reflected in the fall of the auto insurance market in the 1st quarter; continued low growth rate of premiums due to the crisis; lack of tax incentives.

Research of competitors in the insurance market based on the results of the first half of 2009 shows that direct competitors in the insurance market are universal market insurers. In a number of Russian regions, companies compete both with branches of the largest insurers and with strong regional insurance organizations.

In the priority market segment for most insurers - voluntary insurance other than life insurance and compulsory motor liability insurance, competitors are insurance companies: SOGAZ, Rosgosstrakh, RESO-Garantiya, Alfastrakhovanie. Segmentation in Fig. 2.1.1

Rice. Fig.2.1.1

In the segment of property insurance for business entities and individuals, including transport, competitors are Rosgosstrakh, SOGAZ, RESO-Garantiya, Alfastrakhovanie - Fig. 2.1.2

The competitive advantages of insurance companies in this type of insurance are: experience of working with large enterprises, a wide network of branches and representative offices, including outside Russia, a strong system of reinsurance protection, including in foreign reinsurance markets, the presence of an agent network throughout the territory RF, high-quality service in the field of loss settlement, including completeness and timeliness of payments, which in crisis conditions allows us to attract a large number of clients seeking reliable insurance protection.

OSAGO - Compulsory civil liability insurance for vehicle owners. The main competitors in this market are Rosgosstrakh, RESO-Garantiya, ROSNO and Spasskie Vorota - Fig. 2.1.3

The rating is based on marketing research data from the TOP-EXPERT agency, including the criterion - the volume of insurance premiums for the period under study (January-June 2009). The top three include: Ingosstrakh with a premium volume of 23 billion rubles; SOGAZ – 22.5; RESO – 15.2 billion. For the most part, the first places are occupied by companies that actively operate in the retail insurance products market segment, the main clients of which are individuals. But the exception is the SOGAZ group, which specializes exclusively in insuring large clients in the oil, gas and energy industries.

1.3. The role of marketing activities in the insurance business

In modern conditions in our country, the number of accidents and disasters increases annually due to increased wear and tear and disruption of the operation of technical facilities, the lack of necessary measures to prevent them, and the lack of effective systems for combating the negative consequences of natural phenomena.

By providing protection against the consequences of unforeseen events (accidents, disasters, natural disasters, etc.), insurance acts as a means of ensuring the continuity of social production, like a market one. damage compensation mechanism. Insurance companies also form reserves for preventive measures, which finance work to prevent insured events and reduce risk.

In addition, by concluding an agreement with a client, the insurance company receives medium- and long-term financial resources at its disposal, which are invested in order to generate income. The insurer's investments must meet the requirements of diversification, return, profitability and liquidity. As investment objects, insurers, as a rule, choose those that provide not speculative, but guaranteed income, and are not associated with increased risk (state and municipal securities, bank deposits, etc.). Thus, in the person of insurance companies, the country's economic system acquires a stable investor, providing a steady influx of long-term investments.

In order to achieve a more complete use of the insurance institution to meet the needs of the national economy for insurance protection and investment resources, in order to increase the rate of insurance coverage of potential objects, an effective system of interaction between insurance companies and clients is needed - insurance marketing. The subject of research in insurance marketing is supply and demand of the insurance market.

The insurance market is a special sphere of relations that mediate the process of buying and selling a specific product - an insurance service. The specificity of the insurance service is that it is both consumer and financial. Therefore, insurance marketing

Insurance falls into the category of consumer goods and services due to the fact that its buyers (insured) are citizens and legal entities. who purchase this service for their own non-productive consumption. The purpose of insurance is to compensate for damage or unexpected expenses resulting from the occurrence of insured events. The policyholder spends part of his income on paying insurance premiums, that is, he refuses other alternative ways of using it (purchasing other goods and services, saving).

Insurance also applies to financial services, since in the process of its implementation there is a redistribution of financial resources. Clients' money, temporarily at the disposal of the insurer in the form of insurance reserves, is brought to the financial market as investment resources in order to generate income. The client may be paid additional income - an insurance bonus (part of the insurer's profit). In developed countries, insurance is a financial service. successfully competes with other services (banking, pension fund services, etc.).

The purpose of marketing insurance as a consumer service is to satisfy the client's need for insurance protection. The purpose of marketing insurance as a financial service is to optimize the movement of financial resources of insurers and policyholders, that is, in addition to the actual insurance activity, it also affects financial activities. In a narrow sense, insurance marketing is that part of marketing activity that is directly related to the sale of insurance projects.

A feature of the reproduction cycle in insurance is the fact that the sale of insurance services precedes its production. There is always a time interval between payment of the cost of a service and the production of the service itself, during which the funds received by the insurer are accumulated in insurance reserves. First, the client, in exchange for the paid insurance premium, acquires insurance protection, but its material expression - the insurance payment - he will receive only after the occurrence of the insured event.

The provision of insurance services is probabilistic in nature. The insurer's client receives an insurance payment if an event specified in the contract occurs, the occurrence of which is assessed with a certain probability. The client may not receive compensation at all (if the insured event did not occur), but the service is still considered provided, and paid insurance premiums are not refunded. The need for insurance in most cases is not realized by the potential buyer of the insurance service. Unlike the needs for food, clothing, housing, medical care, and labor for enterprises, insurance ranks one of the last places in the hierarchy of needs. With a low level of solvency, the client does not want to spend money on insurance if his more important needs are not fully satisfied. Until the insured event has occurred, there is no need for compensation for damage from it. Therefore, insurers are forced to conduct propaganda and explanatory work , clearly explain to the client his need for compensation for unforeseen damage, and therefore for insurance. In other words, the insurer solves the problem of transferring the client’s needs for insurance from the category of unconscious to conscious.

This is achieved subject to a number of conditions:

First, the insurance company must have an established sales system, the basis of which is well-trained salespeople. Insurance product sellers can be either full-time company employees or insurance intermediaries.

Relations arising during the purchase and sale of an insurance product are based on the interaction between the insurance company (represented by its representative) and the policyholder, who enter into an insurance agreement and assume the rights and obligations specified in it. In this case, the insurance company is the manufacturer of the insurance product, and the policyholder is the buyer. The end consumers of the insurance product can be both policyholders and insured persons and beneficiaries.

In modern conditions, the sale of insurance products directly by the insurance company to the policyholder (the so-called direct sales method) is not predominant. There is a connecting link between producers and consumers of insurance services - insurance intermediaries. They can act both on behalf of and by. on behalf of the insurer (insurance agents) and on behalf of the policyholder (insurance brokers). Both agents and brokers solve one problem - achieving a balance of interests of the insurer and the policyholder when concluding an insurance contract, taking into account their own economic interest - receiving a commission. The insurance agent acts as a market participant from the supply side, that is, the interests of the insurer are a priority for him. An insurance broker acts on the demand side; the client’s interests are his priority.

Secondly, the client must be offered an insurance product that is legally correctly developed and necessarily takes into account the needs of the client, and can also be easily supplemented with related insurance products (for example, car insurance is supplemented by civil liability insurance for the car owner, tourist insurance in case of sudden illnesses and accidents is supplemented by luggage insurance and so on.). The salesman's efforts will be ineffective if the product is not attractive to the customer, unless he has a corresponding insurable interest.

Thirdly, to successfully attract customers, a positive company image is necessary. The client perceives favorably information about the good financial condition of the company, the size of the authorized capital, the presence of large and well-known enterprises among the company’s shareholders and clients, and the company’s participation in reinsurance operations. number and qualifications of personnel, etc. The client’s decision on insurance is negatively affected by the company’s informational secrecy (if the company refuses to provide the client with information that cannot be a trade secret of the insurer - balance sheet data, audit report, license, etc. ). Thus, insurance marketing includes activities related to studying the needs of potential policyholders, studying the competitive environment, developing (based on the results of these studies) and introducing insurance products, as well as systems for their sale, creating and operating the necessary intermediary network and infrastructure.

From a legal point of view, the participation of potential policyholders in concluding insurance contracts is limited only by their legal and legal capacity. Demand is stimulated by the requirement for certain groups of insurers to necessarily insure certain risks prescribed by laws or other regulations (compulsory and “compulsory-voluntary” insurance).

From an economic point of view, demand is limited by the solvency of potential policyholders. In conditions of low incomes of the population and a shortage of financial resources for an enterprise, insurance costs are one of the last places. And, on the contrary, in a favorable economic environment, the share of insurance costs increases.

Demand can be divided into corporate and individual. Corporate is presented by enterprises, and individual - by individuals. The division is very conditional, since under the same contract, often the policyholder (payer of contributions) is a legal entity, and the insured or beneficiary (ultimate recipient of the service) is an individual. In developed countries, most insurance contracts are concluded by individuals; in our country, on the contrary, most insurance products are aimed at corporate clients.

The study of consumer demand in insurance involves the use of methods such as a statistical study of the income and expenses of potential policyholders (their size, structure, dynamics), surveys, testing and questionnaires, collection and analysis of information obtained during the work of insurance agents (the reasons for clients’ refusals to services offered and wishes in the field of changing insurance conditions, needs and insurance interests of the client identified during contact with the agent, etc.).

The image of the insurance industry as a whole is positively affected by regularly held annual exhibitions "Insurance", "insurance rendezvous", conferences, seminars, the release of periodical insurance publications and insurance sections in general economic publications, the publication of special literature on insurance, etc.

Factors of demand for insurance are:

· the number of potential policyholders and insurance objects (demand is directly dependent on it);

· income of potential policyholders (direct dependence);

· cost of alternative risk management mechanisms, incl. self-insurance, risk transfer, etc. (inverse relationship);

· for long-term life insurance - prices for similar services of savings banks, non-state pension funds and other competitors of insurance companies (inverse relationship);

· taxation of insurance premiums and payments (preferential taxation stimulates demand);

· existence of requirements of laws, other regulations, contracts (for example, lease) to insure a certain group of objects (direct dependence);

· inflationary expectations (decrease in demand);

· bank interest rate (direct relationship: the higher the cost of resources, the higher the attractiveness of insurance).

The study of supply in the insurance market (study of the competitive environment) is carried out in two main ways:

1) analysis of published statistical and analytical materials on the state of the market

2) use of own sources of information.

The first method is cheaper, the second allows you to obtain more complete and specific information in the necessary areas. The optimal research option is a combination of both methods.

The offer of insurance services is determined by insurers - legal entities that have received the right to carry out insurance activities in accordance with the procedure established by law. The volume and structure of supply are largely influenced by competition between insurers, the level of costs of conducting insurance business and other factors. characterizing the situation in the insurance market of a particular country in a particular period of time.

As in other sectors of the economy, competition among insurers can be price-based (reducing insurance rates) and non-price (providing better insurance conditions). Price competition (cheaper insurance services) is carried out due to the tariff burden (that is, the insurer’s expenses for conducting business and implementing measures to prevent insured events, as well as the insurer’s profit margin included in the tariff). The net rate (part of the insurance premiums that finance the payment of insurance claims) can serve as a source of reduction in rates only if the insurance company is very large, is in an advantageous market position and can provide a better spatial and temporal distribution of damage among a large number of policyholders . A reduction in the net rate (compared to the market average) by small companies for the purpose of dumping, market capture, etc. is unacceptable, since it may result in the insurer’s inability to fulfill its obligations and its bankruptcy.

Non-price factors of insurance market supply are:

· number of insurers (direct dependence);

average market costs for doing business and commission rates (inverse relationship)

· structure and financial condition of the market (capacity of insurance and

· reinsurance markets, the state of insurance portfolios of companies.

· size of insurers' own funds, level of capital concentration)

· unprofitability of types of insurance (inverse relationship), degree of risk inverse relationship), profitability and profitability of insurance operations (direct relationship)

· taxation of insurance organizations;

return on investment of insurance companies

Researching demand in the insurance market requires the presence in the structure of an insurance company of a specialized marketing service that assesses the contingent of potential policyholders and their needs for insurance services. If the demand for insurance services begins to fall, the management of the insurer's marketing service must identify the reasons for the decline and take appropriate measures aimed at eliminating them. Insurer marketing includes the following main elements:

· study of potential policyholders;

· studying the motives of a potential client when concluding an insurance contract;

· analysis of the insurance company market itself;

· product research (type of insurance services);

· analysis of forms and channels for promoting insurance services from the insurer to the potential client;

· studying competitors, determining the forms and level of competition;

· determining the most effective ways to promote insurance services from the insurer to the potential client.

Study of policyholders. As part of this analysis, the structure of consumer preferences is determined, i.e. tastes and habits of people, their reactions to certain types of insurance services. The management of the insurance company must know who the people are who prefer to be insured.

Studying the motives of a potential client when concluding an insurance contract. The main question to be answered is why policyholders prefer this type of insurance. As part of the analysis of the motives of behavior of policyholders, not only their tastes and habits are studied, but also customs and inclinations of behavior (stereotype of thinking), which makes it possible to predict the behavioral characteristics of certain social groups of policyholders for the future and carry out an adequate insurance policy.

To date, foreign experience shows a sufficient arsenal of means for studying the motive of behavior of policyholders, their conscious and subconscious reactions to a specific insurance product. Foreign marketing practice in insurance uses a system of special tests, questionnaires, questionnaires that make it possible to judge the motivation of policyholders in various social groups and, on this basis, maintain feedback of the “policyholder - insurer” type. The correct use of data obtained from studying the motives of behavior of policyholders allows the management of the insurance company to adequately respond to the situation developing in the insurance market.

Insurance company market analysis. Typically, such an analysis is carried out for one or more similar types of insurance to determine the potential market capacity for certain insurance services. As part of the market analysis, distribution by individual regions is given. As a result of the market analysis, the management of the insurance company must find out where (in which regions) it is most profitable to carry out certain types of insurance. The results of the analysis are closely linked to the level of effective demand of the population. Inattention to these issues can leave the insurer without a market, which in a free economic space is tantamount to bankruptcy.

Insurance product research. This study, on the one hand, shows the management of the insurance company what the policyholder wants to have in relation to the specific terms of the insurance contract, and on the other hand, how to provide potential clients with new insurance products, who to target advertising by explaining the content of the terms of the insurance contract. Western practice recommends adhering to the following rule: in all cases, the insurance contract should go to the place where the potential policyholder is most waiting for it and therefore is most likely to conclude it.

The most common mistake of insurers is their confidence (or rather, self-confidence) that policyholders are just waiting to be made happy with new types of insurance. In many cases this is far from the case. Very often, the insurer must prove (sometimes more than once and for more than one year) to the potential policyholder the advantage of a newly developed type of insurance. When this circumstance is taken into account most carefully and the insurer begins to make appropriate adjustments to the organization of advertising and informing policyholders about the merits of the types of insurance services offered, there is reason to count on major financial success of the undertaking.

Analysis of the forms and channels for promoting insurance services from the insurer to a potential client includes the study of the functions and features of the activities of the insurer's intermediaries, the nature of the existing relationships with policyholders.

Studying competitors, determining the forms and level of competition. Here, first of all, it is necessary to identify the main competitors of this insurance company in the market, to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Information is collected and systematized on various aspects of the activities of competing insurers: financial situation, insurance rates in a particular market, features of insurance business management. As a rule, the results of the study are recorded in special information dossiers.

In practical work on analyzing the activities of competing insurance companies, the compilation of special analytical tables characterizing the offer of a specific insurance product by certain insurers is also used.

Taking into account the stated elements of marketing, a general marketing strategy for the insurance company is being developed.

The marketing service of the insurance company also carries out work on segmentation of the insurance market. Organization of marketing in the insurance business can be carried out by type of insurance or by geographic area of ​​clientele service. For this purpose, a marketing information system is used. This is a constantly operating system of relationships between people, equipment and methodological techniques for collecting, classifying, analyzing, evaluating and distributing relevant and reliable information for the optimal selection and implementation of marketing activities. The most effective marketing information system is created using computer technology. The most promising direction is the creation of automated jobs using personal computers, using various economic-mathematical and economic-statistical methods.

Based on the collected and processed information, a scientifically developed concept for analyzing and taking into account the requirements of policyholders (both individuals and legal entities) is created. Typically, in practice, a sales system of the type “insurance product (conditions of an insurance contract of this type) - stimulation of the conclusion of insurance contracts (including advertising) - insurance market” is used. This system is most suitable for conditions when supply and demand for insurance services are in relative equilibrium or when supply slightly exceeds demand. A situation is created in the market in which the required types and conditions of insurance are constantly available in the form of offers from insurers. The task of intermediaries and insurer personnel is to implement a number of measures in order to interest the policyholder and encourage him to conclude an insurance contract of a certain type with a given insurance company, and not with competitors. The insurer's marketing information system is not closed, but logically connected and developing as if in a spiral, i.e. with the repetition and continuity of its elements, their qualitatively new, more advanced level is assumed.

Practical marketing of the insurer is based on the following basic principles:

· in-depth study of the insurance market;

· segmentation of the insurance market (separation of sectors of personal and property insurance);

· flexible response to policyholders' questions;

· innovation (continuous improvement of modification, adaptation of insurance products to market requirements).

In the activities of foreign insurance companies, there are two main types of marketing: those focused on the insurance product and those focused on the policyholder, predetermined groups of potential clients. Each of these types is aimed at one of the two main components that ensure the flow of funds into the insurance fund - the insurance product or the potential policyholder.

An insurance company, in cooperation with insurance brokers and agents, has the opportunity to put into practice a number of ways to increase the competitiveness of insurance services and increase its share in the insurance market. One of the most common is segmentation of the insurance market, i.e. identifying a group of policyholders, insurance services or insurers that have certain common characteristics. For example, among policyholders, segmentation can be carried out based on geographic and demographic characteristics, income level, etc. Typically, geographic segmentation of the insurance market is built on a regional basis (republic, region, territory, city, district, prefecture). Demographic segmentation takes into account that the gender and age parameters of policyholders are easy to classify and quantify. The main variables in the demographic analysis are age, gender, family size, and income level. These market segment parameters can be combined in certain ways to form combined parameters. If we take as simple variables to segment the insurance market by demographics four age categories, three by family size, and three more by income level, then by combining them in various ways, we can ultimately identify 36 market segments. By analyzing additional information on them, you can assess the importance of each of these segments for the insurance company.

The demographic parameters of insurance market segmentation acquire the greatest value only in combination with each other. In Western practice, more and more attention has recently been paid to psychogeographic segmentation. Factors such as lifestyle and personal qualities of policyholders more accurately characterize the possible reaction of the insurer's clients to the insurance services offered.

Traditionally, in Western insurance practice, three methods are used to promote insurance services from the insurer to potential clients: extensive, exclusive and selective.

The meaning of the extensive method of promoting insurance services is to use any insurance company intermediaries who are able to issue one or more insurance contracts of this type. The exclusive method of promoting insurance services is through the interaction of an insurance company with one general insurance agent, who is granted the exclusive right to conclude insurance contracts on behalf of and on behalf of the insurance company in a given geographic region. The selective method of promoting insurance services involves the interaction of an insurance company with two or more general insurance agents on behalf of and on behalf of the insurance company in a given geographic region.

As noted above, the needs for insurance services are not among the most important, therefore, in insurance marketing it is not only about studying, but also about generating demand. In order for disposable income to be distributed among other areas and for insurance, a number of conditions are necessary, the most important of which, along with solvency, are the client’s awareness of insurance, the level of economic thinking and insurance culture.

1.3. Regulatory and legal framework of the insurance services market of the Russian Federation

To date, the Russian Federation has created a mechanism for registering insurance organizations, licensing insurance operations and control by insurance supervision. It is designed to ensure that in the competition, insurance organizations do not cross the line when the interests of policyholders may suffer. It is unacceptable to reduce the tariff to a level that reduces the financial stability of the insurer; in investing, preference is given to, although not the most profitable, but reliable objects.

The combination of competition and government regulation of the insurance business is also necessary to stimulate its development in areas where there is no hope for significant profits (crop insurance, environmental risks, etc.).

The activities of insurance organizations and the basic concepts of insurance are determined by the Law of the Russian Federation of November 27, 1992 No. 4015-1 as amended by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation of December 10, 2003 No. 172-FZ “On the organization of insurance business in the Russian Federation” (with subsequent amendments and additions ) and other documents.

Chapter 48 of the second part of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is devoted to insurance. The activities of insurance organizations are subject to mandatory audits. Associations of insurers acquire the rights of legal entities after state registration with the Department of the Ministry of Finance of Russia for supervision of insurance activities.

As stated above, insurance activities in the Russian Federation are subject to licensing. The conditions for licensing insurance activities on the territory of the Russian Federation were approved by order of Rosstrakhnadzor dated May 19, 1994 No. 02-02/08. Licensing of insurance operations of insurers operating on the territory of the Russian Federation is mandatory and is carried out by the Department of Insurance Supervision of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The Department of Insurance Supervision of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is also entrusted with the development of relevant methodological and regulatory documents, generalization of the practice of applying insurance legislation, development of proposals for its application, protection of the interests of policyholders in the event of bankruptcy of insurance organizations or their liquidation for other reasons.

The activities of insurance organizations and mutual insurance companies (insurers) related to the formation of special monetary funds (insurance reserves) necessary for upcoming insurance payments are subject to licensing. Activities related to assessing insurance risks, determining the amount of damage, the amount of insurance payments, and other consulting and research activities in the field of insurance do not require obtaining a license in accordance with the licensing conditions.

To obtain a license, a registered insurer must submit the following documents: a three-year insurance operations development program, including the types and volumes of planned operations, maximum liability for individual risk, conditions for organizing reinsurance protection; insurance rules or conditions by type of operation; certificates from banks or other institutions confirming the presence of an authorized capital, reserve or similar funds; statistical substantiation of the applied system of tariffs, rates and reserves.

The Department of Insurance Supervision is obliged to issue a license within 60 days from the date of receipt of all necessary documents or, in case of refusal to issue a license, to inform the insurance organization of the reasons for the refusal within the same period.

If the financial stability of insurance operations is not ensured, the Department of Insurance Supervision may require the insurance organization to increase the size of their funds in rubles and foreign currency, depending on the types, volume and currency of insurance operations. When making decisions on refusal, suspension and cancellation of licenses, the Department is guided by the conclusion of an expert commission with the mandatory involvement of the licensed organization. A special fee is charged to the insurer for issuing a license.

If an insurance organization does not comply with the issued instructions and does not eliminate violations discovered by inspections, the Department of Insurance Supervision has the right to temporarily suspend the validity of issued licenses, limit their validity, cancel licenses or make a decision to completely terminate the activities of the insurance organization. State supervision of insurance activities is carried out in order to comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on insurance, the effective development of insurance services, and the protection of the rights and interests of policyholders, insurers, other interested parties and the state. Insurance supervision must be carried out on the principles of legality, transparency and organizational unity.

The main functions of the federal executive body for supervision of insurance activities are:

· issuing licenses to insurers to carry out insurance activities;

· maintaining a unified State register of insurers and associations of insurers, as well as a register of insurance brokers;

· control over the validity of insurance rates and ensuring the solvency of insurers;

· establishing rules for the formation and placement of insurance reserves, indicators and forms for recording insurance operations and reporting on insurance activities;

· development of normative and methodological documents on issues of insurance activities that are legally within the competence of the federal executive body for supervision of insurance activities;

· generalization of the practice of insurance activities, development and submission in the prescribed manner of proposals for the development and improvement of the legislation of the Russian Federation on insurance.

The federal executive body for supervision of insurance activities has the right to:

· receive from insurers established reporting on insurance activities, information on their financial position,

· receive information necessary to perform the functions assigned to it from enterprises, institutions and organizations, including banks, as well as from citizens;

· carry out checks of compliance by insurers with the legislation of the Russian Federation on insurance and the reliability of the reports they submit;

· when identifying violations of legal requirements by insurers, give them instructions to eliminate them, and in case of failure to comply with the instructions, suspend or limit the licenses of these insurers until the identified violations are eliminated or make decisions to revoke the licenses;

· apply to the arbitration court with a claim for the liquidation of the insurer in the event of repeated violations by the latter of the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as for the liquidation of enterprises and organizations providing insurance without licenses.

Prevention, limitation and suppression of monopolistic activities and unfair competition in the insurance market is ensured by the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Antimonopoly Policy and Support of New Economic Structures in accordance with the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation.

Prospects for the development of the insurance market in the Russian Federation are set out in the Concept of Insurance Development in the Russian Federation, which was approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated September 25, 2002 No. 1361-r. This Concept is aimed at creating an effective system of insurance protection of property interests of citizens and legal entities in the Russian Federation.

According to this concept, the main objectives for the development of the insurance business are:

· formation of the legislative framework for the insurance services market;

· development of compulsory and voluntary types of insurance;

· creation of an effective mechanism for state regulation and supervision of insurance activities;

· encouraging the transfer of household savings into long-term investments using long-term life insurance mechanisms;

· gradual integration of the national insurance system with the international insurance market.

According to the Concept, “problems of development of the insurance market should become the object of attention of the authorities exercising control over insurance activities in the insurance services market and antimonopoly regulation.

For the effective functioning of the insurance services market, it is necessary to create equal conditions for the activities of all insurance organizations on the territory of the Russian Federation. For these purposes, it is necessary to ensure:

· strengthening control over the actions of government bodies at all levels that limit competition in the insurance market;

· development of a system for holding open competitions for insurance organizations attracted to provide insurance at the expense of budgetary funds;

· monitoring the activities of insurance organizations that occupy a dominant position and impede access to the market of other insurance organizations;

· state control over the concentration of capital in the insurance market;

· improving the forms of statistical accounting and reporting of insurance organizations, including for the purpose of analyzing the competitive environment in the federal and regional markets for insurance services and determining the dominant position of insurance organizations in such markets.

An important condition for competition in financial services markets should be the exclusion of state participation in the authorized capital of insurers.

Chapter 2. Analysis of insurance activities organizations.

2.1. Comprehensive economic analysis of the activities of the insurance organization "RESO-Garantia"

2.1.1. Information about the company

Open insurance joint-stock company "RESO-Garantiya" was founded in 1991. This is a universal insurance company with a license for 102 types of insurance services (licenses of the Federal Insurance Supervision Service S No. 1209 77, P No. 1209 77).

Authorized capital RUB 3,100,000,000.

RESO-Garantiya is an agency company with over 19 thousand agents. The branch network is one of the largest in Russia and includes more than 900 branches and sales offices in all regions of Russia. RESO-Garantiya products and services are used by about 5 million clients - organizations and individuals.

RESO-Garantiya's partners in reinsurance programs are Hannover Re, SCOR, Munich Re, Swiss Re, and Lloyd's syndicates.

In 2007, RESO-Garantiya was recognized as the winner of the national competition "People's Brand/Brand No. 1 in Russia." In the same year, the company was assigned an individual NRA reliability rating: “AAA” - the maximum level of reliability." In November 2008, RESO-Garantiya entered the top 40 of the list "The Best Russian Brands 2008".

RESO-Garantiya is a laureate of the country's main insurance award "Golden Salamander", having received a prize in the most honorable nomination - "Company of the Year".

The development of the company over 16 years has led to the creation of a wide network consisting of more than 800 representative offices (branches, agencies and points of sale) located in all regions of the Russian Federation, 94 branches operate in Moscow and the Moscow region, 85 branches in other regions and carry out more 100 types of insurance activities.
The issuer's main activity is insurance activity, which includes all types of voluntary insurance – 89.76% of total income, as well as investment activity – 10.24%.
The main insurance sales market for the issuer in previous years was Moscow and the northwestern regions. With the advent of compulsory civil liability insurance for car owners, the development of the regional network of branches received a powerful impetus, and expansion into the insurance market in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation accelerated. This makes it possible to provide clients in all regions with reliable and modern insurance and service services.
The main competitive conditions for the issuer's activities are increasing insurance volumes by attracting an agent network and developing regional insurance markets, expanding the range of services offered, coupled with a more thorough collection of information about customer needs for the purposes of analysis and forecasting.
The issuer's alleged competitors are insurance companies that, along with the issuer, are included in the group of leaders in Russia in terms of the number of collected insurance premiums (Rosgosstrakh, Ingosstrakh, SOGAZ). Currently, the issuer's competitors in the main types of insurance are: for property insurance - Ingosstrakh, SOGAZ, for personal insurance: insurance companies SOGAZ, Rosgosstrakh.

Over the past year, the company concluded almost 5 million insurance contracts. More than 68% of insurance premiums were brought to the company by individual clients thanks to the RESO agent network - one of the largest and most effective selling structures in Russia.

In total, at the end of 2008, RESO-Garantiya collected 30 billion 382 million rubles in insurance premiums, payments for insured events amounted to 15 billion 723 million rubles. The company concluded 4 million 935 thousand contracts for a total insured amount of more than 8 trillion. rubles

The main focus of the company's work remains auto insurance, including CASCO, OSAGO and voluntary motor third party liability insurance (VLT). Collections for these types amounted to 21 billion 683 million rubles, and payments - 12 billion 183 million rubles.

Thus, more than 312 thousand contracts were concluded for car insurance against theft and damage (CASCO), the fees for which amounted to 14 billion 565 million rubles. 8 billion 354 million rubles were paid out for insured events.

The majority of the CASCO portfolio - 11 billion 838 million rubles in fees and 7 billion 133 million rubles in payments - falls on contracts with individuals.

Under OSAGO, in which the company ranks second in the country, 2 million 40 thousand insurance contracts have been concluded. RESO-Garantiya increased its share in the Russian OSAGO portfolio to 8.5%. 6 billion 802 million rubles in premiums were collected, this is a record figure for the company for the entire existence of OSAGO. 3 billion 761 million rubles were paid for insured events. Including for the policies of individuals, fees amounted to 5 billion 724 million rubles, payments - 3 billion 112 million rubles.

For property insurance (excluding auto CASCO), RESO-Garantiya in 2008 collected 4 billion 52 million rubles in insurance premiums, paying out almost 634 million rubles. Thus, over the year more than 69 thousand apartment insurance contracts were concluded. Total collections amounted to 930 million rubles, payments – 81 million rubles. 104 thousand insurance contracts were concluded for the insurance of dachas and private houses, 604 million rubles were collected, and 126 million rubles were paid to clients for insured events. 63 thousand insurance contracts were concluded to insure household property of citizens. Collections for them amounted to 122 million rubles, payments - almost 13 million rubles. For property insurance of legal entities (excluding auto CASCO), 48.7 thousand contracts were concluded, fees amounted to 2 billion 390 million rubles, payments - 410 million rubles. For personal insurance, RESO-Garantiya concluded almost 1 million 890 thousand contracts, collecting 4 billion 553 million rubles in insurance premiums. 2 billion 840 million rubles were paid for insured events. The main fees for this type of insurance services fall on voluntary health insurance (VHI). During January-December 2008, 3 billion 780 million rubles were collected under it, payments to medical institutions for this period amounted to 2 billion 604 million rubles. To insure the expenses of citizens traveling abroad, 1 million 713 thousand insurance contracts were concluded, 325.2 million rubles of premiums were collected, and 145.8 million rubles were paid. During this period, 407 thousand insurance contracts were concluded for voluntary liability insurance (including civil liability insurance), the fees for which amounted to 406.5 million rubles, and 133.7 million rubles were paid.

Another important area of ​​the company's work is cargo insurance. Last year, more than 23.6 thousand contracts were concluded, 339.4 million rubles in premiums were collected, payments amounted to 29 million rubles.

RESO-Garantiya uses the services of world-famous reinsurance companies: Munich Re, SCOR, Hannover Re, GEFrankona, Kiln Group, Partner Re, Europe Re, Korean Re. RESO-Garantiya is a member of the All-Russian Union of Insurers and the Moscow Association of Insurers. RESO-Garantiya is a member of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA). The company is a member of the National Green Card Bureau. RESO-Garantiya was one of the founders of the National Union of Insurers of Hazardous Objects.

RESO-Garantiya is a member of the Russian pool for insurance of hydraulic structures, the Interregional Association of Insurers for the Protection of Territories and Populations of the Subjects of the Russian Federation from natural and man-made emergencies. The company is accredited by the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending (AHML).

The company participates in the following pools:

· for civil liability insurance of enterprises - sources of increased danger

· for civil liability insurance of shipowners (P&I insurance)

· in the Russian pool for insurance of risks associated with terrorist attacks.

RESO-Garantia is a member of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, accredited by the Moscow Licensing Chamber for Insurance of Realtors, is an associated member of the Association of Russian Automobile Dealers (ROAD) and a member of the Moscow Association of Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Enterprises (MAPTO).

RESO-Garantia is a member of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST) and the Moscow Association of Travel Agencies (MATA). The company is a member of the Russian Corporate Club of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

2.2. Organizational structure of RESO-Garantiya.

The supreme management body of the company is the General Meeting of Shareholders. During the period between meetings, the general management of the company is carried out by the Board of Directors of RESO-GARANTIA. He performs the most important management functions: determines the company's development strategy, sets strategic goals for executive management and controls their implementation, appoints key managers, and improves corporate governance.

The Committees acting as expert bodies of the Board of Directors are the Audit Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the Investment Committee,

formed at the beginning of 2007, which carry out preliminary consideration of the most important issues of the company’s activities and

provide their recommendations to the Council. The active work of the Committees reflects RESO-Garantiya’s desire to continuously improve corporate governance standards and procedures and is an effective tool for communication and interaction between the Board of Directors and the company’s management.

In accordance with generally accepted international standards of corporate governance, the Board of Directors includes independent directors who are highly qualified specialists and have high authority in the professional community. In accordance with world practice, independent members of the Board of Directors are not connected with the company’s activities; their task is to protect the interests of shareholders by making professional judgments on key issues of the company’s development. Independent directors head the Committees of the Board of Directors, which provides additional guarantee to shareholders in protecting their interests when making strategic decisions. One of the key principles of corporate governance of RESO-Garantiya is openness and transparency of the company’s internal procedures and processes for shareholders, business partners, government regulators and personnel. The company regularly informs stakeholders about all aspects of its activities. RESO-Garantiya strictly complies with legal requirements for the publication of information subject to mandatory disclosure. The company promptly responds to media requests, regularly holds press conferences and other open events, the purpose of which is not only to inform all interested parties about its work as widely as possible, but also to regularly receive feedback in order to further improve the corporate governance structure. The Board of Directors evaluates long-term programs and plans developed by the company's divisions, analyzes the investment and financial strategy of the company as a whole, develops recommendations on issues of relations with shareholders and investors, and also gives a preliminary assessment of all major transactions entered into by the company. The main goal of the Board of Directors is to promote increased efficiency of RESO-Garantia in the long term. The company's top management regularly communicates with employees of all back office departments and visits at least 10-15 branches in the regions throughout the year. The heads of all branches also regularly visit the central office. An important additional information channel is the corporate media "RESO Magazine" and "RESO Newspaper", published with a total circulation of 25,000 - 30,000 copies. Corporate publications give everyone the opportunity to get all the information about what is happening in the company first-hand.

Organizational structure "RESO-Garantiya ».

Fig.2.2.1. Management structure of RESO-Garantiya.

The most widely used organizational structure for management in the world is “Leadership by Collaboration”, based on the following principles:

1. Decisions in an insurance company are not made unilaterally, that is, from above, by management alone;

2. Employees of the insurance company are not only guided by the orders of their superiors, but also have their own areas of activity in accordance with their powers and competencies;

3. Responsibility is not concentrated at the top level of management of the organization, it is part of the competence of other employees in the areas of activity.

4. A higher authority in the organizational structure of the insurance company has the right to make those decisions that lower authorities do not have the right to make;

5. The leading principle of the management structure is the delegation of authority and responsibility from top to bottom. This means that each employee is given a certain area of ​​activity, within which he is obliged to act and make decisions independently, as well as bear responsibility for the decisions made. With such an organizational management structure, each employee, regardless of what level he works at, is responsible only for what he did or did not do within the scope of his authority. The boss is responsible for the employee’s mistakes only in cases where he did not fulfill his duties as a manager, that is, if he did not carefully select employees, did not conduct appropriate training with the employees, and did not monitor the actions of his employees. A clear division of responsibility—for leadership and for action—is an important factor in determining who is responsible for errors. Analysis of the activities of employees at all levels is a consideration of the intellectual potential of the insurance company.

2.3 Financial performance of the company

The financial information presented in this section was taken from the official website of RESO-Garantiya Insurance Company - www.reso.ru and reflects the real financial performance of the company.

In 2008, RESO-Garantiya collected 30 billion 382 million rubles. for all types of insurance, due to the crisis, slightly lowering the level of fees for 2007 - 31 billion 575 million rubles. The total amount of insurance payments in 2008 amounted to 15 billion 723 million rubles, an indicator higher than the same in 2007 - 11 billion 725 million rubles. The total collection of bonuses and payments is shown in Fig. 2.3.1.

Fig.2.3.1 Total collection of premiums and total payments, million rubles.

Figure 2.3.2 shows an analysis of the volume of collected insurance premiums by type of insurance, payments of the insured amount and/or insurance compensation made by the issuer for the period 2003-2008.

Rice. 2.3.2. Analysis of the volume of premiums by type of insurance

The lion's share of fees and premiums comes from property insurance of compulsory civil liability; life insurance is gradually falling in the total volume of insurance premiums. Liability insurance for vehicle owners increases every year. In Fig.2.3.3. we see the results of financial and economic activities.

Fig.2.3.3. Financial and economic results activities

Fig.2.3.4. Percentage

Fig.2.3.4. shows the percentage of financial indicators for 2008-2009.

An economic analysis of profitability/unprofitability based on the dynamics of the given indicators reveals information about the reasons that led to the losses/profits reflected in the financial statements as of the end of the reporting quarter in comparison with the same period of the previous period. The share of individual types of insurance in the overall portfolio of insurance services has not changed much, with the exception of life insurance. This is mainly due to the fact that, in accordance with the Law “On the Organization of Insurance Business in Russia”, strict specialization of insurance organizations is being introduced from 01/01/2007. The largest share continues to be attributed to property types of insurance and compulsory insurance of vehicle owners.
Increasing competition among large companies leads to the creation of new insurance products and stimulates the main market participants to reduce costs and improve the quality of management. When carrying out insurance activities, the main cost item is the payment of insurance compensation. Since a significant part of the portfolio is concentrated in the segment of automobile and voluntary medical insurance, the growth of insurance compensation payments is subject, in particular, to the factor of price inflation for auto repair work and medical services. The increase in the cost of these works and services is taken into account in the tariff policy. The total volume of insurance payments for the nine months of 2009 amounted to 13,86,0588 thousand rubles, which is 2,970,872 thousand rubles more than last year. The largest share in the total volume of insurance payments falls on property insurance and compulsory insurance. To overcome the main factors that negatively affect the activities of the Company, the following are used: methods for assessing statistical data, reinsurance, restrictions on the amount and number of insurance contracts concluded, procedures for approving transactions, pricing strategies and constant monitoring of the emergence of new risks.
In pursuance of the Reinsurance Strategy, facultative reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance are used in order to reduce insurance payments under each contract. The Issuer continuously monitors the financial stability of reinsurers and periodically updates its reinsurance agreements. Takes appropriate measures to ensure that seasonal increases in the level of payments (for example, payments under various types of contracts relating to vehicle insurance and liability to third parties in connection with the onset of the winter months with their difficult weather conditions) do not cause significant damage.

Table 2.3.1. Liquidity, capital adequacy and working capital, thousand rubles

Economic analysis of the liquidity and solvency of the issuer based on economic analysis of the dynamics of the given indicators.
The current ratio shows the extent to which current assets cover current liabilities and provides an overall assessment of liquidity. In other words, it shows how many rubles of working capital (current assets) are accounted for by one ruble of current short-term debt (current liabilities).
The excess of current assets over short-term financial liabilities provides a buffer to compensate for losses that an enterprise may incur when placing and liquidating all current assets except cash. The larger the value of this reserve, the greater the confidence of creditors that debts will be repaid. A coefficient of >2 usually satisfies.
In its semantic meaning, the quick liquidity indicator is similar to the current liquidity ratio, however, it is calculated for a narrower range of current assets, when production inventories are excluded from the calculation, as the less liquid part of current assets. A ratio of 0.6-1 is usually satisfactory. However, it may be insufficient if a large share of liquid funds consists of receivables, part of which is difficult to collect in a timely manner. In such cases, a larger ratio is required. If cash and cash equivalents (securities) occupy a significant share of current assets, then this ratio may be smaller.
The correspondence of the current and quick liquidity ratios indicates the predominance of liquid assets in the issuer's current assets, which indicates the issuer's ability to cover its obligations in a short time.
Fluctuations in liquidity ratios are due to significant changes in the volume of current assets.
The dynamics of the given liquidity and solvency indicators indicate the issuer's ability to fulfill short-term obligations and cover current operating expenses.

Based on the results of 2008, it can be noted that the insurance market grew by 17% compared to the same period in 2007 (Fig. 2.3.5.). But it should be noted that the first quarter is traditionally a period for the renegotiation of large insurance contracts, therefore the performance and position of captive companies in the 4th quarter is traditionally higher than that of market insurers. According to RBC-rating, in the first half of the current year 2009, the top three groups of companies in descending order (excluding compulsory medical insurance) included: Rosgosstrakh system (RUB 23,479.60 million), SOGAZ SG (RUB 22,505.87 million ) and RESO group (15229.40 million rubles).

The Federal Insurance Supervision Service (FSSN) reported details of the results of the activities of insurance companies for the first six months of 2009. Earlier, insurance supervision published general data on the insurance market. According to the Federal Insurance Service, in the first half of the year, revenues from insurers without compulsory medical insurance (CHI) decreased by 8% and amounted to 271.76 billion rubles, while payments increased by 19%, to 135.27 billion rubles. Despite the fact that several leading insurers this year reported the acquisition of insurance assets, they, like most large insurers, have seen the growth of payments (excluding compulsory medical insurance) outpace the growth of revenues.

2.4. Analysis of the profit of an insurance company

To analyze the profit of an insurance organization, information for calculation (balance sheet and profit and loss statement) was taken from the official website of RESO-Garantiya. In terms of the number of clients, the company showed good growth - if in the first half of 2008 RESO-Garantiya concluded 2 million 110 thousand insurance contracts with individuals and legal entities, now there are almost 1.6 million more - 3 million 720 thousand

Transformed income statement of RESO-Garantiya for 2008 and 2009. (thousand roubles.).

Indicators

Deviation

1.Insurance premiums (payments)

2. Investment income

3.Receipts from reserves

4.Other income

5.Total income (item 1+item 2+item 3+item 4)

6.Insurance payments

7.Costs of conducting the case

8.Total insurance services (item 6+item 7)

9.Profit from insurance services (clause 1-clause 8)

10. Other expenses

11. Contributions to the reserve fund and other expenses

11. Total expenses (item 6+item 7+ +item 11)

13. Balance sheet profit (clause 5-clause 11)

Table 2.4.1 Converted income statement

As you can see, insurance premiums received decreased by 2965 thousand. rubles This happened under the influence of the following factors: the financial crisis had a significant impact, the average amount of payments under one contract decreased.

As follows from Fig. 2.3.2, the restructuring of the insurance portfolio took place in the direction of increasing property and motor vehicle liability insurance contracts. Balance sheet profit increased by almost 100%, this shows the effective work of RESO-Garantiya. The profit of an insurance company depends on a number of factors presented in table. 2.4.2: total income; income structures (insurance payments, income from financial investments, income from reserves, other income); amounts of insurance services; contributions to reserve funds.

Indicators

Deviation

1.Insurance services

2. Contributions to the reserve fund and other expenses

3.Total expenses (item 1 + item 2)

4.Total amount of income

5. Profit (item 4 - item 3)

6. Profitability (clause 5, clause 3,%)

Data for profit analysis

As you can see, the total amount of insurance services provided decreased in 2009 compared to 2008 by 2,555,652 thousand. rubles or by 12.28%. Despite the financial crisis, income has a slight upward trend, profitability is 1.28%. The most general assessment of the effectiveness of the financial and economic activities of an enterprise is given by a system of profitability ratios. The profitability indicator shows how much percent profit takes up in the assets of the enterprise or how many kopecks of profit are received from each ruble. It should be noted that expenses decreased by 13.28%, while profits almost doubled.

2.5.Analysis of the main factors for increasing the competitiveness of "RESO-Garantia"

The issuer's main existing and proposed competitors in its main activities, including competitors abroad. The main competitors in the retail segment are the Open Joint Stock Company Russian State Insurance Company (Rossgostrakh), the Open Joint Stock Company Ingosstrakh and the Open Joint Stock Company Russian Insurance People's Society ROSNO.

List of competitiveness factors with a description of the degree of their influence on the competitiveness of manufactured products (works, services):

1. Wide sales network, including branches and agencies in all regions of Russia and a network of more than 18,000 agents. The issuer's sales network is the second largest after that of Rossgostrakh and is significantly ahead of the network of competitors.

2. A modern information technology system that allows you to timely monitor changes in margin for each product and take measures to increase it.

3. Highly professional staff with significant experience in insurance.

4. A cost control and budgeting system that allows you to plan activities.

Fundamentally important for a company’s competitiveness in the market is the ratio of price and quality of the insurance product. Quality is a complex property that includes the demand for risk, technical components - the breadth and completeness of insurance coverage, its compliance with the dangers from which the client wants to be protected, as well as the quality of service. An indicator of consumer satisfaction with the price-quality ratio of an insurance product is the client’s consent to purchase the policy. If the policyholder believes that the quality of service offered to him is worth the money requested, then the price-quality ratio is considered favorable and he is likely to buy the policy. Therefore, the task of RESO-Garantiya IJSC is to achieve the highest assessment of this ratio. Competition in the modern insurance market leads to the fact that leading companies offer products that are increasingly similar in quality and range of services provided, so that the difference between them is gradually erased. The most important factor in assessing the quality of a product is the reliability of the insurer. The price of an insurance product is a fairly objective indicator: it is based on the real probability of an insured event and the forecast of losses, as well as the actual costs of the insurer for conducting business. Its reduction can be achieved through:

· narrowing of insurance coverage (narrowing the list of covered risks and corresponding insurance amounts);

· eliminating additional services included in the insurance product and reducing the quality of service;

· aggressive investment policy aimed at covering the difference between the premium received and actual expenses through income from the investment of reserves.

Through the construction of a “pyramid” - covering losses under unprofitable contracts through new sales.

The first two methods of price compression do not lead to a decrease in the company's reliability. Risky investments are already a potential threat to the stability of the insurer, and pyramid schemes represent an almost complete guarantee of its bankruptcy in the foreseeable future. Therefore, when analyzing the ratio of price and quality of insurer services, it is necessary to take into account only the first two possibilities.

In economically developed countries, it is generally accepted that a 10% change in the cost of insurance leads to the loss or gain of 30% of the company's clientele. The ratio of changes in the number of a company's customers and price is called the elasticity of consumption with respect to price (or simply price). Marketing also uses, for example, the elasticity of consumption based on the quality of the insurance product. The greater the change in the number of customers when the price or other factor changes, the higher the elasticity of consumption. If the ratio of the change in demand to the change in price is less than 1, then demand is inelastic; if it is greater than 1, then demand is elastic. If it is equal to 1, then the demand is called unitary. In general, the elasticity of consumption - the interdependence of the number of sales of insurance products and their prices - is very complex. It can be studied in three ways: with the help of client surveys, by the method of expert assessments made by specialists and sellers of insurance products, by analyzing statistical data on sales of insurance products depending on changes in the price level.

If we provide data on the mutual influence of the price and sales of car insurance at RESO - Garantiya Insurance Company, which is based on the results of a corresponding consumer survey. The study asked policyholders: Would you leave your current company if it raised its prices by X%? Changes in sales are presented in Figure 2.5.1.

Fig.2.5.1. Change in sales

The figure shows that the dependence of sales on the price of insurance products in the range of changes of 0.8-1.2 from its average value in a first approximation is parabolic. It is important to note that increasing or decreasing the price by a few percent (up to 4%) does not lead to a significant change in the number of sales. In this regard, the range of price changes in the range of 0.96-1.04 can be called a zone of insensitivity of consumers to changes in the cost of insurance products - price inelasticity of demand. In this zone, the insurer can maneuver prices without fear of losing clientele. The fact is that a significant part of consumers do not consider it significant for themselves to exceed prices by 1-4% - the consumer assessment of the premium when it changes within these limits is practically constant. An analogy from everyday life can be applied here: every person has some change in their pocket that is easy to donate - a negligible amount. The increase or decrease in funds by this amount is not noticeable and a large proportion of the population will not make any effort to earn it. It’s the same in insurance: a slight change in the cost of the policy is not significant for the consumer and cannot compensate for the material and moral costs associated with switching to another company.

Another important phenomenon of particular interest for managing the quality of insurance products is the behavior of the dependence of sales on price in the area of ​​cost changes of more than 1.2 from the market average. Here the nature of the dependence deviates from parabolic, which is explained by different sensitivity to price. About 4% of policyholders are highly sensitive to the cost of services and easily change companies in search of cheaper offers of the same quality. In the price-quality ratio, they focus on the cost of the service. 65-70% of the total number of consumers belong to the average category of sensitivity, which corresponds to a more or less equilibrium assessment of the importance of price and quality of the product. The remaining 30-35% of policyholders can be classified as less sensitive to price and more sensitive to other (non-price) qualities of the insurance service.

The dependence shown in Fig. 2.5.2., built for the clientele of RESO-Garantiya Insurance Company. This is how changes in the number of sales of car insurance, corporate health insurance (health insurance for enterprise employees), as well as real estate for individuals look like depending on the price level of the product. In Fig. 8 we see the dependence of changes in sales of insurance products "RESO-Garantiya" .

Fig.2.5.2. Sales dependency

Fig.2.5.3. Sales dependency

A comparison of the graphs shows that the most elastic demand is for car insurance. The change in the income of the insurer RESOGarantiya Insurance Company depending on the cost of the policy is shown in Fig. 2.5.4.

Fig. 2.5.4. Compilation of dependency graphs

The dependence of changes in the number of sales on the cost of the insurance product is quite conditional. The dependence of changes in the number of sales on the cost of the insurance product is quite conditional. Firstly, the price level for the same type of service varies depending on the sales system used in the company - an insurer selling auto insurance through agents or brokers must pay them a commission, which inevitably increases the cost of the insurance product. On the other hand, a company that sells its products directly can save on intermediaries. However, the clientele of direct and indirect sales is not the same: if the agent and brokerage systems are mainly focused on passive consumers, then the second one is on active policyholders who independently choose an insurance company and its product. The latter, as a rule, are highly sensitive to the price of the service. Therefore, a policyholder purchasing a policy through an agent will not become a client of a direct sales company and vice versa. Because of this, the price level for the services of these insurers is incomparable.

Another factor that makes the conditional dependence of sales on the price of an insurance product is that sales growth can be determined by the non-price component of the insurer’s market policy. For example, a company that wants to expand its clientele, in addition to reducing prices, invests in advertising, increases agency fees, and expands its territorial presence. In this case, it is quite difficult to isolate the contribution of the price reduction to the overall increase in the number of customers. In addition, the price elasticity of demand is not the same for consumers who are already clients of the company and for those who are just looking for an insurer. The second category of policyholders, in the process of selection, naturally pays more attention to the cost of the policy, while the first group, when renewing a contract, is less inclined to be interested in the conditions in other companies and is more sensitive to the quality of the product. In addition, established personal relationships with the insurer’s representative are quite important to them, which are often not easy to break. Clients also get used to the insurance infrastructure - a clinic in the case of health insurance or a service station. services for motor insurance. Therefore, the insured persons are a less mobile clientele and, accordingly, less sensitive to the price of the insurance product.

As an analysis of the activities of insurance organizations showed, a significant influence on the development of the insurance market in 2004-2009. contributed to the following industries:

· motor liability insurance,

insurance other than life insurance,

· compulsory insurance.

The general main indicators of the entire insurance market include the following two indicators:

1. insurance premiums (insurance contributions) - they reflect the amount of risk liability transferred by policyholders to insurers;

2. insurance payments - they reflect the volume of damage compensation obligations fulfilled by insurers to policyholders, i.e. obligations for insurance payments.

Based on the dynamics of insurance premiums and insurance payments for 2004-2009. we can say the following. There was an increase in the insurance market in 2008, which is explained, first of all, by changes in insurance and tax legislation, which reduces the possibility of implementing pseudo-insurance and pseudo-reinsurance.

The terms “pseudo-insurance” and “pseudo-reinsurance” refer to the use of insurance and reinsurance for profit-shifting schemes.

The most important tasks for the development of the Russian insurance market include the following:

· increasing the competitiveness of the Russian insurance market in the global insurance market;

· increasing the level of capitalization of insurance companies;

· increasing the investment attractiveness of Russian insurance companies;

· improving the quality of insurance services;

· development of classical types of long-term and cumulative personal insurance;

· improvement of the legal and organizational foundations of compulsory insurance;

· creation and development of modern insurance market infrastructure;

· creation of unified databases;

· creation of a unified educational system, which involves not only obtaining basic fundamental knowledge and practical skills, but also constant improvement of the qualifications of insurance workers;

· improving the taxation of income of individuals and legal entities related to both the activities of insurance organizations and the insurance of individuals and legal entities;

· increasing the insurance culture of the population.

Chapter 3. Development of measures to increase the competitiveness of RESO-Garantia services

Goal tree

Scheme 3.1. Goal tree.

3.1 Event - 1 expansion (opening of new mini-offices)

1. Decoration of the retail outlet - the presence of a large RESO flag (on the green field there is a brand name and the abbreviation RESO), stands with information about all types of insurance services. The retail outlet is specially created to organize sales of insurance products, therefore all the details of its design and the organization of the process of working with clients are aimed at achieving one single goal - increasing sales of insurance services, while our company’s communications at the point of sale fit into the overall communication strategy of the company - and This is a quality assurance system and adequate pricing. The face of an insurance agency is always its showcase; its design should attract clients, make them contact the agency for additional information, it should be relevant, correspond to the time of year, and contain information about new insurance products. When a client contacts our agency, he is greeted with maximum cordiality and goodwill. Because the first minutes of being in the premises decide whether the visitor will become an insured or leave forever. Thus, the face of the insurance company is trained personnel at the point of sale and insurance representatives, which our company pays great attention to. There is a RESO agent school, where not only agents, but also specialists are trained; teaching is conducted by top managers of the company with extensive practical experience.

A person can get detailed advice here on any type of insurance, take samples of documents and information on our home offers. And the main thing is to purchase a policy near your place of residence or work, without spending a lot of time. For many, this is much more convenient than calling an insurance company or traveling to some large office. The format of counters we have chosen in regular stores allows us to emphasize that insurance is not only a necessary element of our lives, but also quite affordable.” Here you can purchase compulsory motor vehicle insurance policies, voluntary auto insurance policies, insure your apartment and buy an accident insurance policy.

3.2 Activity – 2 Underwriting process in the Risk.Net system

The diagram of a complete insurance business - the multi-level underwriting process is shown in the figure for geographically dispersed interaction objects:

Branch of insurance company (insurance company)

SK branch

IC Central Office (CO)

In Fig. 3.2.1. An algorithm for making decisions on actions with contracts is presented.

Fig.3.2.1. Decision making algorithm

At the lowest level, the accounting of primary incoming documents is carried out:

insurance applications,

application for changing insurance conditions,

insurance claim,

application for early termination.

Decision-making on each application is made in accordance with the ranges of responsibility distributed between the units. If the terms of the application fall within the range of responsibility of the link, then the decision is made without agreement with the senior manager.

If the range of responsibility of a link is exceeded, it is necessary to coordinate the decision with a higher level link (department -> branch -> CO).

When concluding a contract, insurance conditions are agreed upon. As a result of agreeing on the terms, an insurance contract is created.

If the insurance conditions change, new insurance conditions are agreed upon. As a result of approval, a new version of the insurance contract is created (with the same contract number).

When settling claims, the amounts and terms of settlement are agreed upon. As a result of approval, an insurance act is created with a decision on payment (refusal to pay).

Creation of contracts, acts, etc. occurs at the same point where the corresponding application was received. This means that information received by the senior level for approval is transferred (with changes and decisions) back to the original level, where the final document is formed.

Negotiation of terms can occur over several iterations (with the participation of the client, junior, middle and senior levels) until an agreement is reached and the final decision is made accordingly. Once a decision has been made, changes cannot be made. It is only possible to generate and print the output document.

Advantages of the Risk.Net system in terms of underwriting contracts:

· Automated management of the sales business process

including underwriting

· Underwriter's workstation with the ability to view documents by branch.

· Multi-level underwriting according to limits

· Control over performers at each level

· Flexibility and customizability

Insurance advertising did not appear yesterday: already in the middle of the 18th century, insurers used posters for their own advertising. Then they were joined by the press, and in our time - radio, television and computer networks. Let's consider the evolution of only the two oldest methods of insurance advertising - with the help of posters and the press.

A large amount of insurance PR and advertising is located in print media. This is a fairly effective way to promote insurance, products and companies, since print media, while relatively cheap, have a fairly large audience. But in order to position yourself correctly in any segment, you need to find out which advertising medium best suits your specific task. According to experts, as can be seen in Fig. 3.4.1. The most effective advertising media for insurance are: press, radio and television.

This is explained by the large reach of the target audience of these advertising media. It should be noted that now insurance companies use just these types of advertising. But do not forget that each individual advertising and PR campaign requires its own medium that is effective specifically for it.

Due to the relatively low cost and large reach of the target audience, insurance companies give the greatest preference to the press. Of course, advertising in the press is significantly inferior to TV in terms of audience coverage, but the cost is also high, and the effectiveness is very low.

"In many magazines you can see all sorts of articles about insurance companies, insurance and products, but reading them is absolutely not interesting. These articles contain a lot of numbers, statistics and analytics, but say almost nothing in simple language. People who read "Money" "Expert" and "Itogi" are very few. And even those who buy these magazines, for the most part, do not read articles about insurance, because they are included in separate thematic supplements, which by definition is an application for specialists and scares away ordinary people. readers, i.e. potential consumers. These articles are uninteresting, boring and very difficult for the average person. Personally, I do not remember a single advertisement of insurance companies, i.e. their advertisements do not have bright, memorable images, the slogans are dull and inexpressive. advertising is textual information and a company logo. How can this kind of advertising be remembered? It is necessary to write a marketing plan correctly, which insurance companies do not do. When insurers come to an advertising agency, they either ask to write a marketing plan, or bring their own, but a very bad one. They are poor planners because their marketing departments are staffed by insurers, not marketers. Well, a super insurer cannot write a good marketing plan! In turn, a third-party company, even with good marketers, will not write a competent plan, because doesn’t know all the information about the company, and no one will give it all. This is the main problem of insurance companies."

To build the right strategy for using the media, the insurer must answer a number of characteristic questions:

1. What goals does the insurer pursue by advertising in the media? This could be the promotion of a new range of insurance products designed for a certain market segment, increasing the prestige of the brand in the eyes of public opinion, etc.

2. What are the target segments to which the insurer wants to convey its message? In the case of using the media to promote a specific insurance range, this is its target market and its reference groups, and when promoting a brand, this is the market as a whole.

3. Which media are most suitable for conveying the message to the target audience? It is necessary to select both the type of media (television, press) and their specific name - national television channel, regional radio station, newspaper of a political party, etc. The choice is made based on an analysis of consumer preferences in a specific market segment, the level of trust in specific media, as well as the breadth of their distribution.

4. What is the advertising campaign's plan? The insurer must assign a budget to be spent during the advertising campaign, select the optimal distribution of funds between media, determine the frequency, rhythm and seasonal distribution of advertising, as well as determine the requirements for the advertising itself. The insurer must determine which set of advertising arguments has the greatest chance of success.

5. What is the expected ratio of increase in insurance premium? The final stage of planning involves assessing the economic efficiency of an insurance advertising company. This research can be conducted on the basis of tests and other methods of determining market reaction to the insurer described above. If testing shows that an advertising campaign will not achieve the intended result, its strategy should be changed taking into account the results obtained.

When planning the use of media, two approaches are possible - quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative approach is based on the geographical distribution and distribution of media, on the quantitative coverage of potential clientele. A qualitative choice of media is an assessment of their possible influence on the consciousness of consumers and the importance that consumers attach to the opinion of this media.

Chapter 4. Economic justification for the event.

4.1 Economic justification for activity 1

Opening of new sales offices

A comprehensive plan was developed for opening new sales points - branches and mini-offices in regions where it had not been present until now. It is also planned to further expand our presence in the regions where we already have branches by opening additional offices and mini-offices. Branches will be “universal” points of sale, providing the full range of insurance services, while most additional offices (SAs) and mini-offices will be focused on serving individuals and enterprises classified as medium and small businesses.

By significantly expanding the number of offices in the regions, we plan to increase the level of operating income and seriously expand our client base, but at the same time, the goal is to minimize the duplication of functions at the head office in Moscow and in the regions, thereby reducing operating costs.

We see our main goal as providing each client with a full range of modern insurance services while constantly improving the level of customer service. Our new office is another step towards our goal

Table 4.1.1. Technical and economic indicators of the effectiveness of activity 1

Indicator name

measurement unit

holding the event

Changes

Revenue (excluding VAT)

Cost price

Analysis of the data presented in the table indicates a change in the cost structure by 4.37%

According to the calculations obtained, it is clear that the level of profitability will increase, therefore, we can conclude that the efficiency of using fixed assets will increase.

Calculation of the payback period.

It is planned to open 50 new mini-offices. Each office will have 2 employees, with a monthly salary of 10,000. The wage fund for the newly opened offices is 600,000. The rent is 1,500 rubles. per month. For each office, equipment and consumables will be purchased in the amount of 17,500 rubles, see Table 4.1.2, for a total of 875,000 rubles.

Costs amount to RUB 2,375,000. Revenue after the event will be 2,598,197 rubles. Accordingly, the payback period is about a year (2375000/2297016.15=1.01)

Table 4.1.2. Purchased equipment

4.2 Economic justification for activity 2

Introduction of the Underwriting process in the Risk.Net system

Each type of insurance has its own underwriting characteristics. Without understanding the insurance risks and what is accepted for insurance (the object of insurance), as well as a description of the factors that increase the likelihood of an insured event and the expected amount of insurance compensation, it is impossible to correctly assess the risk. And if the degree of risk cannot be expressed in monetary terms, then it will also not be possible to form a profitable portfolio, and if it succeeds, it will only be due to chance.

Table 4.2.1. Technical and economic indicators of the effectiveness of measure 2

Indicator name

measurement unit

holding the event

After the event

Changes

Revenue (excluding VAT)

Cost price

Cost of fixed assets

Balance sheet profit (p.1 – p.2)

Profitability of production (p.4/p.2)x100

4.3 Economic justification for activity 3

One of the main methods of non-price competition is advertising of insurance products.

The purpose of advertising is to facilitate the conclusion of new and renewal of previously existing insurance contracts. With the help of advertising, insurance companies strive to create a prestigious image of their organization and stand out among other insurers. Advertising is not limited to information about types of insurance, the procedure for concluding contracts, payment of insurance compensation or insurance amounts. It usually contains information about the insurance organization offering its services, its authorized capital, shareholders, assets and liabilities of the balance sheet. This gives policyholders the opportunity to realistically assess the situation and consciously decide which insurance company to enter into contracts with and who to entrust their funds to.

Table 4.3.1. Technical and economic indicators of the effectiveness of measure 3

Indicator name

measurement unit

holding the event

After the event

Changes

Revenue (excluding VAT)

Cost price

Cost of fixed assets

Balance sheet profit (p.1 – p.2)

Profitability of production (p.4/p.2)x100

According to the calculations made, we can say that advertising activities will increase revenue and balance sheet profit, and the profitability of the enterprise will increase by more than 50%, all of the above will certainly affect the increase in competitiveness.

To summarize the calculation results for all the measures under consideration and obtain data on the economic efficiency of the project as a whole, we summarize the data obtained in Table 4.3.3.


Indicator name

Before the event

Event1

Event2

Event3

After the implementation of the event

changes

Revenue (excluding VAT)

Cost price

Cost of fixed assets

Balance sheet profit

Profitability

 


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Salad with liver and mushrooms: the most successful cooking recipes

Salad with liver and mushrooms: the most successful cooking recipes

Calorie content: Not specified Cooking time: Not specified Salad with beef liver and pickled mushrooms will certainly surprise many housewives...

Herring under a fur coat with cucumbers Herring under a fur coat, classic recipe with pickled cucumber

Herring under a fur coat with cucumbers Herring under a fur coat, classic recipe with pickled cucumber

The famous “herring under a fur coat” salad can easily compete on any holiday table with the undisputed favorite - samm, and if this dish...

Potatoes with chicken in dough in the oven Chicken drumstick in puff pastry with potatoes

Potatoes with chicken in dough in the oven Chicken drumstick in puff pastry with potatoes

Chicken drumsticks are the most commonly cooked dish. They are delicious in any form: stewed, baked or fried. Chicken drumsticks baked in...

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