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Business strategies under conditions of uncertainty: The rise of mutual life insurers in colonial Australia

chapter
posted on 2015-11-12, 00:00 authored by Monica KeneleyMonica Keneley
The early development of Australian life insurance was marked by the failure of stock companies to successfully establish a market presence. Mutual insurers emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in response to this gap in supply. The underlying rationale behind their establishment differed but the business model adopted proved remarkably successful. Mutual life insurers dominated the market for life insurance for nearly a century. This chapter investigates mutualism as a business strategy that addressed particular problems associated with doing business in a small and underdeveloped economy. Business and social networks were important facilitators of new business. In addition, most mutual life insurers had a social/philanthropic charter and they were able to utilize this to build business. An outcome of this mix was the emergence of a particular type of entrepreneurship that fostered innovative product development and cemented the role of mutual insurers as market leaders.
. The Variety, Choice, Governance, and Regulation of Organizational Forms 2.

History

Title of book

Corporate Forms and Organisational Choice in International Insurance

Chapter number

8

Pagination

169 - 192

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Place of publication

Oxford, Eng.

ISBN-13

9780191059476

ISBN-10

0191059471

Language

eng

Publication classification

B1 Book chapter; B Book chapter

Copyright notice

2015, Oxford University Press

Extent

13

Editor/Contributor(s)

R Pearson, T Yoneyama