CH Institute Of Management, Indore (M.

P)

Questionnaire on

Comparative Study Between Two Gear Companies

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement of Master of Business Administration Guided By: Mrs.Garima Joshi Submitted By: Priyesh Jain

Certificate From Supervisor

This is certified that Priyesh Jain, a student of MBA (Full Time) III semester in, CH Institute Of Management, Indore (M.P.) has opted for his MRP on Customer Satisfaction and Role of Channel Intermediaries in Life Insurance Services:A Comparative Study The synopsis is done under my guidance for the partial fulfillment of requirement of the degree of MBA.

Mrs. Garima Joshi Professor, MBA CHIM, Indore

Student Declaration
I am Priyesh Jain Student of CH Institute Of Management, Indore (M.P.) pursuing MBA (Full Time) III semester has prepared the synopsis on the topic Customer Satisfaction and Role of Channel Intermediaries in Life Insurance Services: A Comparative Study. I hereby declare that the work is authentic and the data collected is genuine.

Priyesh Jain MBA III Semester CHIM, Indore

Introduction:Life insurance: - Life insurance is most commonly used to protect your family from any financial risk of your family in premature death. However, it can be difficult to think about or plan for such an event. And, unfortunately, adequate planning is often put off until it's too late. Although it may sound simple, there are many things to consider. There are many ways to protect your family with life insurance. So, consulting with a life insurance professional can be vital! In technical term Life Insurance is a contract providing for payment of a sum of money to the person assured or, following him to the person entitled to receive the same, on the happening of a certain event. It is a good method to protect your family financially, in case of death, by providing funds for the loss of income. Types of Life Insurance
1. TERM LIFE INSURANCE: Under a Term Life contract, the insurance

company pays a specific lump sum to the designated beneficiary in case of the death of the insured. These policies are usually for 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. Term life insurance are the most popular in advance countries but were not so popular in India. However, after the entry of the private operators and aggressive marketing by few players this kind of policies are becoming popular. The premium on such type of policies is comparatively quite low when compared with other types of life insurance policies, mainly due to the fact that these policies do not carry cash value.
2. PERMANENT LIFE INSURANCE: - In a Permanent Life contract, a portion

of the money paid as premiums is invested in a fund that earns interest on a tax-deferred basis. Thus, over a period of time, this policy will accumulate certain "cash value" which you will be able to get back either during the period of the policy or at the end of the policy.

Channel Members of Life Insurance Services:1. Agents Today's insurance agent has to know which product will appeal to the customer, and also know his competitor's products in the same space to be an effective salesman who can sell his company, the product, and himself to the customer. To the average customer, every new company is the same. 2. Banks Banks in India are all pervasive, especially the public sector banks. Can they also become the foremost channel for distribution of insurance? Perhaps in the future. The public sector banks, with their vast branch networks, are also plagued by a rigid unionized workforce and archaic systems, and lack vision of a broader service spectrum encompassing non-banking products. The newer banks are constrained by their lack of reach and meager branch strength. For banks to become a predominant channel for selling insurance will require a paradigm shift 3. Brokers With the broker regulation under review and expected any time, this could be the next hope, especially for the urban market. This will be a new experience for the insurance customer, accustomed to brokers in financial services, real estate, and travel and tourism. For historical reasons the image that 'broker' carries in the minds of the customer is not very favorable. Thus the new breed of insurance brokers faces the challenge of establishing credibility. 4. Work site marketing This area needs to be tapped, as in any country one of the biggest markets is through the worksite. With changes in human resources management polices and compensation packages, group products or work site products do have a definite market that cannot be ignored. 5. Internet Though India is joining the fast growing breed of net users, using net for transactions has not yet caught up. Though a few banks provide online banking, the usage is still a small fragment. The insecurity associated with transactions over the net is still an inhibiting factor. At present most of the
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insurance companies have product information and/or illustrative tools on the web. 6 Invisible Insurers In this model, the insurance company or its representative is not the entity marketing the products. The insurance cover is sold by an automobile /credit card company as an add-on product leveraging the brand of the retailer. The Risk is carried by the insurance company, which underwrites it. . Products like creditor insurance, automobile insurance, and credit card related insurance could be distributed using this channel. This model can be adopted in all market segments for the lines of business mentioned. It is already prevalent in some areas like credit card insurance and crop insurance for agricultural loans. The new players are also attempting this model.

Role of Channel Members in customer satisfaction:Traditionally tied agents have been the primary channels for insurance distribution in the Indian market; the public sector insurance companies have their branches in almost all parts of the country and have attracted local people to become their agents. The agents are from various segments in society and collectively cover the entire spectrum of society. A person who has lived in the locality for many years sells the products of the insurance company with a local branch nearby. This ensures the last mile touch point being closer to the customer. Of course, the profile of the people who acted as agents suggests they may not have been sufficiently knowledgeable about the different products offered, and may not have sold the best possible product to the client. Nonetheless, the customer trusted the agent and company. This arrangement worked adequately in the absence of competition. In today's scenario agents continue as the prime channel for insurance distribution in India, as is the case in most markets, supported by call centers to a small extent. Almost all the new players follow this model primarily because the regulations for other channels are yet to be put in place. However there is great excitement in the industry over the impending broker regulations and companies are planning possible channels in their enthusiasm to increase volumes. The belief that all these channels will grow and seamlessly integrate to bring in business seems a fallacy. What have emerged are a much more difficult and evolving market scene with existing players, more new players coming in, and global marketing practices and
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ideas being tested. But none of this has changed the fundamental character of the market, which we believe will take more time than expected.

Rationale:The insurance market in India is growing very rapidly, the private as well as government sectors are coming in this market with a large variety of services for their customers. Life insurance is a complex product representing a promise to compensate the insured and third party according to specified terms and conditions should some well defined contingent event occur. The channel intermediaries play a vital role in providing life insurance services satisfy the customers with their services. The intermediaries in life insurance service include agents, banks, brokers, work site marketing, internet. These intermediaries play the role of bridge between the insurance companies and customers. The study is based on the performance of intermediaries to reach at the satisfaction level of customers. Different customers have their own perception regarding the services offered. In the research factors which influence the customers to buy a particular policy will be measured. The outcome of the study would show the role of intermediaries in persuading the customers and to provide the service to the customers. The satisfaction level of customers with the services offered will also be measured.

Objectives:The primary objective of the research is to study the role of channel intermediaries in customer satisfaction in the life insurance services, other objectives are:

To study the role of life insurance intermediaries in customer satisfaction. To study the role of service offered by different life insurance companies in customer satisfaction. To study the role of customer perception towards insurance intermediaries and services offered in their level of satisfaction.

Hypothesis:8

H1:- channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards error free services. H2:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards timely service. H3:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards information and advisory service. H4:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards individual attention. H5:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards quick action against customer complaints. H6:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards technological support. H7:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards customized service. H8:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards processing fee charged. H9:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards process of acquiring insurance policy. H10:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards uniqueness in service offered. H11:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards physical evidence of service place. H12:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards claim management process. H13:- Channel wise there is significant difference in customers towards after sales service.

satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction

Review of Literature:-

The study on Agents and Brokers intermediaries in insurance markets an empirical analysis of market outcomes in 2002 by martina eckrdt shows the following findingsMost of the variables used as indicators to assess the quality of information and advisory services supplied show highly significant differences, which not only leads to a rejection of the null hypothesis, but also gives strong evidence that indeed insurance brokers may provide better advisory services than insurance agents. As the quantitative input indicators show, significant differences between insurance agents and brokers exist with respect to the proportion of their respective time budget spent on the acquisition of information and on counseling interviews. Insurance brokers spend a larger amount of their working time on the search for information on insurance companies, products, and their customers. Also as the legal setting would imply, on average their counseling interviews take longer, both in general as well as with respect to consultations on old-age security. Moreover, they attend further trainings and conferences more often than insurance agents. Furthermore, also the output indicators differ significantly. Insurance brokers have higher success rates, i.e. a higher proportion of their consultations leads to a contract conclusion compared to the success rates of insurance agents. This indicates that on average larger shares of consumers feel well advised by insurance brokers. Correspondingly, the competitive pressure insurance brokers perceive is significantly lower than it is the case for insurance agents. These findings strongly indicate that the different legal rules applying to insurance agents and brokers do indeed lead to better information and better-suited advice for clients of insurance brokers. The study on the topic The Economics of Insurance Intermediaries by J. David Cummins in 2005 indicates the following findingsIn commercial property-casualty insurance markets, the intermediary plays the role of market maker, helping buyers to identify their coverage and risk management needs and matching buyers with appropriate insurers. The process through which buyers are matched with insurers is Complex and multidimensional. The role of the intermediary is to scan the market, match buyers with insurers who have the skill, capacity, risk appetite, and financial strength to underwrite the risk, and then help their client select from competing offers. Price is important but is only one of several criteria that buyers consider in deciding upon the insurer or insurers that provide their coverage. Also important are the breadth of coverage offered by competing insurers, the risk management services provided, the insurers reputation for claims settlement
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and financial strength, and other factors. The insurance brokerage industry is highly concentrated at the top of the marketplace with a handful of brokers accounting for most of the market share. But while the concentration is high, the absolute number of brokers and independent agents is very large. For small and mid-sized risks, there is considerable competition among the small and medium-sized intermediaries who can and do effectively compete with the global brokers for such accounts. Even for large risks, specialty or regional mid-sized brokers can sometimes compete with the mega-brokers. However, there are some risks (such as large, complex international exposures) which have become the exclusive domain of the largest brokers. The study on the topic Broker-Client Relationship: A Conceptual Framework shows the following findingsMANAGEMENT ISSUESThe management of the broking organization will want to establish how the prospect obtained details of their organization, whether it is as a result of networking, a promotional exercise or by referral from an existing client. This will enable them to assess the effectiveness of each. During the information gathering stage management must ensure that the appropriate level of technical quality is available is to ensure that the prospect is given the correct advice thus ensuring the relationship foundations are firmly laid. Management must also ensure that the insurance carriers are providing an agreed level of service and wide product portfolio. This model can be used as an operational and marketing tool to identify which areas management should be concentrating on at any given time over each stage and phase of the relationship. Moreover, one of the benefits of the model is that it clearly identifies where opportunities exist within the relationship to cross-sell and make the relationship even more profitable. The study on Efforts to Improve Customer Service by Nippon Life in 2009 shows that customer satisfaction in terms of Sales representative response rose for the fifth consecutive year for an overall customer satisfaction score of 83.2%. Customer satisfaction was overall Customer Satisfaction based on the Customer Satisfaction Survey particularly high for those customers who had been visited by a sales 83.2% representative as part of Policy Details Confirmation Activities and had received direct explanations, thereby confirming the importance of face- to-face service.

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The study on Capital market reactions to the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 by Carrow Kenneth A. and Heron R. The authors investigate how the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 (FMA) affected stock prices of banks, thrifts, finance companies and insurance companies. The study looks at stock excess returns across sectors and company size. The idea is that the passage of the FMA opens doors for potential mergers and consolidations across banking, financial and insurance sectors, translating into abnormal positive returns for businesses that are the likely candidate for mergers and consolidation. The results of the study suggest that the largest returns to the FMA passage were realized by large investment banks and insurance companies. The stock prices of banks, both small and large, seemed to be unaffected by the new legislation while thrifts, finance companies and foreign banks lost value. The study on the topic customer satisfaction with the service quality in the life insurance industry in India by promita goswami concludes that The responsiveness of service quality provides maximum customer satisfaction to the life insurance industry in India. With the increase in the overall market size of the industry as well as increasing competition since 2000, different players of the industry should invest to improve customer relationship. This would not only involve implementation of CRM solution but also internal marketing of the CRM concept.

Research Methodology:The Study

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The research is descriptive in nature. The objective of the study is to find out the role of channel intermediaries in customer satisfaction. The Sample Non probability sampling technique will be used in the research in which the sample will be drawn on convenience basis. Sample Size A sample size is taken as 100 customers of insurance companies. The Tools (Data Collection) The data will be collected through self developed questionnaire. For each statement of the questionnaire the respondent will be asked to indicate their perception. A score of 5-ponts was given for the answer strongly agree, 4- points was given for the answer agree, 3- points was given for the answer neutral, 2- points was given for the answer disagree, 1- points was given for the answer strongly disagree. The Tools (Data Analysis) The data was classified and tabulated using MS-Excel. Analyses of data will be done using parametric two sample ttest or z-test, correlation, at significant level 0.05 and factor analysis would also be conducted.

Reference:13

 A Handbook on Postal Life Insurance (2005) J.K.Bose (Retd. Supdt.

Of Posts).
Careers in Banking, Finance and Insurance - Institutes, Courses &

Jobs SAP

3rd edition, (2007).

Emerging Trends in Banking, Finance and Insurance Industry (2009)

Prof. Anand M.Agrawal & Krishn A.Goyal (Eds.)

Examination Guide for Life Insurance Agents (Based on Approved

Syllabus of IRDA of India), 2003 P.R.Khanna (Taxmann).

Fundamental of LIFE INSURANCE - Theories and Applications

Kaninika Mishra.
A comparative study on the performance of insurance company with

its industrial competitors Projectscollege.blogspot.com.

MBA projects on insurance collegeprojects.info. MBA project report on insurance www.topshareware.com

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