Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company is an insurance concern

YOU MUST PROPERLY USE IN-TEXT CITATIONS AND INCLUDE THE REFERENCES FOR ANY INFORMATION YOU OBTAINED FROM THE INTERNET. ANYTHING THAT YOUWRITE THAT IS NOT COMMON KNOWLEDGE OR THAT YOU OBTAINED FROM THE INTERNET MUST BE CITED AND REFERENCED. NOT DOING SO IS CONSIDERED PLAGIARISM.

THERE ARE QUITE A FEW SENTENCES LISTED BELOW THAT ARE NOT REFERENCED. CHECK ALL THE BELOW INFORMATION AND CITE PROPERLY.

Introduction

Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company is an insurance concern, based in Canada. The entity offers a wide range of life and non-life insurance products and packages to individuals and corporations. It operates through two of its wholly owned subsidiaries, namely, Wawanesa General Insurance Company and The Wawanesa Life Insurance Company.

Wawanesa Life Insurance Company provides group insurance policies, individual life insurance products, investment products, and annuities. However, Wawanesa General Insurance Company provides residential and automobile insurance policies. Wawanesa dispenses its products vide independent insurance brokers as well as company agents. It has a total of nine branch offices across Canada and the United States. While, Wawanesa has its headquarter at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Vision Statement

Wawanesa is a strong, innovative insurance company that our customers and brokers have a great relationship with because they value who we are and what we offer. The feeling’s mutual. (Wawanesa, 2018)

Mission Statement

“Earning your trust since 1896“… As a policyholder-owned mutual insurance company, we will continue to earn trust by providing quality products and services at the lowest price which supports long-term growth and financial stability. (Wawanesa, 2018)

Value Statement

We treat others respectfully and truthfully.
We conduct business with ethics, integrity, honesty, consistency, and fairness.
We make service a priority.
We are collaborative, innovative, and drive excellence.
We are open and transparent in our business dealings.
We support the communities in which we work and live.

Suitability of Vision & Mission Statements

The vision and mission statements of the entity are depicting the espoused values of the organization i.e. being trustworthy, value to money, innovative, and quality focused. These values are likely to cast a deep shadow upon the sub-conscious of the reader. However, we believe that the company should also have added a humanitarian perspective to the vision and mission statements as well to make them sound more caring and concerned.

Mission statement assessment is still not good enough. This was thenote that I provided in my feedback. This still needs to be corrected.

“The assessment that you provided does not contain suitable depth or analysis. How do you know if it is a good vision statement? Vision statements should represent want an organization wants for the future and your team did not contemplate this. With regards to the mission statement, your team should have considered the what, how, who and why. It also could have considered the points from the video. Is it short, simple, operative and say what it will do and what it will not do. This feedback regarding how to properly assess a mission statement was provided to all three team members for the case study #2. Further, I specifically mentioned in class that all students should review the feedback from the case studies in order to ensure that this assignment was being done properly.”

External Analysis

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis – This is better than your prevous document but it is still missing some criteria for a couple of the five forces. See below.

Threat of new entrants: Low – You must use each of the criteria for this factor. Refer to the textbook or the Unit 2 notes to ensure that you are including all the criteria is for this factor.

There are already successful companies like Hub International, Blue Cross, and more in the market in Insurance Industry which are doing their business at a good level. We feel the threat of new entrants entering this market is low, as the market is in a stable position. Moreover, this industry requires a strong network, a good customer base, and a relationship. The levels of risk is pretty high for a new entrant. To enter in insurance business one need huge funds to meet initial claims if anything bad happens at the begging of business, this is the reason behind the low threat of new entrant.

Bargaining power of buyers: Low to Medium

As a Broker: (bargaining power is medium) Insurance companies do not go directly in the market to sell their insurance. Brokers work as intermediaries between the final consumer and company. In Canada, many other companies are selling insurance. We can also say that Wawanesa Insurance is not a monopoly. Brokers are selling insurances of other companies too. So, they have bargaining power with companies. Brokers can bargain up to some extent but not too much because these companies do not go beyond some limit.

As a Final consumer: (bargaining power is low) Final consumers are the people who use products or services. Here in this case final consumers are owners of property such as houses and vehicles. Consumers visit brokers for purchasing insurance. These brokers sell insurance of many companies, but they focus more on those from which they earn more profit. There are not too many options for the consumers and the price of all insurances is almost the same. So, they have to buy it on the price fixed by the broker. People are also buying insurance online and the price of insurance is fixed here also.

Bargaining power of suppliers: Low

As companies have to offer lower prices to the customers, they are not able to offer higher percentage to their shareholders (people investing money in the company). Hence, the shareholders cannot bargain much. Shareholders get dividend and the amount of dividend is more if the company earn high profit and if the company earn low profit then amount of dividend is low. The amount of dividend can be zero if company face loses for a year.

Threat of Substitutes: Low

The threat of substitutes is low in the insurance industry as there is no substitute for the insurance industry till the date. Innovation and evolution of services is not the substitute but improvement in service offerings.

Rivalry among competitors: High- You must use each of the criteria for this factor. Refer to the textbook or the Unit 2 notes to see what all the criteria is for this factor.

As companies try to offer deals and group benefits on extended health policies the chances of rivalry among competitors increases. There are so many insurance companies in the market, and everyone wants to get more profit by selling their insurance more and more. Companies with low costs, operating efficiency, and superior service will be more competitive. We need the innovation of tactics and infrastructure to win over customers and maintain profit under stringent legislation.

PESTEL Analysis – This is much better.

Political/Legal:

Mandatory auto insurance.
Political stability has performed well.
The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators has made substantial efforts to introduce regulatory and industry advancement through technological innovations and financial technologies.
Canada’s simple and transparent tax regime remains a strength and supports its international competitiveness.
Close monitoring by the federal insurance regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

Economic

Rise in consumers’ standard of living.
Purchasing power increased steadily. (GDP 2017: $1.774 Trillion)
Sustainable economic growth created high-quality job creation.
An increase in purchasing power encouraged greater consumer spending and individual investment, thereby stimulating broader economic activity.
Unemployment rate fell from above 7% to below 6% from 2016 to 2020 before getting a temporary hit by the pandemic (“Canada Unemployment Rate | 1966-2020 Data | 2021-2022 Forecast | Calendar | Historical”, 2020).
Restart of economic activity after a pause by the pandemic.

Social

Increased Automobile Ownership
Growing demand for “Drive Through” style for buying auto insurance.
Public awareness of the insurance industry in Canada.
An educated and relatively young workforce can attract multilateral investment to enable Canada to meet the standards required for competition in the insurance industry.
Canada fares well by most measures of quality of life, especially as regards safety, recreational activities, and overall cost of living.
Canadian people have a strong sense of insurance due to investment philosophy.

Technological

After 1970 the birth of modern computing & development in the information technology sector.
Technology and infrastructure are the areas in which Canada should increase the concentration to improve its competitiveness.
State of the art technology innovations in the insurance value chain is encouraged.
Also need to position for new skills needed in the future in newer Technology and Digital fields.
Social media marketing led towards the adoption of innovative marketing techniques and collaboration with customers.
Data analytics are opening new horizons of customer focused marketing.

Environmental

Weather and climatic conditions influence business efficiency such as extreme weather conditions can increase the cost of operations. These kinds of changes also influence spending patterns of consumers.
The pandemic has adversely affected the business.
The emission of greenhouse gases is affecting the environment badly which is in turn affecting all businesses.
Drift to Environmental Simulation Pricing Method from Historical Pricing Method.
The complication of environmental risk financing due to pollution exclusions (Ahmed, 2013).
The impact of insurance companies in containment of CO₂emission could be of great might.

Market Analysis – This is better.

The Insurance industry in Canada has seen a decline over the past five years to 2020 due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Industry operatives accept liability for life insurance policies, accidental death and dismemberment, and disability income insurance policies, while investing the premiums received from clientele into a variety of financial instruments.

The industry has largely suffered from the adverse economic effects caused due to the coronavirus pandemic, for instance an increase in the morbidity, and lower interest rates. Consequently, industry revenue is expected to decline by annualized proportion 1.6% to $76.7 billion over the span of five years to 2020, with a sharp decline of 6.8% in the year 2020 alone, as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Competitor Analysis

Provided below is the list and stats of competitors of Wawanesa Insurance on the basis of their annual premiums (Policy Advisor, 2020).

Name of Company	Founded	Headquarters	Annual Premiums	Total Assets
Primerica	1977	Duluth, GA	$311 M	$3.7 B
Assurant	1902	Toronto, ON	$279.7 M	$2 B
Knights of Columbus	1882	New Haven, CT	$210.6 M	$3.9 B
Humania	1874	Saint-Hyacinthe, QC	$158.3 M	$0.6 B

Internal Analysis – This is better but still more details are needed. See below.

Functional Activities

Operations: – More factors needed for this category

Executive offices of company are located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Area coverage by company, Canada, California and Oregon

Human resources:

Number of employees 5,100 (in 2018)
Learning management system for employees.
Performance management program for employees. – more details on this
What about benefits?

Finance and Accounting: -what about net income?

Total revenue of company by Dec 31, 2019 was $4,266,999.
Assets of over $9.5 billion
Total assets increased by approximately 9.1% in 2019 as compare to 2018.

Tangible and Intangible Resources – Add the tangible and intangible resources. Review the textbook and course notes to understand what needs to be included here.

The key competitive advantage of the company is based on two factors:

Intense Competition for Market Share: Every customer of the company who buys a policy from Wawanesa also owns a part of the business. There are more than 113000 Wawanesa policies in force with company assets in excess of $1.6 billion and as the customer base expands the company takes advantage of the economies of scale offered by large number. Wawanesa Mutual Life Insurance Company was converted into a wholly owned stock subsidiary of mutual insurance company which streamlined their operations and create better mutual support.

Volatile Interest Rates: The company remained loyal to its customers even in the times of economic downturn and also took the opportunity to consolidate its position. Profits are reinvested in the company to provide security and stability for the policyholder. As a secure and stable company, Wawanesa has built a reputation of putting the policyholder above else. (Wawanesa, 2019)

Current Performance Metrics – Add number of policy holders and net income here.

Total assets of $8.3 billion
Strong financial position with equity of $3.3 billion
Over $3.2 billion in annual policy premiums

SWOT Analysis

Strengths – These need to come from your internal analysis and shouldn’t just be one word descriptions

Differentiated services – how are they differentitated?
Technological leadership
Innovation – what makes them innovative?
Strong workforce
Ability to rate customer
Ability to make a good price
Financial asset leverage – How much? You have actual numbers above in the internal analysis that can be used here.
Strong brand goodwill

Weaknesses – Check the internal analysis to see if anything can be moved here.

Immature level of development of marketing efforts
No clear approach or roadmap of dealing with opposition from top tier insurance concerns.
High staff turnover. – How do you know this?
Low turnout on farms and personal properties. – How do you know this?
Losses from insurance operations. ??

Opportunities

Increased Business from the non-standard segment.
An increase in purchasing power encouraged greater consumer spending and individual investment, thereby stimulating broader economic activity.
The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators has made substantial efforts to introduce regulatory and industry advancement through technological innovations and financial technologies.
Greater demand for auto insurance.
Getting business through Product Reengineering as well as new product development. – I don’t know what this means
Allowed for a more refined pricing system. – I don’t know what this means
Adaptation of new technology.
Growing demand for “Drive Through” style for buying auto insurance.

Threats

Limit on the Profits – why? More detail needed.
Growing competitors into the non-standard segment.
Increasing deregulation in the insurance services industry – where did you get this? I didn’t see it listed in your PEST
Excessive customer segmentation
There are no real substitutes for many insurance products as often they are a legal requirement, e.g. Property, Health, and Motor insurance. – Why is this a threat?
In this context, alternatives also include other financial packages such as savings and investments. Whereas, savings and investments include deposits, mutual funds, and direct investments in equities and bonds.
Sometimes government rules and policies did not allow you to operate as you want to operate. They did not give you freedom to operate your new policies as you want. So, this is a big threat for the company
The insurance market is very mature these days. There have been some established companies doing all the business and there is less scope for the company these days. As most of the Canada population is getting older. Now company have to payback more money than they are going to earn.

References

Ahmed, Siddique & Siwar, Chamhuri & Sarkar, Md. Sujahangir Kabir. (2013). Impact of Environmental Change on Insurance Industry.
Canada Unemployment Rate | 1966-2020 Data | 2021-2022 Forecast | Calendar | Historical. (2020). Retrieved 14 October 2020, from https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/unemployment-rate
(Policy Advisor, 2020). Retrieved 14 October 2020, from https://www.policyadvisor.com/biggest-life-insurance-companies-in-canada/
(Wawanesa, 2018). Retrieved 14 October 2020, from https://www.wawanesa.com/resources/docs/Wawanesa_2018AnnualReport.pdf
(Wawanesa, 2019). Retrieved 14 October 2020, from https://www.wawanesa.com/canada/about-us/about-annualreport.html