Lean Approach of the Philippine Non-Life Insurance Industry

Abstract

The study determined the effectiveness of the use of Lean Approach in the non-life insurance industry in the Philippines in terms of these aspects: basic thinking, mindset and assumption setting (culture), process improvement, capability development, management system and situational/value driven approach, as a basis to establish an industry-wide baseline so that the insurance companies can craft a roadmap to a more solid implementation of Lean Approach in the insurance industry. Descriptivemethod of research was used. A total of 773 non-life insurance professionals were surveyed (449 supervisory, 147 middle management and 177 top management), using self-structured survey questionnaire. Majorityof the respondents are supervisors. All respondent insurance companies are corporations, dominantly offering commercial products and majority of which are in existence for 50 years and above and have total assets of Php 1,250,000,001 and above. A larger part have 501 and above number of employees. From the aspects cited in this study on the effectiveness of Lean Approach utilization, the non-life insurance industry in the Philippines is demonstrating an effective and strong indication of positive initiative in this area. Lean Approach in terms of job position level (culture, capability development and situational approach variables) and number of years in existence (culture variable) are significant aspects in the effectiveness of Lean Approach utilization that needs to be taken into account. A quality management program based on the five aspects indicated in this study is highly recommended to ensure the excellence at execution performance of insurance companies.