| 1. |
- Abdul Kader, Hale, et al.
(författare)
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The determinants of reinsurance in the Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar years, 1919–39
- 2010
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Ingår i: Business History. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 52:2, s. 268-284
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Drawing a framework from agency theory, we use a panel data design to examine the factors motivating the level of demand for reinsurance in the rapidly developing Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar period 1919–39. We find that as hypothesised, reinsurance enabled Swedish fire insurers to mitigate underwriting and solvency risks and thus increased their capacity to underwrite new business in uncertain economic times. This in turn helped to increase the supply of indemnity coverage for property (buildings) fire risks in the Swedish insurance market. We also find that as expected, investment earnings are inversely related to reinsurance purchases. However, contrary to what was hypothesised, reinsurance appears to be positively related to liquidity levels, suggesting that over our period of analysis, fire insurers could have been reinsuring to ‘protect’ earnings and accumulated cash reserves therefore enabling investment opportunities to be realised. Analysis of the sub-period 1919–28 further supports this contention, while our results for the economic depression years after 1929 show that reinsurance helped mitigate underwriting and insolvency risks, suggesting that the reinsurance decision of fire insurance companies could be motivated by macroeconomic factors.
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| 2. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(författare)
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Firm size and growth in Sweden's life insurance market between 1855 and 1947 : A test of Gibrat's law
- 2014
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Ingår i: Business History. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 56:6, s. 956-974
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using data for the period from 1855 to 1947 and the two sub-periods, 1855-1902 and 1903-47, the article examines whether the organic growth rates of 38 Swedish life insurance firms are independent of size, as predicted by Gibrat's (1931) Law of Proportionate Effects. Using panel unit root tests and panel Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) regression, the article finds a significant difference between the growth rates of small and large Swedish life insurance firms (with smaller firms tending to grow faster than larger firms), a result that clearly contradicts Gibrat's Law as a long-run tendency in the Swedish life insurance sector. significant influences were also found on firm growth from profitability, organisational form, reinsurance, the real rate of interest and the Swedish regulatory environment.
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| 3. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(författare)
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Managing policy lapse risk in Sweden's life insurance market between 1915 and 1947
- 2020
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Ingår i: Business History. - : Routledge. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 62:2, s. 222-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We examine the challenges that Swedish life insurers faced in managing the lapse risk of policies written on the lives of the industrial urban working class between 1915 and 1947. We observe that with the threat of State socialisation of insurance in the 1930s, industrial life insurers modified their business practices to better control policy lapses. Using firm-level data, we also analyse the effect of socio-economic changes, such as rising real wages, interest rate fluctuations and unemployment on life insurance policy lapses. Our results support contemporary tests of the emergency fund and interest rate explanations for the voluntary premature termination of life insurance policies.
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| 4. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(författare)
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Mutuality as a control for information asymmetry : a historical analysis of the claims experience of mutual and stock fire insur ance companies in Sweden, 1889 to 1939
- 2011
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Ingår i: Business History. - Ilford, Essex : Cass. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 53:7, s. 1074-1091
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We test two competing arguments regarding the influence of organisational form onunderwritingperformance usingdatafromtheSwedish fireinsuranceindustry for the years 1889 to 1939 – a period of both economic growth and stagnation. Since mutuality is a response to information asymmetry problems, mutual insurers are expected to report lower annual claims relative to premiums than stock insurance companies. However, an alternative view is that stock insurers seek to reduce information asymmetry problems by issuing non-participatory rights insurance contracts with high deductibles that induce risk-sharing between the insurer’s shareholders and policyholders. This implies that stock insurers are likely to report lower annual claims than mutual insurers. Our results show that organisational form is an important determinant of the claims experience of Swedish fire insurers, suggesting that mutuality acts as an effective control for information asymmetries in the market.
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| 5. |
- Almbjär, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Mercantilism from below? : Swedish consuls and merchant networks between Naples and Stockholm in the mid eighteenth century
- 2023
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Ingår i: Business History. - : Routledge. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; , s. 1-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- he article examines the relationship between state policy and commercial initiatives within the institutions of the ancien régime, namely consuls. By exploring the case of the Swedish consulate in Naples in the mid eighteenth century, it addresses the role of private actors in the establishment of consulates, the Swedish authorities’ problems controlling the consular network from a distance, not least because of the specificity of the local operational contexts. The article challenges the standard interpretation of the Swedish consular service being subject to an effective government-led policy of controlling and promoting the expansion of the Swedish merchant marine in the Mediterranean. Further, it suggests considering consuls as ancien régime entrepreneurs of a particular type, who used their political resources to achieve both economic and symbolic outcomes, by taking a pragmatic, micro-analytical approach to the relationship between institutions and the economy.
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| 6. |
- Alvaro-Moya, A., et al.
(författare)
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Business history special issue on foreign investment and the development of entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities in host economies
- 2020
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Ingår i: Business History. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 62:7, s. 1063-1078
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This special issue is the result of a workshop on the effects of foreign direct investment on the development of entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities in host economies. Our aim was, rather than to look at the more generic competencies of firms, to call attention to the knowledge, skills and abilities embodied in individuals and, particularly, in managerial and technical professionals working for subsidiaries of multinationals or for local companies with foreign investors. We specifically addressed the question of to what extent these professionals' capabilities could have been born, developed or shaped by working for, or alongside, foreign firms. This may explain in part the rapid ascension of the so-called dragon or new multinationals from late industrializing and emerging economies. Foreign investment is considered to have stimulated economic modernization and industrial progress in a Gerschenkronian way, thus advancing catching-up with traditional economic leaders. Our approach to the effects of foreign investment on host markets, therefore, would contribute not only providing insight into corporate internationalization strategies and international human resource management, but also into how industrial progress and economic modernization spread to new areas and regions. We aim to address these two traditional research questions of management and economic scholarship from a microeconomic and hence business-history-oriented perspective, as well as beyond these to professionals and education systems, through the analysis of knowledge transfer at country, industry and firm level.
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| 7. |
- Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, et al.
(författare)
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United We Stand, Divided We Fall. : Historical Trajectory of Strategic Renewal Activities at Scandinavian Airlines System, 1946-2012.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Business History. - Oxon, United Kingdom : Routledge. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 59:4, s. 572-606
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although the second half of the twentieth century saw the rise and fall of ‘multi-flag companies’ (MFCs) in the civil aviation industry, our understanding of how some managed to buck the trend and achieve longevity remains limited. This article advances business history and strategic management research by examining the strategic renewal activities of Scandinavian Airlines (formerly Scandinavian Airlines System [SAS]) during the period 1946–2012. The study sheds light on the key roles of private and state owners, rivals as well as banks, in critical financial phases are discussed in terms of longevity in the company. The longevity of the business stems from the leaders’ ability to develop as anticipated and respond to change in their competitive arena in close interaction with the owners. Thus, incumbent firms that strategically renew themselves prior to or during market reform, such as deregulation, enhance their chances of developing the size of their networks and revenue streams. Our main contribution to business history and strategic management literatures is the development of context-specific stages, which shed light on the evolution of strategic renewal activities and shifts from older processes and routines towards customer service and efficiency.
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| 8. |
- Andersson, David E.
(författare)
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Innovation and entrepreneurial networks in Europe
- 2021
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Ingår i: Business History. - ABINGDON ENGLAND : Informa UK Limited. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 63:1, s. 171-172
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Recension (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 9. |
- Andersson, Lars-Fredrik, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Exclusion of women and organizational characteristics : Swedish mutual health insurance 1901-1910
- 2019
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Ingår i: Business History. - : Routledge. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 61:8, s. 1352-1378
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mutual societies have been recognised for their ability to mitigate information asymmetry. Although successful in reducing sickness claims, the exclusion of women was common. Health insurance societies argued the exclusion was a means to reduce adverse selection and moral hazard since women were regarded as higher risk. In this paper, we explore differences in organisational characteristics between societies that excluded and societies that did not exclude women as members between 1901 to 1910. Based on panel data, the study shows that societies that excluded women were less successful in keeping down sickness claims, in relation to benefits, than gendermixed societies
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| 10. |
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