Year 2007 - Critical Success Factors

Supply Chain Management in Insurance Industry In this 21st century, fierce competition in global markets and the ever rising expectations of consumers have forced business enterprises to invest in and focus attention on, the relationships with their customers and suppliers. While the need for increased efficiency in enterprise operations persists, modern management thinking advocates the collaboration among business partners and the responsiveness to client needs as additional thrusts towards a successful competitive strategy. It is within this context that Supply Chain Management has become part of the senior management agenda. Recently, applications on SCM have been growing in many industries; executives of insurance enterprises are becoming aware that successful coordination, integration and management of key business processes across members of their supply chains will ultimately determine their competitive success. Insurance intermediaries/brokers increasingly realize that they no longer compete as solely autonomous entities. Instead, competition occurs more and more among entire supply chains. And they also know that they cannot produce an overall insurance solution without addressing the entire supply chain of their customers. One important driver for enterprise employing SCM is the convergence of information technology that enables frequent exchange of huge amounts of information among chain participants, which facilitates supply chains to be global. Consequently, there is a need and an opportunity for a joint approach of business partners from all over the world to establish more effective and efficient supply chains. This is especially true in insurance supply chains since insurance products are globalize and the concept of customer-centric is so important. Conclusion:We should Think, Act and Organize in a Flat way A flat world challenges our views of our supply chains and our organizations. No company can afford to see itself as a solitary player. Every organization is part of a network and recognizing this creates the opportunity to better architect and orchestrates this network. Ultimately this means successful organizations in the flat world need to be flatter themselves. They need to reshape themselves with the same drivers that have made the world flat. As customers become more empowered and technology more fluid, these organizations need to become more customer centric. As organizations become networked, companies need to build capabilities in network orchestration. As the line of sight becomes broader in a flat world, organizations need to take a broader, more holistic view of their own value chains. As value communities are more loosely linked, organizations need to create the right architecture to ensure that they meet the goals of their stakeholders. As the world changes quickly, organizations need the right balance between stability and flexibility to react effectively without becoming hyper-reactive. As organizations need build scale to compete globally, they also need to be designed to think and act entrepreneurial. The world is becoming flatter. This is an unavoidable trend, although there will clearly be bumps along the road and these are often a source of opportunity. As the world reshapes itself, we have to reshape our own thinking.We need new mental models to understand the opportunities and threats of this new environment and to act effectively in it.We need new ways of thinking, designing and propelling our organizations for a new world. Dr. Victor K.K. Fung , GBS., Chairman of Li & Fung Group Dr. Victor K Fung is the Group Chairman of the Li & Fung Group of companies. He also holds a number of civic and professional appointments, namely, Chairman of the Greater Pearl River Delta Business Council, the Hong Kong Airport Authority and the Hong Kong University Council, Chairman of Hong Kong - Japan Business Co-operation Committee. In January 2007, Dr. Victor Fung became Vice-Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce and will be Chairman in the year 2008. 13 HONG KONG CHAMBER OF INSURANCE INTERMEDIARIES 2007 YEARBOOK 香港保險中介人商會二○○七年年刊