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Organizational structure and the internal economy of the firm: The UK insurance industry
Author(s) -
Ingham Hilary
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
managerial and decision economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.288
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1099-1468
pISSN - 0143-6570
DOI - 10.1002/mde.4090130602
Subject(s) - organizational structure , tertiary sector of the economy , business , insurance industry , service (business) , industrial organization , structural change , empirical evidence , manufacturing sector , marketing , market economy , economics , management , labour economics , actuarial science , philosophy , epistemology
There now exists a substantial volume of empirical evidence which has examined the superiority of the ‘M’‐form organizational structure for the management of large, diversified enterprises. Regrettably, attention has mainly been focused on manufacturing companies, despite the rising importance of the service sector in most major economies. This paper examines organizational structures within one segment of the UK service sector: the insurance industry. In the UK this industry has undergone significant, regulatory‐driven structural change and, as a consequence, the majority of companies have undertaken organizational change. The results produced, however, suggest that many of these companies adopted sub‐optimal divisionalized structures.