Thesis Direction
Pr Marielle-Audrey Payaud and Pr Michel Kalika
Thesis Title
Quality approach and overall performance of insurance companies in the CIMA zone
Abstract
Fourteen (14) African States have come together to standardize the insurance sector to ensure its development and profitability. This standardization took the form of the establishment of the Inter-African Conference of the Insurance Markets (CIMA), the Treaty of which entered into force on February 15, 1995. Since then, the CIMA legislator undertook a comprehensive reform program. These reforms related to “strengthening the protection of subscribers and beneficiaries of insurance contracts, governance, solvency, financial stability and financial inclusion. They have generated significant growth in turnover and an increase in the number of stakeholders in the CIMA zone. However, they had a poor impact on premiums as a percentage of GDP and on the brand image of insurance companies. With very accommodative regulation on governance rules, coupled with low penetration and claims payment rates, the CIMA market needs consolidation. In response to this situation, stakeholders in the insurance sector have taken several initiatives which have so far remained unfruitful. When analyzing the root causes of the governance problems of insurance companies in the CIMA zone, wouldn’t the influence of the quality approach on the good governance of insurance companies in the CIMA zone be the solution that could help insurance companies to face risks, through quality products and services, abiding by compliance rules? To properly identify the key concepts and fully understand the relationships between the multiple stakeholders, we have selected four theories related to our questionings around the main question. To measure quality, we found that the most common models, service quality deviations and SERVQUAL, are not transposable in the context of the CIMA zone. On the other hand, we found an interest in testing the Ishikawa diagram to identify the causes of poor governance of insurance companies in the CIMA zone. In addition to the theoretical approach, our field approach is based on semi-structured interviews with managers of insurance companies, managers of brokerage firms, chairpersons of professional associations, bank managers, supervision and regulation authorities. These interviews enabled us to address topics on the inventory of indicators of good governance of insurance companies in the CIMA zone, on the relevance of the quality approach in the CIMA context, and on the links between the practices of the quality approach and the levers of good governance of the companies studied. To reinforce reliability of the outcomes of our research, the semi-structured interviews were supplemented by a focus group and an online survey. The Ishikawa diagram made it possible for us to identify the root causes of governance issues faced by insurance companies in the CIMA zone. The analysis of the data collected during the semi-structured interviews and the online questionnaire enabled us to know the perception of the stakeholders of the insurance market on the rules and criteria of good governance. The outcomes showed that insurance companies in the CIMA zone have the ability to implement quality approach. Taking advantage of the influence of quality approach on good governance could be the solution for insurance companies in the CIMA zone to finally achieve the much-desired growth, while preserving the quality of their products and services and their profitability.