Competitive forces:
The industry is highly competitive with 90 life and health insurers within Canada. Canadian-controlled firms have 80 per cent of the Canadian market. At least 200 private general insurance companies exist in Canada. Also, mandatory auto insurance coverage is provided exclusively bygovernment-owned auto insurers.
[This too could be expanded. While there are 90 insurers, the major competition is from who? You should list and analysis the major ones here.]
The competitors are |Sunlife and Greatwest life insurance
Positioning strategy
Manulife Insurance has a strong reputation amongst its customers in all the regions where it is based. Its distribution network is very large with more than 30,000 agents. It has very cordial relationships with various banks and brokers. Japan is one of the largest market of the Asian region where the company is currently operating (Manulife). It aims to penetrate in those markets which have a low penetration rate. It wishes to position itself with countries which have high scope of improvement economically.
The company’s strategy is to become a key player in the insurance market in every country and it aims to increase its agents, ensure secured partnerships with banks, increase the number of branches in various regions, keep the cost of operations low, employee only knowledgeable and proficient managers to run new branches. The company makes efforts to increase awareness about the Manulife brand in all regions through hardcore advertising and outbid its competitors. It abides by the country’s regulatory framework as far as possible so as to gain their trust. It needs to capitalize to increase business specifically in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. and develop products based on the customer preferences (Wong, 2012). The focus of Manulife is to provide such products which shall cover all the risks and enhance its Bancassurance relationships (Wong, 2012).
["Positioning is not what you do to the product. Positioning is what you do to the prospect." (Positioning: The Battle for You Mind, Ries, A & Trout, J {the originators of the concept.}) IOW Positioning is what the customer thinks of you, or what you are trying to have the customer think of you. It's not what you are offering. You've got a good positioning idea. I'd like to see it rewritten so it says what you want the customer to think of you. What do you wan the customer to say if asked, “What do you think of Manulife?” The answer to that question is the positioning statement that we want here.]
Objectives and Issues
Objectives
Like any other insurance company, Manulife insurance’s primary objective is to provide risk protection to its customers who are either individuals or business entity. Manulife Insurance visions to be the top three players in their key markets. To increase the company’s business, new markets needs to be explored. It needs to enhance service quality to its customers and build similar strong networks in the new markets. The company needs to maintain its competitiveness, financial stability, a reliable system and openness and transparency in their transactions (Manulife).
Marketing objectives:
The objective of the company is to pursue sustainable growth and execute on Asian strategy (Cook, 2012). The marketing strategy of the company aims at capitalizing the opportunity of expanding into the emerging Asian market.
What share do you want, where and by when? Objectives MUST be measurable both in amount and timing. Ask yourself, how much and by when? Marketing objectives are about volume, margin (price), share, penetration and awareness. So a share objective might be, “Reach 15% share of insurance sales in Thailand by yearend 2015.”
Financial objectives:
The financial objective of the company is to achieve earnings of C$4 billion and 13% ROE by 2015 (Cook, 2012).[So what are the financial objectives in Asia? Financial objectives deal with revenue, cost, and profit, and sometimes credit. So a revenus objective might be “Achive $XX in sales revenue in the Asia/Pacific region in 2014.” “Reduce forcast cost of sales by 3% in the AP Region in 2014.” Here are a couple of objectives for you to update and use. Point forn works well here. Use a separate point for each objective. Makes sure that each point answers the question, how much and by when?]
Societal objectives:
The objective of the company is to develop a strong relationship with the society and the public. Through its CSR activities like health care, education, community service and local volunteering, the company give back to the community and the environment in which it operates (Manulife). The company has partnered with Volunteer Canada to create what is called “bridging the gap” – an initiative to prepare the more current and detailed information about the changing nature of Canada’s volunteers. [These 2 must be measurable. Redo this entire section and make ech point measurable.]