Skip Navigation



Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization Advance Access published online on September 7, 2009
Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, doi:10.1093/jleo/ewp023
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Forman, C.
Right arrow Articles by Gron, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Vertical Integration and Information Technology Investment in the Insurance Industry

Chris Forman*

Georgia Institute of Technology

Anne Gron

NERA Economic Consulting

* College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA. Email: chris.forman{at}mgt.gatech.edu.

In this paper, we examine whether frictions created by differences in firm boundaries affect the speed with which firms adopt new Information Technology. Using a rich dataset on organizational characteristics and Internet investment by over 100 firms in the insurance industry, we show that vertical integration in distribution has a significant impact on the speed with which insurers adopt consumer Internet applications that complement the existing distribution relationship. Vertical integration, however, has no effect on the adoption of tools that enable electronic communication between an insurer and its sales force. Furthermore, vertical integration has no affect on the adoption of Internet technologies, such as basic access, that are not used in distribution. (JEL D23, L14, M15)


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.