Analysis of managerial efficiency in insurance sector in the UAE: an emerging economy

Abstract

Purpose

This study sets out to analyze the efficiency and productivity issues of the insurance sector from both the policymakers' and investors' points of view to insulate the business and financial risks of UAE corporate houses.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses two inputs of “administrative and general expenses”, and “equity and change in legal reserves”, versus two outputs of rate of “return on investments” and “liquid asset to total liabilities ratio” to assess the allocative efficiency of the companies using DEA. Using the the Malmquist productivity index the efficiency is broken down into technical and scale efficiency to evaluate the performance of the insurers.

Findings

While the scale of operation of insurers is, by and large, acceptable, there is a considerable degree of managerial inefficiency among the insurers, with the least efficiency in 2000, and higher efficiency in 2004. Further, the insurers on average achieved a mere 0.8 percent annual gain in total factor productivity over the period in question.

Research limitations/implications

The data set is narrow with 19 insurers in the region, which is the limitation.

Practical implications

The results have policy implications for the regulators and managerial implications for the existing insurers to face the growing competition in the region.

Originality/value

This is the first study to investigate the productivity changes of insurance sector operations in a developing economy: the UAE in the Middle‐East region. The study findings help the insurers to take appropriate managerial steps to improve the efficiency of their operations.

Citation

Rao, A., Kashani, H. and Marie, A. (2010), "Analysis of managerial efficiency in insurance sector in the UAE: an emerging economy", International Journal of Managerial Finance, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 329-343. https://doi.org/10.1108/17439131011074477