Management of markets in diverse cultures

Globalisation has meant that the insurance industry too is becoming increasingly interlaced. ERGO, the primary insurer of Munich Re Group, is already represented in more than 30 countries, and international business is its most dynamic growth area. Between 1998 and 2008, premium income of companies abroad increased by approximately 316%, from €1bn to €4.3bn. According to Dr Jochen Messemer, Member of the Board of Management of ERGO Versicherungsgruppe AG and responsible for the insurer’s international operations, it is ERGO’s target that by 2012 international business should account for one third of the insurer’s total value; it is also intended that premium income from ERGO’s international business should reach € 7bn. Here, Dr Messemer focuses on the four pillars that underpin ERGO’s international operations: network management, the partnering approach, the hub concept focusing on expansion in regionally comparable markets and knowledge management to ensure the quick distribution of information within the entire group. The latter is regarded as particularly important by ERGO management. In order to be able to benefit from the specific knowledge and expertise of individual persons, departments or units working around the globe, the group attaches a high value to international knowledge exchange and, in particular to a system of knowledge management that is not confined to a uni-directional knowledge transfer from Germany to the various international units, but which entails exchange of expertise in all directions, including knowledge flow from the international units to Germany as well as between the international companies themselves