Allstate Insurance Company Swot Analysis

Abstract

Allstate is engaged in the personal property and casualty insurance, life insurance, and retirement and investment products business. It is the largest publicly held personal lines insurance company in US. The company's diversified product portfolio protects it against demand fluctuations for certain offerings, and helps it compete against players in regional markets.

Introduction

The Allstate Insurance Corporation is one of the major and leading companies specialized in personal property and fatality in the United States. The Allstate Insurance Company has a wide range of insurance plans which includes automobile insurance, property coverage, life coverage, and annuity. The company operation is divided into four distinct units, namely, Protection, Financial, Discontinued Lines and Coverage's, and Corporate. The company operates mainly in the United States, Canada and the East. The products and services mentioned above are provided by the company through a number of agencies, namely, Allstate Insurance and Allstate Life insurance among others. This company is the leading insurer of personal property in the United States. The company is currently engaged in efforts to reinvent protection and retirement in order to assist a vast majority of the United States households and others regions where it operates. The customers are able to access products and services provided by the company such as auto insurance and mortgage insurance through one of their many exclusive agencies throughout the United States and Canada. The company has it's headquarter located in Illinois, the United States (Allstate, n.d).

With an active company in many diverse products and interests of the level of Allstate Insurance Company, there are a variety of objectives and goals which are being pursued in a day-to-day basis. The section below gives an outline of some of the most descriptive and prominent of the company's objectives, strategies and policies. A comprehensive case will follow as to whether these goals are correlated and therefore exhibiting consistency throughout. Contrary to some organizations, the implementation of these goals by the Allstate Insurance Company are not just implied, but in the actual sense aided by practical application, a fact that proves that the company is not just "a lip service" company, but a company that actually aims at achieving its objectives, maintain high level of standards, and stick to its word. This is clearly not only in a financial sense, but also in various ethical and social responsibility initiatives and other activities the company is currently executing.

Mission

A company could not find a more appropriate slogan than the slogan of the Allstate Insurance Corporation: You're in Good Hands with Allstate. In order to ensure that every unit of the company succeeds in this mission, certain guiding principles have been established to meet the objectives of the company in the most efficient manner, which has demonstrated improved efficacy. However, as a result of increased internal growth and employee population, it is increasingly becoming necessary to redefine such philosophies in print (Allstate, n.d).

Objectives

In order to sustain the Allstate Insurance Company mission, more particular objectives have been pinpointed as the main aim of the corporation in upholding its beliefs and establishing on its previous financial success. The corporate goal of the company is to grow the value of the company for the clients, partners, and the community at large. In line with this goal, the company has identifies certain core values, namely, honesty and integrity, accountability and engagement. Generally, these objectives are translated into improved sales and profit, upholding high quality standards, and continuing growth (Allstate, n.d).

Strategies

Coherent with the corporate goals, Allstate Insurance Company has implemented a number of strategies geared at achieving the aforementioned objectives. These strategies include:

* A distinctive management system centered on timely decision making and accelerate operations

* A system that enhances the process of solving and flagging problems (Allstate, n.d).

Financial position

During the third quarter of 2009 fiscal year, Allstate Insurance Company produced an operational income of about 538 million US dollar. This has been attributed to proactive investment approaches and operational discipline. The total revenue for this period was valued at 7.6 billion US dollars, representing an increase of 3.6 percent from the same period in the previous year. This implies reduced capital losses as compared to 2008 fiscal year, partly offset by a decline in net investment income. The net income and operating income for the third quarter was valued 221 million and 538 million US dollars respectively, as compared to the net loss and operating loss of 923 million and 190 million US dollars respectively in the same quarter the previous year. Improvement in income has been attributed to reduced catastrophe losses. The company's property liability product produced improved margin strength, particularly in the automobile business with a combined ratio of 94.7. This has been due to the effects of catastrophe losses in the mortgage business. The strong financial position realized in the third quarter of 2009 fiscal year has been attributed to establishment of a strong leadership team. In particular, Mathew Winter and Mark La Neve were appointed the president and CEO and chief marketing officer of the company respectively. The experience and leadership skills endowed in Mathew have helped and will continue to help the financial position of the company to continue (Reuters, 2009).

Internal environment: Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Allstate Insurance Corporation is a leading brand in the provision of personal property insurance. The company has a strong brand recognition and portfolio. The company has been valued at 538 million dollars during the third quarter of the 2009 fiscal year. In addition, it has been ranked fair position as compared to its close competitors. Furthermore, Allstate Insurance Company has a wide range portfolio of brands. The company owns one of the leading product brands in the world, namely, product liability program, mortgage insurance and annuity. A strong brand name enables Allstate Insurance Corporation to introduce new brand such as Focus to Win program. Over the years, Allstate has established huge investments in promoting its