Insurance products are distributed both by independent and dependent agents, although the use of independent agents is more costly. The product quality hypothesis states that independent agents provide both insurers and customers with higher service quality and therefore, remain on the market....

Until its liberalisation in 1994 exclusive agents dominated the distribution of products in the German life insurance industry. Since then, their importance has been declining for the benefit of both distribution via direct distribution channel and independent agents. However, the market shares...

To explain the success of different distribution strategies in the life insurance industry, we analyze the performance of single- and multi-channel distribution firms in the German life insurance industry. We estimate cost and profit efficiency for three groups of life insurers: multi-channel...