摘要：This article reports on the business success of the microinsurance (MI) industry in South Africa. T his was achieved by applying a theoretical model to measure the MI's business success. More specifically, the theoretical model identified the influencing fa ctors determining business success a nd their respective mea suring criteria . These influencing fa ctors a nd criteria were empirically valida ted and subjected to reliability analysis. T he invalid criteria were eliminated and the unrelia ble influencing fa ctors omitted in order to validate the theoretical model. The final va lida te d model and its inhe rent str uctur ed questionna ir e wer e employed as me asur ing tool to determi ne the business suc cess of MI in South Africa. The questionnaire c omprised a demogra phical profile and the mea suring criteria pertaining to the influencing factors of business success on a 5-point Likert scale. A tota l of 261 responses were a na lysed from a r andom sa mple of 400 insu rance agents. The results showed tha t none of the influencing factors portrayed general sa tisfa ction on business success and all of the mea n value s were below 60%. Therefore, the conclusion is dra wn tha t business success is not satisfa ctory in the MI industry. Cata strophic failure at price, as a core element of the marketing mix, shows that business success in this market is difficult to secure and that a stute marketing and business strategies would have to be employed for insura nce to become a produc t of cho ice for the low-end ma rket. All of the influencing fa ctors nee d manager ia l inter ve ntion.
关键词：Low-income H ouseholds. Living Sta nda rd Mea sure. Low-income Ma rket
