Fleischer, MartinMartinFleischerBraun, AlexanderAlexanderBraunUfert, AnetaAnetaUfertWalthes, FrankFrankWalthes2023-04-132023-04-132022-09https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/108341https://doi.org/10.1007/s12297-022-00530-7Perfect competition describes the theoretical ideal of a market. For the insurance industry, this paradigm is more current than ever before. The digital transformation shifts the insurance industry closer towards a perfect market. The existing polypolistic market structure splits up into two submarkets: a classical market with customers that rarely compare different offerings and a transparent market in which standardization and comparisons are of central importance. The transparent comparison market is much closer to a perfect market than the classical market. It also implies other profit function drivers. As a consequence, the two submarkets require different competencies. Insurers are confronted with a strategic dilemma: they can either enter the comparison market and specialize on its characteristics by being a fast follower. Alternatively, they have to lay their focus on the permanent break-away from the comparison market and build up unique selling propositions that make them first movers.dejournal article