Author(s)

Lulu Shi, Yifeng Wang

School of Economics and Management, Xidian University, Xi’an, China.

In recent years, Chinese population is tilted towards older people, and it is very limited for the state to invest in the elderly care facilities. Encouraged by the national policy, many insurance companies have embarked on constructing and operating the retirement community. However, the profit model of these insurance companies is not clear yet, and the return on investment is low, in which China Life is quite typical. Therefore, taking China Life as the research object and Osterwalder’s nine-element theory as a tool, the paper analyzes the existing business model of China Life developing the old-age care communities, and uses the business model canvas to reconstruct a new business model. Finally, the paper presents three management suggestions—that is—joint ventures with professional management institutions, innovative insurance products linked to pension communities, and the securitization of old-age assets. That will provide references for other insurance companies developing old-age care communities.

Insurance Company, Old-Age Care Community, Business Model, Nine-Element Theory of Osterwalder’s Business Model

Shi, L. and Wang, Y. (2018) Research on the Business Model of Insurance Companies Developing the Old-Age Care Communities—Taking China Life as an Example. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 8, 1928-1940. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2018.89129.