Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the influence of managerial competence, market competition, corporate governance and intellectual capital on business strategies and their impact on the financial performance of life insurance companies in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach – This research uses sample of 22 life insurance companies during 2013 – 2020 selected based on the purposive sampling method. Profit margin is used to identify the business strategy applied by the company. Binary logistic regression analysis and linear regression analysis were applied to test the research hypotheses.Findings–Business strategy has an effect on the company's financial performance that is represented by return on equity. Managerial competence, market competition, corporate governance and intellectual capital partially and significantly influence business strategy. Research limitations/implications – Business strategy is important for life insurance companies in Indonesia to achieve the goals. The research has implications with regard to the antecedents and consequences of business strategy to gain competitive advantage and finally achieve the financial performance.Originality/value – This research is integrated and comprehensive, as it includes the influence of competition and three internal variables related to human resource management competence.