Headquartered in the Midwest, SIA was an umbrella organization offering a wide range of insurance products to commercial customers of all sizes throughout the country and, increasingly,to multinational corporations throughout the world. Overall the years it had diversified into various types of insurance by absorbing smaller companies until it now consisted of more than 30 separate business units. Each had its own hierarchy,characterized by strong top-down administration and the well-defined rules and procedures typical of the insurance industry; virtually every employee possessed specialized knowledge about a narrow defined market niche.