Progressives, Loyalists, Multinationals, and Newcomers: Clusters for Targeting Organisational Customers of Insurance | Eappen Thiruvattal, Dean Petrovici & Jose M. Alcaraz

The purpose of this study is to identify segments of organizational customers of general insurance (OCGI) based on their perception of value (CPV) and demographic data. Data were collected through 21 interviews, two discussion groups, and administering 400 questionnaires. Following exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a cluster analysis was conducted. Findings indicated the presence of four distinct segments of business customers with similar characteristics and perception of value – progressives, loyalists, multinationals, and newcomers. Positive reputation seems to be the most effective marketing appeal, which influences all the four clusters. These findings have value for insurance providers in target marketing. Given the similarities among the Arab countries in general, and among the six gulf cooperation council (GCC) member countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar) in particular, the authors expect that the results may be generalized to this region. This study may also contribute to filling this gap in the literature of CPV of OCGI.