International Group of P&I Clubs
Market insight

The world’s largest and most prestigious mutual P&I insurers belong to the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG) which enables them to deliver the highest level of stable and robust cover available. And while P&I cover is an essential facility to enable world trade, it is complex and not always central to the workaday thinking of a shipping executive.

With a grown-up and confident attitude to business, the IG was keen to understand more fully how the Group was perceived by a range of constituents including the shipowner members of the 13 mutual clubs, insurance brokers, P&I correspondents, regulators and legislators, the media and a wide spectrum of other maritime players. Navigate was asked to assist.

Our approach
Working with the IG we devised a four month schedule of investigation and analysis. We began by interviewing senior executives from all 13 clubs. We wanted a clear idea of their thinking, how they viewed the IG and what they wanted from the research -  and we also needed their help for the next steps.

Quantitative
We then spent some time conducting in-depth interviews with a range of club members. These were shipowners from various geographies, sizes and specialisations. The aim was to tease out the key issues to help us develop a quantitative survey. Armed with this, we created an online survey that was sent to shipowners world-wide. At the same time, we developed a similar, but tailored survey which was sent to the global insurance broking community. Results were collected and analysed and any interesting or surprising issues were followed up with further, in-depth telephone interviews.

Qualitative
Once we had generated the IG’s view of their stakeholder “universe”, we set about a lengthy series of face-to-face and telephone interviews with a broad range of IG stakeholders. All interviews followed a pre-determined topic guide but our interviewers had the freedom to wander off topic to investigate related areas of interest.

Outcome
The mix of qualitative and qualitative research generated a huge amount of information that we distilled into a series of key findings and conclusions for the IG. A comprehensive written report, including anonomised, but verbatim comments was produced alongside an easy-to-digest executive summary. Frank, robust and sometimes unexpected conclusions were given and these are being used to inform the IG’s future strategy.

Gaining a comprehensive understanding of external perceptions and viewpoints is vital for any organisation wanting to improve, grow and thrive in today’s uncertain environment.