Introduction
The insurance sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in Saudi Arabia. The recent introduction of compulsory insurance cover for all private employees, regardless of company’s size, has had a positive impact on this sector.
Government reports and other private publications have ranked the sector among most promising sectors in the world. Many Arab countries are considering Saudi Arabia as a potential investment destination.
Tawuniya Insurance Company is one of the fastest growing firms in insurance sector. Despite the economic down turn that has been experienced in Saudi Arabia in the recent past, Tawuniya Insurance Company has registered a steady growth, making it one of the largest insurance firms in the region. Set up in 1986, this company has made an effort to transform the insurance sector in this country.
It has managed to set new standards in the market of insurance, regularly introducing new products in the market that are responsive to the needs of the consumer.
This company has also made it its personal duty to educate public within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia about the importance of insuring both businesses and persons. It has been so active in conducting corporate social responsibilities in a bid to have a society that is well educated on health matters and issues pertaining to safety at work place.
The company has undertaken to have the best employees, who are technologically advanced in order to run its activities efficiently. Its employment policies are also very friendly, making it one of the best employers in this region. This is what made the researcher interested in conducting a research on this company.
Tawuniya Insurance Company: An Analysis of the Company
This insurance firm got operational on January 18, 1986 to offer reinsurance and corporate insurance activities. It was given a commercial registration number 1010061695 as a limited liability company. Its headquarters are located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
With an employee population of over 2000, this company is ranked as one of the largest insurance companies in this region. Its services are offered in three categories, namely: Property and Casualty; Motor insurance; and Medical sector.
This company has several branches in various regions within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Some of those locations include Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Najran. This giant company operates in other regions outside Saudi Arabia. Some of the countries where this company operates include Egypt, Iraq, United Arabs Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Lebanon among other countries.
The company operates in an Islamic country and therefore it upholds Islamic doctrines. The company has a Sharia Committee, headed by H.E, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Suliman Bin Manie as the chairperson, Dr. Mohamed Bin Ali and Sheikh Yousef Bin Abdul Aziz as members.
Formed on 25th of February 2007, this wing is charged with responsibility of ensuring that the entire company complies with the requirements of Sharia law in its operations.
The Company Ownership
Tawuniya Insurance Company is listed in the Saudi Stock Exchange market. The Saudi nationals majorly own this company. Close to seventy percent of the shares of this country is owned by the Saudi National, while corporations and individuals own the other thirty percent from other countries.
The management of this firm is under the watch of Mr. Soliman Al-Humayyad, who is the chairperson to the board of directors; Mr. Ali Al-Subaihin as the chief executive officer and a host of other directors.
Through its Investor Relations Department, this company has maintained a positive relationship with its investors, always providing them with the necessary information periodically, strengthening the relationship between the management and the owners of the company.
The Human Resource Department
Tawuniya Insurance Company has made an effort to ensure that it acquires employees with top qualifications in this industry. It is one of the best paying insurance companies in this region. The Human Resource Departments in various regions where it is operational have made concerted effort to ensure that their employees are always provided with the best services while at work.
Other than the good remuneration that the company offers, Human Resource Department has designed other services for its employees to ensure that their welfare is taken care of. Its employment policy of taking employees from any part of the Arab world has enabled it acquire more qualified workers from various regions of the world.
Due to this fact, Tawuniya Insurance Company has managed to have a pool of marketing team which understands the marketing environment. This team, through long experience of working in the insurance industry, has a mastery of the market expectations and the strategy that is workable in this industry.
The marketing team is well coordinated with other departments in all the regions where the company operates. The products have been designed to respond to the needs of the customers and the government regulations.
Tawuniya Insurance Services: A Case Study
The marketing department of this company has managed to develop marketing strategy that has seen it penetrate both markets at home and abroad. Through electronic marketing, this firm has managed to attract customers from various regions, increasing its market share.
The government’s report indicated that despite the decline of various insurance firms within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tawuniya has maintained a growth in the entire regions, a sign that the company has managed to develop marketing strategies that are market friendly. This can be analyzed as below:
Building Customer Relationships
Marketing has experienced changes in the recent past. Initially, many multinational companies gave more prevalence to production (Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler 39). This was an inward out approach to reaching customers. The main issue was that the companies were to produce, as much as was possible, and then the market would be offered that which is produced.
This has completely changed, as the consumers get more knowledgeable. Technology has turned the world into a global village, making information easily accessible to both the customers and other competing firms. Aaker notes that companies currently have to deal with more demanding customers who are aware of what they want and alternative stores where they can go, in case they fail to get satisfaction in one firm (63).
Because of technology, firms are also forced to embrace market competition. They have to appreciate the fact that market has other players, and to achieve a sustainable market share, there is need to develop market strategies that will attract more customers to the products offered by the company.
Customer relationship refers to the bond or the attachment that a firm has with its customers. Building customer relationship is very important for any firm that hopes to succeed in any market.
This involves attracting and retaining customers. For any firm to be in a position to attract a customer, they must respond to desires of such customer. This involves issuing communications that are relevant, and convincing them that the products of the company are the best in the market.
Other than awareness creation, there may be need to conduct other promotional campaigns that will enable the product to appear as attractive as is desirable. The product positioning should be done having taken into consideration the target market of the company, and the characteristics of such target markets.
Target market differentiation will enable a marketer understand the needs in each market, thus enabling them respond to such specific needs. For service firms like insurance companies, this may be a little more demanding.
Unlike goods, which can be seen physically and be assessed easily by the customer, services lack this tangibility. A marketer must create the satisfaction in the mind of the customer before the service is bought. This may call for detailed explanation as to why the company’s products are of superior quality to those of competing firms.
For an insurance firm, the marketer must start by explaining benefits of various insurance policies that are available for the customer. They must be in a position to dispel the feeling that insurance is a government’s regulatory policy that serves little or no help to the insured. It is only through this that customers will be attracted to the firm.
Customer relationship is built when the company has managed to successfully retain its current customers. This will demand that the customers be satisfied with the services of the company. A satisfied customer is most likely going to come back to the firm for the same service.
The ultimate aim of any marketer is to have a thrilled customer who will be an evangelist to the firm (Keller, Aperia and Georgson 84). Such customers will attract other customers to the services of the firm because they are convinced that the firm’s services are the best.
Case Study: Building Customer Relationship at Tawuniya Insurance Company
Tawuniya Insurance Company has developed structures to ensure that customers are well taken care of. Through its marketing department, this company has embraced electronic marketing to enable its customers access the necessary information about the services offered by the firm. Customers can easily get information they need by website.
This site offers customers opportunity to access all the services offered by Tawuniya Company. It also enables visitors to make inquiries to the firm. This has seen many customers attracted to it because customers can easily communicate the needs to the firm and response comes soon after.
This company appreciates the fact that it is operating in an Islamic country. Most of the customers are strict adherents of Islamic laws. To appeal to this market, it developed the Sharia Committee in February, 2007. This committee is purposed to ensure that all the activities of the company are in line with the Islamic laws.
This has made it position itself as a responsive company to societal needs. This has seen it develop a huge customer base. The company has also developed customer feedback program to permit customers to communicate with the company on any issue that may be of concern.
The company has been lauded by several organizations within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as one of the most reliable insurance companies. It is very efficient in paying out claims to its clients without subjecting them to unnecessary procedures.
This has earned it admirations from many customers in this region. Most of the customers who have experienced the services of this firm have testified the responsiveness and efficiency of the firm.
Service Development and Design
Service design refers to all the activities that involve planning and coordinating employees, infrastructure, communication, the products and other materials that relate to service with an aim of improving the quality of relationship between a particular firm and its customers.
Service development involves designing products, which in this case are services, which are able to satisfy the needs of the customer at the time in which it is needed.
Service development and design is a comprehensive process that requires the marketer to understand the needs of the customers, develop products that will respond to their needs and develop a bond between the company and its customers. The purpose of this is to ensure a pool of satisfied customers who are willing to come back for more of the company’s product. Services are unique in that they can not be touched.
Their value is felt when they are consumed. A marketer should be in a position to bring out the value of the product before the purchase. This means that he/she should be in a position to create the satisfaction in the minds of customers before consumption.
This may be a very challenging task, especially in the field of insurance where many individuals fail to understand the importance of taking insurance cover (Hoyer and Maclnnis 95).
Case Study: Service Development and Design at Tawuniya Insurance Company
This company has developed a marketing strategy that is very responsive to the market demands. The marketing department has formed a team of experts whose main duty is to conduct market surveys in order to understand the needs of the market.
With the Saudi government having developed a policy that all companies must take insurance cover for all its employees, marketers in this industry find themselves with a double-edged sword whose benefits can be as promising as they can be devastating. The main benefit of this government policy is that many individuals and corporate organizations will be coming for insurance cover.
This increases the scope of the market. With an enlarged market, the company can easily expand its operational units because of increased customer base. This will directly be reflected in the profits of the firm.
On the other hand, the marketing department faces a difficult task of convincing customers that this policy is not a punitive directive that only intends to reduce their net income, but a program that is put in place to facilitate unfortunate cases of emergencies. The company has achieved this through its promotional campaigns.
It has managed to convince many Saudi nationals and citizens from other countries where it operates that this program aims to benefit the insured individuals. Because the products offered by this firm are intangible, the marketing team has made a great effort to use other catalysts like appropriate communication to the customers, serene working environment that is a reflective of the company is offering among other strategies.
Customer Defined Service Standards
The standards of a product can be defined from three fronts. It can be a government defined standard where the government stipulates the expectations of various firms operating within its boundaries. This can be achieved through various government agencies. This is always the case when dealing with products, which have a great impact on the livelihood of the citizen, especially products that are related to health.
The company can also set standard. This happens when the company decides to differentiate its products in the market from those of competitors. The aim of this may be to attract as many customers as may be possible to the company in order to remain competitive in the market.
The last approach is the customer-defined standards. In this case, the customer sets the standards of the products targeted to him or her. This is very common in cases where several companies offer a particular product, and the customer is exposed to a variety.
In the current market of insurance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, customers are faced with a variety of options from which to choose. Various large insurance firms offer almost the same service. Customer defined service standards demands that the company must first understand the needs of the customers.
The company then provides services that meet such expectations at prices affordable to the customer. The marketing unit must make a deliberate step to get from the customers what they expect the company to offer. After getting this information, the company will then design its products to reach or surpass this expectation.
Case Study: Customer Defined Service Standards at Tawuniya Insurance Company
This company has made a deliberate move to ensure that its insurance services are customer defined. The company values its customers and it has therefore structured itself in such a way that all the customers can easily reach the firms with various recommendations.
It has made communication with customers easy through the website. This allows customers to communicate directly with the company about the services they receive and their opinions about the general management of the firm.
The company then takes the responsibility of acting upon these recommendations and makes readjustments to its products periodically. Belch and Belch reports that this company has broken the normal tradition in the insurance company to provide new products to the market, making it one of the most adored insurance companies in the region (125).
This has facilitated the growth of the company over the recent past, despite the slow economic growth of the country and the decline of major competitors.
Conclusion
Tawuniya Insurance Company is one of the fastest growing insurance firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The firm has managed to weather the economic storm that has rocked many firms, forcing others out of the market.
This can be attributed to its ability to survey and comprehend the needs of the market. Having realized the importance that the market attaches to religion, this company developed the Sharia Committee in 2007. This was to ensure that activities of the firm adhere to the norms and expectation of the populace.
The company has gained market share against more advanced competitors like General Organization for Social Insurance, United Commercial Agency Group, Gulf Cooperation Insurance Company among a host of others. With a marketing team that is dedicated to achieving the company’s strategic objectives, Tawuniya Company is destined to achieve a lot in the near future.
Works Cited
Aaker, David. Marketing Research. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2001. Print.
Belch, George and Belch, Michael. Advertising and Promotion. New York: McGraw Hill, 2004. Print.
Hoyer, Wayne and Maclnnis, Deborah. Consumer Behavior.New York: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
Keller, Kevin, Aperia, Tony and Georgson, Mats. Strategic Brand Management. London: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Zeithaml, Valarie, Bitner, Mary and Gremler, Dwayne. Service Marketing. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.