FWD in Indonesia and BRI Life (B): Partnering for Rapid Growth

FWD is a young home-grown entrant in the Asian insurance market, which is dominated by giants such as AIA, Manulife, Prudential and AXA. Its mission is to change the way people feel about insurance by leveraging technology to create relevant products, make the buying process more efficient, customer- and distributor-friendly, and then scale up the business.
Case A covers the period 2010-20. With 5% annual growth for the past 20 years, Indonesia is fast becoming an economic powerhouse and is digitizing rapidly. The government has invested heavily in infrastructure, and poverty has fallen significantly. Rising incomes are associated with higher spending on welfare and savings, which augurs well for insurance products. For the last 25 years incumbent providers have relied largely on the traditional agency distribution, but market penetration rate has remained very low. Students are asked how FWD can exploit this huge untapped potential in the market.
Case B focuses on the partnership between FWD and BRI Life from 2020-23, notably the go-to-market strategy that enabled them the company to achieve a “top three” ranking among insurance companies in Indonesia. Case C is set in 2024, when FWD BRI Life is considering what to do next, and has many opportunities for consolidating the business. Students are challenged to evaluate the various possibilities and create a roadmap for 2024-27.

The FWD in Indonesia case series uses two frameworks created at INSEAD – the Phoenix Encounter Method and Blue Ocean Strategy – to help students develop their ability to devise disruptive new business models in legacy industries. Beyond the Phoenix Encounter and Blue Ocean Strategy, it can be used in courses on competitive strategy, corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, customer-centricity, distribution channels, go-to-market strategy and creating partnerships.