Communication and Lloyd's reconstruction Available to Purchase

This paper is concerned with outlining the role of ‘communication’ and ‘measurement’ techniques in the successful achievement of one of the longest and most complex financial re‐structurings undertaken in commercial history. It sets out the background of a financial crisis which deepened and threatened to overwhelm Lloyd's, a three‐centuries‐old financial institution whose name is synonymous with ‘insurance’. This paper is based on an original presentation to the Insurance Institute of London in November 1996 entitled, ‘Lloyd's PR Under Siege’. It outlines some of the many difficulties faced in securing a successful resolution to a complex problem which had a worldwide dimension, from which important lessons can be drawn for ‘crisis management’ applied within organisations. In particular, reference will be made to the role played by quantitative and qualitative ‘attitudinal research’ among key audiences and to the deployment of ‘media evaluation’ techniques in support of communications objectives.