Creating Global Competitiveness through Culture and Religion

Abstract

The Halal food industry is of fundamental significance to Muslims around the world as it assures safety and security in their dietary requirements and consumption, which must be Syariah compliant. In Muslim countries especially, the Halal industry is a vital contributor to societal development and national economic growth. Additionally, over the last decade marketers around the globe, too, have been strategically promoting and strengthening the Halal food industry by targeting primarily critical geographic clusters with large Muslim populations. Although the production, certification, and global coordination effort appears to be made largely by Malaysian and Indonesian authorities, the industry is still very fragmented, and scholars attempting to obtain reliable and valid data face serious challenges. Nevertheless, data gathered from non-academic sources indicate that the global Halal market (food and non-food) is estimated to be in excess of US $2.3 trillion, and the volume of the global Halal food sector alone is reaching US $700 billion annually. The portion of the non-food sector is estimated to be even greater, with chemical, healthcare, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries to name just a few. Furthermore, the Syariah compliant services, which include finance and banking, logistic, warehousing, and distribution, are rapidly gaining acceptance in the global Halal market. The Halal industry within the global context is an under researched field of study in scientific literature, in business, and in social science. This chapter investigates the strategies used by marketers to globalize the Halal food industry with the aim to gain and sustain international competitive advantage.