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From traditional to Islamic

marketing strategies
Conceptual issues and implications for an
exploratory study in Lebanon
Laurent Tournois and Isabelle Aoun
Grenoble Ecole de Management, Grenoble, France
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the foundations of an Islamic market oriented
cultural approach regarding its possible implementation by non-Muslim firms.
Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a critical review of existing literature on
Islamic marketing and branding. Related market oriented strategies (from a cultural perspective) are
discussed regarding their possible implementation by non-Muslim firms, particularly in the context of
Lebanon.
Findings It is found that the theoretical foundations and the results of existing research hold back
the understanding and implementation by Western firms and marketers of Islamic marketing
principles.
Research limitations/implications The paper presents only conceptual arguments; it does not
include empirical examination at this stage. A quadrad is finally proposed in order to validate these
arguments.
Practical implications Western businesses are faced with many dilemmas when it comes to
taking decisions based, in particular, on the understanding and the implementation of marketing with
an Islamic root. The major challenge lies in responding successfully to the needs and requirements of
Muslim customers through complying with Islamic principles and practices without alienating
non-Muslim customers.
Originality/value Most of the existing research on Islamic marketing concerns Muslim firms, but
few Western firms, when targeting both Muslim and non-Muslim populations. The paper stresses the
importance of expanding the frontiers of recent work on Islamically-rooted market oriented strategies
with reference to conceptual foundations of traditional marketing strategies through the value
creation goal. Finally, the paper questions the relevance of the traditional dichotomy between global
standardization and localization.
Keywords Lebanon, Islam, National cultures, Marketing strategy, Islamic marketing/branding,
Market orientation, Islamic cultural values
Paper type Conceptual paper

Education, Business and Society:

Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues
Vol. 5 No. 2, 2012
pp. 134-140
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1753-7983
DOI 10.1108/17537981211251179

1. Introduction
Weak economic growth rates negatively impacting consumption in mature markets
has opened the race more than a decade ago to emerging markets as volume drivers.
Besides, the academic and managerial attention given to Asian markets namely
China and India, as well as South American markets mainly Brazil, as a solution to
the global economic crisis, research interest in Muslim majority markets is on the rise.
Macroeconomic indicators reinforce this growing interest: 23 percent of the worlds
global population is Muslim, and projected to reach 33 percent by 2030 (Pew Forum,
2011). The growth of the global Muslim population presents opportunities and

challenges for tapping the rising Shariah compliant market estimated at $2.3 trillion
dollars annually (Al Bayan, 2010).
However, the type of marketing or market orientation strategy to be adopted for
engaging in Muslim majority markets remains subject to multiple standpoints. In that
respect, the international development and definitions of marketing models addressing
those specific markets, has given rise to research themes including Islamic marketing
and branding in the lead. Concerning western (non-Muslim) firms, our question is the
following: should their marketing strategies be designed within existing frameworks
of market orientation or within recent works on Islamic marketing and branding?
This paper will present the theoretical foundations of Islamic marketing and
branding. The limits of the related market oriented approaches (from a cultural
perspective) will be explored regarding their possible implementation by non-Muslim
firms. The next step of this exploratory research on integrating Islamic cultural values
in the market oriented and product policy strategies of western firms will be introduced
in the context of Lebanon.
2. Theoretical background of the research
2.1 From Islamic marketing to Islamic branding
Most research on Islamic marketing has initially taken reference in business ethics
frameworks. Subsequent research gradually developed interest in a comparative
between traditional and Islamic financial services (Al-Ajmi et al., 2009; Awan et al.,
2011; Butt et al., 2011; Khaliq et al., 2011; Manshor et al., 2011), and in Muslim
consumers perceptions towards the predisposition of firms to integrate Islamic Law
principles (Sharia-compliance) to their marketing mix (Bin Yusuf, 2010; Kalthom and
Mohd, 2010), and specifically to halal products or Islamic branding challenges (Baker,
2010; Wilson and Liu, 2010; Ireland and Rajabzadeh, 2011; Wilson, 2011).
On the concept of Islamic branding, Ogilvy Noor (2010) define it as:
[. . .] branding that is empathic to Shariah values, in order to appeal to Muslim consumers,
ranging from basic Shariah-friendliness to full Shariah compliance in all aspects of a brands
identity, behavior, and communications.

Temporal (2011) sets it as marketing initiatives attempting to address the needs of

Muslim consumers, be it in Muslim majority or minority markets. Alserhan (2010) sheds
light on brand Islamization, related to international brands trying to enter Muslim
markets or appeal to Muslim consumers. It appears most studies stay focused on the
food industry and compliance with Islamic rules leads to categorize halal as a
product(s) with branded components (Venkatesh and Mahajan, 1997). As a result, the
research gives little indication on how to apply those principles outside the food
industry. Moreover, and to date, they mainly address challenges faced by Muslim
businesses and marketers in defining the marketing mix according to Quran and
Sunnah principles, and hence reinforce the ethnocentric dimension of this newborn
discipline.
Islamic guidelines ensure that the interest of all parties in a transaction, that is, the
buyers, sellers, business partners and the community are safeguarded (Kalthom and
Mohd, 2010). As such, Muslim businesses are able to maintain a balance between their
profit making responsibilities to the company, providing safe and quality products to
the consumers, and ensuring the welfare of society (Kalthom and Mohd, 2010).

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It is interesting to note that this business philosophy carries the seeds of value
creation towards consumers and outreaches to all stakeholders involved in the process,
as formulated in the evolved definition of marketing stated by the American Marketing
Association in 2004, in answer to the suggestions of Midgley (2002). Nevertheless, and
to our knowledge, research on Islamic marketing and branding shows no reference to
this value creation outreach, which, in our opinion, might shake the conceptual
foundations of this young discipline. Finally, the theoretical foundations and the
results of existing research hold back the understanding and implementation by
non-Muslim firms and marketers (i.e. western firms) of Islamic marketing principles.
2.2 Towards an Islamic-based view of market orientation
A more strategically embedded research stream has recently developed, with the aim of
proposing an Islamic-based view of (a) market-oriented cultural model(s) (Norhayati and
Asmat-Nizam, 2010). The main argument of the authors is as follows: in order to export
halal products and services internationally to Muslim customers, firms will need to
implement different strategies as compared to exporting the goods to non-Muslim
customers. Their marketing strategies must be aligned with Islamic values, standards
and guidelines, hence addressing the limits of previous research that mainly attempted
to understand strategic marketing decisions based on western ideologies and principles
(Nakata and Huang, 2005). Conceptual foundations of this framework lie in previous
works on market orientation and culture mainly from Homburg and Pflesser (2000),
Hofstede (1991) and Schein (1992).
Nevertheless, the objective of defining marketing strategies that are compatible with
both the organizational culture and with customers who have diverse preferences in
this case, for example, Islamic requirements leads to some confusion as it seems to
aggregate culture and organizational structure. On another hand, the research
underlines:
[. . .] for non-Muslim firms, organizations need to inculcate the Islamic values so that the
appreciation and total adoption of Islamic values can be acculturated among the employees in
the firms. Failure to incorporate organizational culture that adopts the Islamic practices,
procedures, structures, and values will then lead to failure in producing halal products that
strictly comply with the Islamic standards as required by Muslim customers (Norhayati and
Asmat-Nizam, 2010).

At this stage and without empirical validation, this statement remains subject to
caution and hence the question of feasibility of implementation is raised within western
firms operating at international scale. Finally, the model does not take into
consideration the market conditions, namely competitive pressure, state of existing or
potential demand, and the power relationship between the different players. Additional
research is hence necessary.
2.3 Bridging the gap between traditional marketing strategies and Islamic cultural
values
Surprisingly, there is no mention of the value creation objective in any of the research
on Islamic marketing and branding, and even in the recently developed work towards
defining a more strategic framework, even though the marketing philosophy has been
advocating this notion since decades (Drucker, 1954; Alderson, 1957). We assume that
value creation is not a western concept but that universally transcends cultures,

as well as economic and religious contexts. Perhaps, it is in the new 2005 definition of
the AMA that we should look for conceptual grounding that would bring the
disciplines together rather than producing with Islamic marketing and branding yet
another panacea (Badot and Cova, 2008).
Given that the chosen research ground is Muslim majority markets, and in light of
the limitation of previous research, we believe necessary to examine them within a
reference frame that would enable decision making in light of product strategy. In that
respect, the economic value creation of firms is perceived as a process implicating an
innovative combination and an exchange of multiple resources (Nambisan, 2002). This
conception contributes to dissociate the value of a product as perceived by clients in
light of the competitive offers, from the process of generating that value, which is
internal to the firm, and its evaluation in terms of performance. We take the stand of
considering that one of the key elements in this process is the adoption of a market
orientation strategy by firms. This direction is categorized as an intangible resource
(Srivastava et al., 1998), offers a sustainable cultural structure enabling the leveraging
of consumer understanding (generically labeled as demand), and the competitive
activities, with the aim of reinforcing the fundamental capabilities that continuously
generate a superior consumer perceived value (Slater and Narver, 1994).
It is a fact that the research of Homburg and Pflesser (2000) has proposed a market
orientation framework in which the culture of market orientation is antecedent to the
behavior stemming from market orientation, of which they are the manifestation
(Gotteland et al., 2007). We believe that considering the characteristics of Muslim
majority markets, this decisive research should be enriched with complementary work
to extend the concept of market orientation to new behavioral demonstrations. The
implicit objective of integrating new dimensions is to extend market orientation
towards a more exhaustive understanding of the organizational environment
(Gotteland et al., 2007), while looking at the different roles and influences of the
players in Muslim majority markets. Our reflection will be based on a quadrad
typology proposed by Henriques and Sadorsky (1999). The latter constitutes a strong
theoretical anchor, considering that Shariah regulates all aspects of daily life (politics,
family, social, business, economics, sexuality, etc.) and its principles do not prohibit
profit making but advocates resource sharing and giving back to the community.
These approaches thus offer a solid framework for our research, with the desire
firstly to use past work as a starting point and then to expand their frontiers with
recent studies on Islamic marketing and branding.
3. Conclusion and implications for future research
Within a different cultural setting, marketing strategies need to be assessed and
implemented differently by (western) multinational corporations. Thus, this research
would like to raise the issue whether this dichotomy is still relevant because western
brands will tend towards a form of Islamization and acculturation and said local brands
to a certain degree of Westernization. The phenomenon of convergence/divergence might
change practices from glocalization to fusion marketing (Sheth, 2011). At this stage, the
first step in this regard could be summarized as follows: what does it mean to be market
oriented for western firms operating on Islamic markets? This query updates the debate
between global standardization and localization that has endured for many years
(Birnik and Bowman, 2007; Coskun and Jacobs, 1994; Okazaki, 2005).

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We chose as a field of study Lebanon which is a typical example of a country where

multiple religions coexist (Christians, Druze, Muslim Shia, Muslim Sunni) and multi
sectarian affiliations intertwine within a single religion. It reveals a homogeneous cover
while, as many emerging markets, it is inherently heterogeneous and complex (Rice,
1984). In this context, can religion be a segmentation criteria and drive market-oriented
strategies of western firms? Religion is one of the characteristics that influence the
culture of a given group, other characteristics being language, institutions, nationality,
customs, etc. Therefore, religion and the degree of religiosity can influence to varying
degrees individual consumption habits, hence brand choices, and consumer behavior,
plus the weight of influence of faith in everyday life. In these conditions, we assume that
using the tribal metaphor might extend the conceptual foundations of Islamic marketing
and branding in considering Muslim targets (as well as non-Muslim targets) as
consumer tribes (Cova et al., 2007) whose behavior is part of a social framework which is
governed by Shariah rules. The underlying rationale is that the link is more important
than the good itself, which reinforces the emotional and symbolic relationships between
brands and consumers but also among consumers themselves. Thus, marketers who
understand the structure and ethos of a sub-culture of consumption can profit greatly by
serving its needs with not only products and services but also with all of the flow-ons
(Cova, 1996).
In terms of methodological choices, we chose quadrads as units of analyses
(Deshpande et al., 1993). Thus, our sample will be constituted by four firms/customers
dyads at the branded-product level of aggregation:
(1) a local brand that practices Islamic marketing;
(2) an international brand that practices Islamic marketing;
(3) a local brand that makes no difference between Muslim and non-Muslim
groups; and
(4) an international brand that makes no difference between Muslim and
non-Muslim groups.
As underlined by Deshpande et al. (1993), this kind of approach is time-consuming and
extremely expensive to be completed successfully. Therefore, we will only focus on
four market segments: haircare, hair coloring, make-up, and fashion. In a context such
as that culturally diverse country in terms of religious practices, this research takes on
particular significance and interest is thereby strengthened.
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Corresponding author
Laurent Tournois can be contacted at: laurent.tournois@grenoble-em.com

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