Italian halal food market development: drivers and obstacles from experts’ opinions
ISSN: 1759-0833
Article publication date: 29 May 2019
Issue publication date: 21 October 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trends and prospects for the development of the halal market for Italian foods, with a focus on pasta production as one of the most valued products of the Made in Italy brand. The analysis takes into consideration drivers and obstacles for developing halal orientation strategies in world and internal markets and opportunities and threats for Italian food firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Market dynamics were investigated by a forecasting tool, the Delphi method, which aims to explore future market trends and give suggestions for firm strategies and policy intervention. Besides firms, other experts involved in the Italian halal food sector were interviewed. Answers were organised according to the level of importance given to the different issues and to the level of agreement between the opinions of the experts. These findings were then discussed in relation to the contexts, both external and internal to companies, that had given rise to such opinions.
Findings
The halal food market represents a good opportunity for enlarging the overseas markets for Italian products and producers. Several external and internal factors related to the demographic, the institutional, the market and the firm contexts, emerged. The challenges that non-Islamic countries, markets and firms face in the adoption of halal strategies are mainly due to the institutional context, to the scarce awareness of halal principles and practices, and to some suspicion of Islamic food and culture that does not yet seem well-known and accepted on the domestic market.
Originality/value
The Islamic food market has still to be fully explored in Italy, this is despite strongly emerging demand and a growing number of firms showing interest in implementing halal certification and entering new Islamic markets. The paper findings contribute to the scarce empirical literature about the halal market in Italy and give some recommendations both for supporting further studies, identifying preliminary implications and suggesting policy measures.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Authors would like to thank all the anonymous experts involved in the study survey.
Authors’ contribution: The paper is the result of a shared contribution by authors in all parts, namely, the conception and design, acquisition of data and analysis and interpretation of data; drafting the paper and revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published.
Citation
De Boni, A. and Forleo, M.B. (2019), "Italian halal food market development: drivers and obstacles from experts’ opinions", Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 1245-1271. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-05-2018-0087
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited