Charting the rise of the halal market – tales from the field and looking forward

Purpose – To present a real-world industry perspective on the Halal market, which sits within several industry sectors, across the globe – with the aim of capturing expert knowledge and stimulating further research areas. /approach – Iterative face-to-face and email interviews with two international key experts and conference organisers in the halal sector, over a period of eight weeks. These were supported by naturalistic observation methods at the 2012 World Halal Forum, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A phenomenological approach was taken, which encouraged subjects to reflect longitudinally on critical moments and turning points. – It is clear that the stakeholders in the Halal constitute a new kind of industry in their own right: a diverse, complex, yet integrated industry - with a global reach that crosses geographic, cultural and even religious boundaries. The Halal industry intersects and shares common values with many other industry sectors and yet it has a unique set of issues and concerns that are specific to the Halal market. In the face of these factors, the field is still relatively in its infancy – meaning that currently there are gaps in knowledge, differences in opinion and key concerns; which looking to the future need to be addressed through continuous structured debate and dialogue. – Derived from the findings, it appears that the Halal sector is in need of further detailed research: across the Halal supply chain; which tackles contentious issues of legislation and Islamic jurisprudence in the modern global market; and faithfully captures the consumer experience. /Value – This paper provides insight into the Halal sector across territories and sectors, which is of value to practitioners and researchers.