1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………. 3
1.1 SWOT Analysis …………………………………………………………………………… 6
2. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION …………………………………………………………………. 7
3. PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH …………………………………………………………… 8
4. LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………………………………………... 9
4.1
HALAL FOOD ……………………………………………………………………………..
9
4.2
CUSTOMER PURCHASE INTENTION ………………………………………………
10
5. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS …………………………………………………………………
11
6. DATA COLLECTION ………………………………………………………………………… 11
6.1
FOCUS GROUP ………………………………………………………………………….
11
6.2
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW ……………………………………………………………….
12
6.3
SURVEYS …………………………………………………………………………………..
12
QUESTIONNAIRE ……………………………………………………………………...
13
7. SAMPLING TECHNIQUES AND SAMPLE SIZE …………………………………
14
8. DATA ANALYSIS …………………………………………………………………………
14
9. CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………………
15
10.REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………
16
2
1.
INTRODUCTION
Koutoubia is a Moroccan company currently operating in agri-food sector and specializing in
delicatessen. The story of Koutoubia began in 1985, the company was founded by a Moroccan
Mohammed Belghiti Khennoussi and was later bought by Taher Bimezzagh. 1In 1993 the
company sold 20 tons of units in a year and now it supplies 75% of the market with selling
around 8 million tons of units per year while manufacturing more than 60 products. Its product
line includes Turkey and chicken cuttons, snacking, skewers, and sausages. After the five years
of activity the company decided to diversify its product line with the addition of potato paste
and jam. However both products experienced a very short product lifecycle. The company is
surrounded around 30,000 m2 and about 60-80 MDH were invested in two poles including
slaughter and cutting of poultry and salting and canned meats.
The Koutoubia is not only limited to a single company but it is the group of 6 largest companies
including SAPAK, Delight Meat, Casa Meat, Beldinde, SABAV and Tradastar each one specializing
in different product lines. The main objective of the company is to better satisfy its products’
customers and consumers by constantly providing them with a wide range of halal products. In
Morocco, Koutoubia was the first company in the meat processing sector to be awarded with
certificate of ISO 9001 version 2000. Later on in 2006 the company also achieved the certified
22000. The company not only targets its Halal food to Muslims but also to non-Muslims. Its
halal sausages attract more non-Muslim customers just because these customers consider halal
meat products quality much better than the non-halal products.
With the increasing Muslims population Koutoubia emerged in Morocco as the national leader
in providing and processing the Halal Meat. Halal is an Arabic term that translates to
permissible and refers to the set of rules in Islam that dictates permissible and forbidden
activities mainly involving food and drinks. With the increased population of Muslims, Islam has
become the second largest religion in the world and the demand for the Halal Food has become
a crucial requirement for meat and food processing companies. 2The halal food market is about
to grow from $45 billion to $58 billion from 2017 to 2022. Islamic finance as being the largest
sector of global Halal industry enjoys a 43% share of market followed by halal food with 36%
market share.
Halal Market is about to exceed the $3.7 by the end of 2019. The world halal market is
estimated to be worth USD 2.3 trillion of which USD 700 billion is food. Although halal food was
1
https://www.lavieeco.com/news/economie/koutoubia-la-saga-dun-boucher-entreprenant-67.html
2
https://www.statista.com/topics/4428/global-halal-market/
3
introduced only for Muslims but now a days people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds are
showing interest in them because of their safety and ethical qualities.
3
Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014-2025)
3
Meat & Alternatives
Milk & Milk Products
Grain Products
Other Halal Food & Beverage Products
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/halal-food-market\
4
Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014-2025)
North America
Europe
Turkey, Russia, Germany, UK
U.S
Asia Pacific
Indonesia
Malaysia
Middle East & Africa
Pakistan
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Morocco
Central & South America
Brazil
Halal Food Distribution in Spain
Independent wholesalers handle the Halal Food distribution in Spain. Wholesalers provide
competitive prices for Halal meat by cutting down on middlemen. Some of the leading
distributors of Halal food are Thira Foods, Carrefour and Tariq Halal. In Halal food distribution
Carrefour was awarded with the certificate by the Ritual Association of Grand Mosque of Lyon.
It provides with e-commerce services. Carrefour provides with a range of halal sausages and
cheese products.
Tahira Food is another leading distributor of Halal products in European countries including
Spain, Denmark, and Italy, approved by the World Islamic Foundation. The company provides
with wide range of high quality and reasonable priced products in food segments such as frozen
and fresh fish.
Tariq Halal is a retailer of frozen, chilled and fresh meat. Its distribution is done through
butchers, wholesalers and cash and carries. The company offers unique marinated offerings
such as chili with chicken under frozen range.
Legal Requirements of Exporting in Spain





4
4The
animal for the halal food should be cut from the neck with the name of ALLAH.
There should be the Halal certificate tag for the product.
Exporters must get the documents and must provide to the General Register.
Every exporter must apply for licenses at the register of Spain’s Secretariat of
commerce.
Each exporter must ensure that they got the necessary licenses.
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/tradehelp/ {Accessed 17 Jan. 2019}
5
Factors require for entering in Spanish Halal Food Distribution




The biggest and main factor that already has been described is the halal food certification for
the distribution of halal food that matters a lot for the customers. Products without the halal
certificate are not accepted.
The second most important factor is the competitors. Because there are already giants available
in the halal food market for the distribution they have created different barriers that affect the
entry for new entrants to enter in the market.
The third factor is the culture and language. Because the Koutoubia is a Moroccan based
company. There are a lot of differences in cultures of both countries Morocco and Spain. The
languages are quite different. In addition to these customers need and purchasing patterns also
differ a lot in both countries.
In addition to these factors different product standard also affect the entry in distribution of
Halal food products.
1.1 SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths


Customized Products meeting the
requirements of both customers and
law.
Wide range of Hygienic products with
safety standards.
 Certificate of ISO 9001 version
2000.



Weaknesses





100% Halal Moroccan products.
Enough awareness about poultry
products.
Own suppliers and distribution
network.
Opportunities




Less Diversification.
Non-creative packaging.
Lack of nutritional information at
package labelling.
Products having short expiry duration.
Unfair and less competition as
compared to other companies.
Reaching about 5500 people with
more than 400 stores.
Market Growth and Development.
With increasing demand of Halal Food
more export oppertunites.
Less market risk by diversifying the
group activities.
Threats





Low Market Share
Lower Product prices.
Competitive market.
Competitive Prices.
Customers having enough product
knowledge.
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2. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
With the growing halal food market, the competition among halal food processing companies in
getting intense day by day. Companies are trying to better meet the customer requirements
related to halal food products. Due to heavy competition organizations try their best to get
more loyal customers and to sustain them, and it is one of the most difficult tasks. In Muslim
countries including Morocco, there is 100% Muslim population and therefore it is an attractive
market for ready halal food products fulfilling with an extensive demand of halal products. With
such high demand of halal product still the export volume of Morocco is relatively small as
compared to other countries such as Algeria, Indonesia and Malaysia. The reason is that the
companies lack the halal certificate. Halal certificate matters a lot for Muslims consumer. Halal
certificate and logo are two main things that derive Muslims customer purchase intention.
When it comes to halal food, Muslims don’t accept the transaction until they don’t see a halal
logo or tag at the product. In case of halal meat they only accept meat from livestock that is
slaughtered using the sharp knife start cutting from neck.
Western countries are relatively poor than other halal food providing countries like Malaysia,
and Algeria. Therefore Koutoubia suffers from value chain problems. To address this issue
company needs effective marketing strategies and continuous innovations in products to
strengthen its position in the halal food market. The company needs to adopt and implement
an effective value chain strategy in order to retain, consolidate and develop market share and
to create more demand in Halal food sector. Although Koutoubia is a Moroccan leader in Halal
food industry and has the most extensive distribution system that provides a reference point
for its competitors to attack and imitate. The company need an effective strategy to retain its
position in the market.
This research is focused to identify the different factors driving the halal food market. And to
determine what are the main factors other than halal logo and certificate that Muslim
customers take into consideration before making the halal food transaction.
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3. PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
The Purpose of this research is to determine whether it is possible for Koutoubia to tap into
Spanish Halal food market where there are already giants available such as Grupo Norteños and
the meat company like Moralejo Selección.
The Spanish halal food industry provide with a lot of opportunities. The Spanish meat sector is
the country’s fourth largest industrial sector. The Spanish meat sector consists of
slaughterhouses, cutting rooms and processing industries. 5In 2014, the beef meat production
of Spanish meat sector was 641003 tons and there was 0.6% increase in it as compared to the
previous year 2013. The pork meat output of the Spanish meat industry in 2017 was 84.5%
making Spain the world’s fourth largest pork producer. Spain is the 3 rd largest beef meat
provider with 9.7% total meat production.
Objectives of the Research




Identifying the factors that affect customers purchase intentions while purchasing Halal
Food.
To identify whether there is demand for halal food in Spain and if it is how much
consumer is willing for the halal food.
To identify the satisfaction level of Muslim customers in consuming the Halal products.
To determine how much halal certificate or logo matters for Muslim customers of Spain.
sentidocomun.es, D. (2019). El sector c�rnico espa�ol. [Online] Anice.es. Available at:
https://www.anice.es/industrias/area-de-prensa/el-sector-carnico-espanol_213_1_ap.html [Accessed 14
Jan. 2019].
5
8
4. LITERATURE REVIEW
The objective of the following literature review is being held to gain information about the Halal Food
industry and to understand how customer purchase intentions affect Halal Food industry.
4.1.
HALAL FOOD
As Islam is the world’s second largest religion. It forces Muslims to adopt food that is being
prepared according to the principles of the religion. Therefor halal food demand has increased
substantially and the requirement of Halal food processing has become a crucial requirement
for food processing organizations. 6The halal food market is booming day by day and has now
become a brand identifier and is moving to mainstream markets while affecting and changing
the perceptions of conducting business. The worth of world’s halal food market is $2.3 trillion
out of which $700 billion relates to food items. However these figures only relate to the Muslim
population.
The usage of halal logo and certification is of much interest of Muslim customers in Malaysia.
The Malaysian customers have become so much conscious about the halal food that they do
not buy or engage in any transaction until they don’t see a halal logo or certificate. The concept
of Halal is not only limited to the slaughtering of animals but it also implies to the production,
transportation and services. 7Zakiah Samori and Amal Hayati in their study stated that
consuming the halal food bring peacefulness to every man and consuming something which is
not Halal and impure disturbs our health and cause different disease.
8A
study was done on Spanish halal food industry stating that the Spain is different from the
rest of European countries with a mixture of Christian and Muslims. People living in Spain are
also so much conscious about the Halal Food standards and they do not accept the meal if it
does not contain halal logo or certificate. Spain is a country that provide hospitality to the
6
Mohd Noor, & Muhamed Rizki Moi. (2015). Potential of Halal Industry For Maghrib Countries. Journal
of Islamic Banking and Finance.
7
Zakiah Samori, & Aamal Hayati. (2014). Understanding the development of food Standards .
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity.
8
Riesz, L. (2017). A Solution to Halal Pork in Spain. Journal of Business Administration.
9
people of all religions and there are a lot of restaurants that are able to adapt to the Halal
Foods need of Muslims. There are certain products that have gotten the halal certification by
Halal institute providing full guarantee that they meet the Islamic law requirements. There are
already restaurants available in Spain with Halal certification including Los Almendros and El
Faro in Marbella. They also provide customer with other services such as preparing dishes in
advance using ingredients governed by Islamic Law.
4.2.
CUSTOMER PURCHASE INTENTION
Purchase Intention is actually the plan, made to purchase products and services. Purchase
Intention are the chances that a consumer will buy certain product or service. Purchase
Intentions are consumers’ preferences for the willingness to purchase product or service. 9Vicki
Morwitz once stated that marketing managers usually rely on the consumer Purchase Intention.
The most important reason is that consumer Purchase Intention are used for the prediction of
future sales and also determines that how the manager’s action impact the consumer’s
purchasing behavior. In the same study Morwitz elaborated that consumer Purchase Intention
are also important for estimation of consumer’s demand for new products and services. These
studies are done to assess that enough customers are willing to buy for the new product.
Before making decision about products and services marketing manager carefully analyze the
consumer Purchase Intention that how they recognize a need, what kind of factors trigger
consumer need how customers evaluate different products to satisfy their need and how they
make their purchasing decision. 10Sohail Younas and Fiza Rasheed in their study explained that
organization are very sensitive to consumers’ Purchase Intention and pay attentions to
Purchase Intention for the long-term survival in the market place and to maintain their good
reputation. They also stated that another significant aspect of purchase intention is that a
consumer will always buy a product after careful evaluation.
9
Morwitz, V. (2014). Consumers' purchase intentions and their behavior. Foundations and Trends in
Marketing, 1.
10
Sohail Younas, Fiza Rasheed, & Anas Zia. (2015). Identifying the Factors Affecting Customer Purchase
Intention. Global Journal of Management and Business Research: A Administration and Management, 1.
10
Different factors affect the consumer Purchase Intention including product price, product
packaging, product design, and product knowledge. Consumers’ feelings are strongly associated
with the product price, design and packaging. Many organizations argued that these factors are
very important to build strong image in consumers’ minds and also show the quality of the
product. (Sohail Younas, Fiza Rasheed, & Anas Zia, 2015).
5. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The following hypothesis can be derived from the study.
H1: There is a significant relationship between effective value chain strategy and halal
food’s demand in Spain.
H2: There is a significant relationship between halal certificate and Spanish Muslim
customers’ satisfaction.
6. DATA COLLECTION
6.1.
FOCUS GROUP
Focus group will be structured for open in-depth discussions with a group of selected
participants. The purpose for conducting the focus group will be shared with the group
participants. The focus group will be recorded and transcribed. The main purpose of the focus
group will be to gain the customers insights about the halal food products. Focus group will
consist of 8-10 participants both male and female of age between 25-50 years. The duration of
the interview will be maximum one and a half hour. The focus group will include the Spanish
citizens who are familiar with the halal food products and have knowledge about the halal food
market. There will be moderator present to observe the answers of the respondents. The
participant will be asked open-ended questions that will provide with detailed response from
the participants of focus group. Some of the questions that will be asked in focus group will be.
Q1: What is your understanding about Halal food market?
Q2: What is your perception about halal food products?
Q3: Do you check Halal logos and certificate while buying the halal products.
Q4: What criteria do you use before buying the Halal products?
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The respondents will also be asked to share their opinions about halal products.
6.2.
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
In-depth interviews will be conducted with the experts of Halal food industry who are Muslims
and have excess knowledge about Islam Sharia and Halal Compliance and are willing to share
their experience and knowledge to gain information about the Halal food market. It will be
helpful in getting required information from a specific target group. Semi-structured in-depth
interviews will be conducted because they are widely used and yield the accurate information
about the experiences of respondents. The in-depth interviews will being conducted on
designed questions. The interviews will be conducted face to face and questions to be asked
will be divided into two parts, the first part will be related to the interviewee’s opinion about
the halal food and the second part will about the Halal food market’s requirements. Before
starting the interview the respondents will be informed about the purpose of the interviews.
The interviews will be recorded so that interviewers can analyze them accurately after the
interview being held and to get the correct and accurate information. The respondent’s
answers will also be noted down on papers for data analysis. The duration of the interviews will
be 30-40 minutes and interviewers will try to yield as much information as possible.
6.3.
SURVEYS
In this type of data collection questionnaires will be distributed to citizens of Spain to
determine their preference and interest about halal food. There will be only 15 questions in the
questionnaire because respondents get bore if questions are more than 15 or 20 and they don’t
give accurate response. The first 5 questions will be according to the demographics of
respondents. From Q6 to Q10 they will be answered as only Yes or No. The remaining five
questions will be answered according to Likert Scale with 1 being the strongly agree and 5 being
the strongly disagree. Total of 400 questionnaires will be divided to get the response.
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Questionnaire
Yes
No
Do you understand the term Halal?
Is it important for you that the product that you consume is
processed using the halal food processing method?
Do you check for Halal logos and certificate before buying the
Halal products?
Is the availability of halal products in market important for you?
Do you go to the restaurants for Halal products or order them
online?
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Halal Products provide satisfying level of
nutritional values.
Halal products are important for health.
Halal products are safe and free from
harmful material.
Halal logo is necessary for Halal products.
I feel satisfy eating Halal food having halal
logo.
Demographics
Please Mark the right option.
Gender
Male
Age
80-20
Education
Graduation
Profession
Business Executive
Marital Status
Married
21-25
Female
26-30
31-40
Master
Market Expert
40-Above
Post-Doctorate
Public Service
Student
Un-Married
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7. SAMPLING TECHNIQUES AND SAMPLE SIZE
Two types of sampling techniques will be used for the research.


Probability Sampling
Non-Probability Sampling
Sample Size
The sample size will consist of 350-400 respondents including both males and females of 25-50
years old. The sample size will include both Muslims and Non-Muslims.
8. DATA ANALYSIS
Data will be analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Regression and cointegration analysis will be used. ANOVA will be used to test the significance of statements
made in the questionnaire and interviews.
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9. CONCLUSION
The research confirms that the increasing population of Muslim is the driving factor for the
Halal food industry. However the success in Halal food industry does not only depends on the
Muslims population. There are also many other factors that contribute to the success of Halal
food business. Muslim populations are projected to increase at higher rates than their
counterpart non-Muslim population. There has been a considerable growth in the Halal food
industry in the last two decades that has made significant contribution in the economic
development of global markets especially Malaysia, U.S and in western countries. The halal
food acculturation has made a quantifiable impact on the purchasing behavior of a
considerable proportion of Muslim and non‐Muslim consumers. The competition is also getting
intense among halal food processing companies. The competition from U.S, Canada and
Malaysia is posing barriers in Halal food industry. However as the Koutoubia has achieved the
Halal food certificate and ISO standard certificate, it has still opportunities to tap into different
countries Halal Food sector especially in Spain. There are different school of thoughts that
result in different concepts of Halal food. There has been extension in Halal food exports
providing companies better future trade opportunities around the world. As demand for halal
food is increasing and because the halal food is related to religious beliefs, Muslims are willing
to pay higher prices for the Halal products. As customers are getting more conscious about
quality than price. Customers consider halal food safe and healthy and that’s why they are
ready to pay higher prices. This factor provides another opportunity to halal food companies.
15
10.REFERENCES
1Lavieeco.
(2019). Koutoubia: la saga d’un boucher entreprenant. [Online] Available at:
https://www.lavieeco.com/news/economie/koutoubia-la-saga-dun-boucher-entreprenant-67.html
[Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
2 Facts,
G. (2019). Topic: Global halal market. [Online] www.statista.com. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/topics/4428/global-halal-market/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
3 Grandviewresearch.com.
(2019). Halal Food & Beverage Market Size, Share | Industry Report, 20182025. [Online] Available at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/halal-food-market
[Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
D. (2019). El sector c�rnico espa�ol. [Online] Anice.es. Available at:
https://www.anice.es/industrias/area-de-prensa/el-sector-carnico-espanol_213_1_ap.html [Accessed 14
Jan. 2019].
4 sentidocomun.es,
5
Mohd Noor, & Muhamed Rizki Moi. (2015). Potential of Halal Industry For Maghrib Countries. Journal
of Islamic Banking and Finance.
6
Morwitz, V. (2014). Consumers' purchase intentions and their behavior. Foundations and Trends in
Marketing, 1.
7
Riesz, L. (2017). A Solution to Halal Pork in Spain. Journal of Business Administration.
8
Sohail Younas, Fiza Rasheed, & Anas Zia. (2015). Identifying the Factors Affecting Customer Purchase
Intention. Global Journal of Management and Business Research: A Administration and
Management, 1.
9
Zakiah Samori, & Aamal Hayati. (2014). Understanding the development of food Standards .
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity.
10 Trade Helpdesk. (2019). Trade Helpdesk. [online] Available at: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/tradehelp/
[Accessed 17 Jan. 2019].
16