Strategic Approach to Halal Certification System: An Ecosystem Perspective

Halal is accepted as a quality standard applied to product supply and manufacturing. The halal standard encompasses processed food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and medical products. In maintaining the halal standard, halal suppliers or manufacturers must abide to the halal quality regulation enforced by the public, semi-public and private regulatory bodies offering the halal certification. These regulatory bodies play an important role within the halal supply chain as their operational efficiency may affect the efficiency and the competitiveness of the halal industry. This paper reports the findings of a research work on the strategic approach towards halal quality management that addresses the operational efficiency of the halal food certification system using the Malaysian halal certification as a case study. This research argues that the efficiency of the halal certification is dependent on the organizational structure of the holistic system. The investigation in this case study was carried out on both the supply side and the demand side of the halal certification to gain a holistic view of the situation. The investigation comprises of face-to-face interviews with representatives from the halal regulatory bodies (supply side) and halal food manufacturers (demand side) and document review of halal certification documentations. A qualitative analysis comprising of a value chain and work systems analysis was conducted to describe a new halal value chain, a new halal work system as components of a new detailed view of the halal ecosystem. The finding of this research contributes to the strategic approach of information systems where religious view is an important part of the organizational structure.