ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses two examples of how firms approach Islamic markets from a strategic perspective. The two examples are about establishing Japan as a destination for Muslim tourists. On 28 August, the Okinawa Products Associated Co. Ltd launched the Okinawa Halal Chamber to expand business for Okinawan products in the Islamic market in Southeast Asia. Okinawa’s Chamber of Commerce is the latest contestant in the Islamic marketplace. To support its efforts to benefit from the unfolding massive Halal market it has set up a strategic initiative that is rather simplistic and patronizing in its approach, something hardly typical of a Japanese strategy. Before Japanese companies enter the Islamic Halal market they will need to think differently. Their conventional strategic planning process and its major stages need to be approached in a way that takes into consideration the fact that Muslim consumers are fundamentally different.
