Introduction to Islamic Finance and Islamic marketing

Professor Cedomir Nestorovic presents specifics of Finance and Marketing applied to an Islamic environment.

Cedomir Nestorovic has been a Professor at ESSEC Business School for more than 15 years. He teaches Geopolitics and International Marketing and now focuses his research on Islam and Business. Professor Nestorovic is now based at ESSEC Asia Pacific in Singapore.

About Islamic Finance

Professor Nestorovic explains some key principles of Islamic Finance which revolves around prohibition and compulsory rules. Among prohibitions, the main principle is Riba (Interest rates). Islamic Finance is definitely against interest rates. Among the positive principle, you have profitable sharing: companies do not borrow money; they enter into partnerships with banks for certain ventures or business they want to achieve.

Islamic Finance is successful because it is mainly coming from public institutions and also governments. If you want to open a plant in one of the Muslim countries, there is always a compulsory finance backing behind.

Islamic Finance is expending, year after year. It now represents about 3 or 4% of conventional finance.

About Geopolitics & Islamic Marketing

The Asian population is expending more and faster than in any other continents. That population is also becoming more educated and could end up becoming a threat to established economies, such as the United States and Europe.

The assertiveness of different Asian countries makes them aware of their own importance. China for instance does not hesitate to be much more active on the International scene than before. This is why ESSEC students coming to Singapore or the one in France need to have a focus on Asia.

The geopolitical issue is very important for students. They usually have an ethnocentric approach, viewing the world from Europe's point of view. Being in Asia definitely helps students undertand the specifics of this continent.

Marketing in Islamic countries is very specific because religion has a tremendous impact on the behavior of individuals. The five pillars of Islam are permeable to all elements of marketing. Using the usual approach of marketing might not be enough to understand what is happening in Islamic countries.

The basic businesses rely on Islamic finance as well as the Halal business. There is an acute question regarding Halal certification. You can have the best product, without the Halal certification, there is a problem of trust for consumers. This trust is passing through the certification itself.

Adopting a product policy or adopting a distribution or communication policy must take the religious dimension into account: not necessarily the theological one, but the direct and practical implication of it.

Watch the video about Geopolitics & Islamic Marketing

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