VALUE CO-CREATION IN SHARI’AH-COMPLIANT BANKING: A SAUDI ARABIAN CASE STUDY

This paper argues that Shari’ah-compliant Islamic banking is essentially a value co-creation business model that illustrates attributes associated with the emerging service-dominant logic paradigm. The underpinning Shari’ah philosophy of minimising ‘usage’ of one party by another results in the sharing of profit, losses, risk and the promotion of interest-free principles. Islamic banks that follow Shari’ah traditions endeavour to co-create value with their business and corporate customers in a manner that would resonate with the proponents of service-dominant logic. The authors argue that Shari’ah-compliant business models may be more appropriate for today’s volatile and socio-economic climate, evidencing their potential via business case examples. Shari’ah-compliant Islamic financing, such as sukuk (Islamic bonds), istisna’ (construction finance), murabahah (commodity trade finance), mudarabah (finance trusteeship), musharakah (joint venture) and ijarah (Islamic leasing), is generally based on a business relationship and partnership approach. Such approaches are now gaining popularity and offer those engaged in service exchange the opportunity to co-create value or at least mutual benefit.