Product market fluidity and religious constraints: evidence from the US market

We use a sample of 5,863 US firms to investigate how religious constraints affect the product market fluidity for Shariah compliant (SC) firms. The study is important as Islamic asset management is emerging as an alternative investment class. We find that SC firms are less exposed to product market threats in relation to Shariah non-compliant (SNC) firms. They are more competitive in the case of less concentrated markets, lower market share, equity multiplier, market/book assets ratio, experience lower asset growth, and spend little on research and development. Their competitive position is strengthened when their return on assets, sales and retained earnings are lower.