Freedom of expression doesn’t contradict the fact that Religions should be respected.

The Danish products boycott has been escalated throughout the Muslim nations. As for the buyer power, it is evident that the Saudi market (buyer group) is powerful since it faces few switching costs. Not buying Danish products such as cheese and milk are not obstacles for them. They could easily switch to other alternative products of a non-Danish origin without facing high switching cost.

In regards to customer interface, pulling out Danish products from Panda’s supermarkets shelves was aimed to let people notice that Panda is with the boycott of the Danish products. By this, Panda supermarkets are trying to offer their customer ‘fulfillment and support’ through showing them the customer support it offers. Another customer interface element that was applied in this case is when the flagship supermarket in Jeddah took the initiative to empty its shelves when the news became common knowledge. Here, the flagship supermarket used the ‘information and insight’ element by giving a positive feedback from their customers to their own decision. This shows that the flagship supermarket had the ability to extract insights from the information it gathered and utilized this information on behalf of its customers.

In addition, SADAFCO tried to use its strategic resources to assure its investors that it does not import or sell any products from Denmark or Norway. In particular, SADAFCO used the ‘core processes’ element by explaining the methodologies and routines used in transforming inputs into outputs, and also by explaining what the people at SADAFCO own in order to correct the perception that SADFCO is a associated with Danish companies.

Commenting on the article as a whole, I think that freedom of speech doesn’t contradict with that fact that religions should be respected. What the Danish newspaper has attempted about the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) is obviously observed as a ridicule and insult not only to Islam but also to other religions.