The Blue Economy: From Blindspot to a Promising Research Nexus for International Business and Policy Research

Abstract

The blue economy, which relates to all economic activities linked to the world's oceans, is among the world's seven largest economies. Despite this, the international business discipline has engaged the least with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #14 (Life below water) compared to other SDGs. The purpose of this scene-setting perspective paper is thus to address the blue economy deficit within the international business literature and catalyze a new research agenda for international business scholarship, including IB policy and the transnational governance literatures. We first present the blue economy as both a frontier market and a transnational governance nexus. We then outline three key blue economy nexuses – namely: the (1) development-governance-politics nexus, the (2) multinational enterprise-government-civil society nexus and (3) the sustainability-social equity-justice nexus. In the end, we present a three-pronged research agenda for how international business scholars can not only engage with blue economy topics but also contribute to its development as a field of study. Each future research direction is supported by several guiding research questions, which can catalyze interest among both international business and international business scholars.