What Constitutes the Blue Economy? Antagonism and Clumsy Solutions

The Blue Economy concept combines the views of oceans as areas of economic growth and development, on the one hand, and as vulnerable and unique environmental ecosystems that need to be protected, on the other hand. The current practices of industrializing the oceans not only decrease “the ability of marine environments to provide livelihoods for those who depend on the sea” (Clausen & Clark, 2005, p. 423) but pose an increasingly pertinent existential risk to life on Earth (Bansal, 2019). So far, little is known about organizations’ roles in addressing this risk (Carton & Parigot, 2024). The paucity of management research focusing on SDG 14 is a case in point (Berrone et al., 2023).

We adopt an abductive approach (Saetre & Van de Ven, 2021) to exploring a concept driven by managerial practice in ocean-related industries and policymakers (e.g., Bennett et al., 2021; Mallin & Barbesgaard, 2020). First, we establish the Blue Economy as a novel research context. Second, we describe it based on three dominant themes in the existing literature – placelessness, development, and sustainability (e.g., Campling & Colás, 2018; Germond-Duret, 2022; Midlen, 2021). That also entails how technological developments have enhanced access to critical marine resources and related conflicting interests. Third, we ground the Blue Economy in reality. Narrations (e.g., from executives and managers in maritime industries, scholars, policymakers, and conservationists) are extracted from data collected during four interdisciplinary online workshops and linked to the dominant themes. Finally, the application of grid-group cultural theory (Douglas, 1999) to evaluate the narrations lays bare stakeholders’ antagonistic perspectives. We discover cross-sector collaboration, public-private partnerships, and legally binding governance systems across geographies and jurisdictions as potential responses (so-called ‘clumsy solutions’) to antagonism.