Achieving Sustainable Competitive Advantage through Collaboration Strategy: Blue Economy Management in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

The extraordinary sea potential is owned by the City of Bitung, North Sulawesi, both from fisheries and tourism. This potential is well known to foreign countries, so it has the opportunity to become the flagship of the blue economy in Indonesia. This paper explores the role of collaboration strategy (CS) theory and resource-based view (RBV), which are the basis for formulating and creating competitive advantage to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The type of research used was a qualitative research approach; the data collection was conducted through focus group discussion methods and in-depth interviews with stakeholders of entrepreneurs who engaged in the fisheries sector, marine tourism, government, and academics. The collaboration strategy theory is poised to play a crucial role in managing marine resources in Indonesia, particularly as the nation focuses on its blue economy flagship to gain a competitive advantage for sustainable development. This is especially evident in enhancing knowledge acquisition, which is essential for improving knowledge-based products among cluster members in the blue ocean economy. This research explores the contributions of the collaboration strategy and the resource-based view to the primary strategy in blue economy management, aiming to attain a sustainable competitive advantage.