Oceans as the Missing Stakeholder: How International Business Impacts Marine Ecosystems

International business (IB) depends on the ocean as a shared infrastructure for global trade, yet IB activities increasingly contribute to marine degradation through plastic leakage, shipborne waste, unsustainable fishing, industrial and agricultural effluents, and offshore resource extraction. This essay reframes the ocean as a missing and affected stakeholder in IB. We advance two insights: first, that IB systematically overlooks its role in degrading ocean health; and second, that these IB-generated risks must be translated into managerial, policy, and societal responsibilities. Recognizing the ocean as a stakeholder is not only an environmental imperative, but a strategic and normative requirement for IB legitimacy and sustainability.