Creative Industry in the Post-Pandemic Digital Era: Meaningful Incubation, Customer Focus, and High Innovation as Strategies to Compete

. In the post-pandemic digital era, competition will be increasingly tight, so the creative economy must have a competitive advantage. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the Penta-helix business incubator, market orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation on dynamic capability and competitive advantage, as well as the mediating function of dynamic capability in this relationship. A total of 252 creative economy entrepreneurs in East Java Province, Indonesia, have been selected as respondents through the accidental sampling technique. The data obtained from the distribution of 5-point Likert-scale questionnaires were analyzed using PLS-SEM analysis. The results showed that the incubation business, market orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation have positive and significant impacts on the dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage. It is also proven that the dynamic capability is a strong mediator. Proper business incubation balanced by customer focus and innovation action will increase innovation capabilities that impact competitive advantage.