Literature Review

Nowadays, as pollution problem becoming more and more serious, being sustainable is important and necessary. Business companies are playing an important role for sustainability. Companies should take responsibility for the environmental and social problems in the whole supply chain (Julia Koplin, 2006). At the same time, being sustainable can also help a company do better in labor cost, waste management and eco-efficiency, inventory, lean manufacturing, and lean supply chain (Mejías, A.,M., Paz, E., & Pardo, J. E. 2016).

Walmart is a company who takes responsibility well for sustainability and also get help by being sustainability. Walmart applies sustainable cost management which helps cost saving and performance improvement (Radojko Lukić, 2013).  Another example is Nike. Nike implemented many sustainable policies such as increasing the use of organic cotton in its apparel products and its Considered Design program which working towards carbon neutrality (Dauvergne & Lister, 2012). Nike’s advancement in sustainability makes a big contribution to its financial performance (Marc J. Epstein et al. 2010). Meanwhile, lots of other companies take sustainability strategies to increase their competitive advantages. For instance, Coca Cola implements new technology and committed to water neutrality (Dauvergne & Lister, 2012). McDonald creates a sustainable menu with responsibly produced food (Dauvergne & Lister, 2012).

Besides those companies, the company in the Auto industry also created many pollutions and are necessary to be sustainable. Some countries’ auto industries are looking for some ways to be sustainable. For example, China’s auto industry is trying to be sustainable through control companies companies’ emission and create a cleaner vehicle. (Jimin Zhao, 2006) Toyota as a big company, already get some achievement in the hybrid automobile. They combine the gasoline and battery, which could be more sustainable than the gasoline vehicle (Staunton, R. H., 2004)