8.7 Summary

Global climate change, intense competition, social and environmental conscious responsibility force the global value chain to vigorously act and use the world’s resources more efficiently, commit to sustainable practices and be competitive nowadays. Three aspects should be included in the sustainable value chain to gain beneficial economic, social, and environmental results. When companies consider goals related to minimizing the impact on the environment while benefiting the communities and the people, this means that this company addresses global issues and focuses on a Sustainable Value Chain. The sustainable value chain focuses on global issues such as human rights, global warming and melting ice caps and so forth.

With the dawn of industrialization, the circular economy is a great practice to minimize the negative impact on the environment and simultaneously stimulate businesses to find new opportunities (Korhonen, Honkasalo & Seppälä, 2018). A circular economy implies the following solutions to reduce adverse environmental effects: remanufacturing, repair, reuse, refurbishment, disposal, cascading, upgrading, and recycling.

There are a bunch of benefits to being a sustainable organization. For example, reduced packaging can lead to cost savings and reduce waste of materials. In addition, the company can reduce turnover of employees and labour turnover costs by promoting good working conditions and safety in transportation and warehousing. As a result, employees will be motivated, productive and promote a great working environment (Neumüller, Kellner, Gupta, & Lasch, 2015). These can lead to support the positive development of the society and environment and prevent negative consequences by balancing three dimensions: economic, environmental, and social performance (Neumüller, Kellner, Gupta, & Lasch, 2015).