Hi Professor and Class,

Achieving sustainable competitive advantage is a top priority for many companies, as competitive advantage refers to any element or combination of elements that provides a company an advantage over its competitors. Sustainability is the ability to remain in a business or sector for a long time. Therefore, a company can remain profitable in the market for a longer amount of time when its competitive advantage is tied to sustainability. The desire to be profitable, get an advantage over competitors, dominate the market, and provide clients with high$-$value products at a low cost makes sustainability an important factor to take into account when formulating a strategy.

For instance, Walmart's low cost operation gives it a sustained competitive advantage. It has been in the TOP $500$ Fortune for many years because it provides consumers with low$-$cost goods and services. Walmart uses its $$every day low price$$ approach to doing to create value for those seeking to buy products at a low price compared to competitors$$ prices for those products $($Hitt et al$.,2017).$ A company can also achieve a sustained competitive advantage by differentiating itself, as Apple Inc. and Starbucks have done, by having strong financial sources and a strong balance sheet and cash, as Nike Inc. has done, and by possessing strategic assets like patents.

Examples of strategic assets that offer long$-$term competitive advantages include patents, trademarks, copy rights, domain names, and long$-$term contracts. Since a company's sustainable competitive advantage stems from operating for the long term and developing strategies that prioritize long$-$term success, I believe sustainability can be known in the long run.