Recent studies on CMS suggest that environmental benefits and efficiency gains can
be reached since chemical suppliers may have better expertise in using and managing
chemicals than customers, for whom chemical management is a supporting activity
(Jakl et al. 2004). The efficiency gain is believed to increase based on two assumptions.
The first assumption is that the incentive shift is strong when changing from
selling per litre to selling a function. The second is that the supplier would have better
expertise of the usage phase (Toffel 2002). According to Votta (2003), CMS is
beneficial for the environment since forces to increase chemical use are overcome
and knowledge is expected to be shared better in a CMS partnership. For example,
Haas reports 30% cost reduction and reduction of VOC emissions (Klocek 2003).
Chemical Strategies Partnership (CSP) also demonstrates that CMS users report a
reduction of chemical use and an improvement of environmental data management
in the US (CSP 2004; Oldham 2003). The questions however remain as to whether
CMS always delivers environmental improvements, what factors influence the environmental
outcomes and whether this strategy is better than internal chemical
management. These issues are discussed in the following sections.