Greening from the front to the back door? A typology of chemical and resource management services

Though services and product–service systems have been promoted as a promising way towards more eco‐efficient and sustainable societies, they have not turned into reality as expected. Chemical and resource management services are among the few operational examples. They aim to align the service provider's and customer's actions to reduce chemical usage and waste, improve supply chain management and increase resource efficiency. Arguably, they also create new business and higher profit margins compared with merely selling chemicals or handling industrial waste. Thus far they have been viewed as a single business model. In contrast, this study shows through the construction of five ideal types that the actual services and their focus vary. They range from the management of the chemical supply to operations, waste reduction, combined logistics services, process management, IT and other technologies. Consequently this affects the value creation, organization and environmental efficiencies of these services. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.