Three times a year, CHEMonitor - a cooperation between CHEManager and Camelot Management Consultants - examines the current trends and developments in the chemical industry. This time, managers, board members and decision makers in the chemical industry were asked about sustainability.
When asked about their company's growth strategy, 72 % of those asked said they are relying on organic growth; this is up from 11 % in January (graphic 1). Only 4 % of those asked said that they plan on achieving growth through M&A activities. In order to achieve sustainable management and growth, more and more chemical companies are tailoring their strategies to meet the current mega trends. These trends have a half life of at least 50 years, are widely immune to set backs and usually affect many parts of daily human life in different cultures. They change forms of civilization, technology, economies and value systems.










According to the most recent CHEMonitor, the mega trends energy (43 %), environmental protection (42 %) and population (40 %) are very close together (graphic 2). However, all three trends were able to gain importance in terms of chemical industry strategy when compared with CHEMonitor results from May 2007 and August 2009. Futhermore, the mega trends mobility (+ 15 % over 2009) and water (+ 7 % over 2009) were able to win significance over the last two years.

One example of an innovative product that caters to several mega trends is the superabsorber Stockosorb from Evonik. The polymer can absorb many times its weight in water, which it can then release to plants as necessary. It can be used to increase the survival for young argan trees in Morocco. These trees provide the population with wood, animal feed and oil; their population has been in rapid decline over the last several years.

The company recently won the Cefic Responsible Care Award for the development. Almost 60 % of those asked said that efficiency criteria, particularly energy, were the most important indicator when it comes to measuring the sustainability of a chemical company (graphic 3). Close behind was personnel turnover, which 40 % of the chemical company managers named as a parameter. Such fluctuation was particularly seen by smaller companies (< 50 employees) as the top indicator for sustainability (48 %)

When asked about the advantages of a sustainable corporate strategy, almost half of all the chemical company managers listed improving own cost effectiveness; taking social responsibility; and customer loyalty (graphic 4). A much smaller percentage - 20 % - drew a correlation to an increase in innovation power. Camelot chemicals expert Dr. Sven Mandewirth said: "The advantages of a sustainable innovation strategy is often underestimated. Sustainable growth requires innovative ideas all along the value chain - from changing the raw material base all the way to returning the end product for reuse."
Source: CHEMonitor, CHEManager 19/2011