IT permits ever-faster exchange of ever-increasing volumes of information between customers and manufacturers on the one hand and the various partners of specific value creation chains on the other. Growth in the intensity and speed of information transfer permits closer collaboration in the design, specification, and production of chemical products. Such products are thus becoming more and more customer-, time-, situation, and application-specific. However, it is often necessary not only to install new high performance cables and computers but also to adapt the entire value creation chain and the production process to shorter production campaigns and greater variation in product properties and compositions. This paper is concerned with the business demands placed on the chemical industry under the conditions of the networked information society.