Abstract
Sanofi Aventis, a multi-national pharmaceutical company, uses purchasing structures and procedures that aim to cover all activities and all types of purchasing. The structure is based on placing the purchasing responsibility on entities and business units, under the supervision of a central team. There is a group wide procedure which must be closely followed by all entities and business units. Each unit may have its own local rules and procedures to abide by provided they comply with the group procedure. There are specific roles from purchase request to management decision. The role of the purchasing department is to assist the units making the request and to quantify their needs. From specification to supplier selection, the role of the purchasing department is to identify and select potential suppliers. Tendering and negotiations are led by the buyer and should enable a final decision to be made. Regarding contractual commitment to payment of invoice, the role of the purchasing department is to formalize the contractual relationship by preparing and signing purchase contracts and orders. Group level policies such as the Social Charter were distributed to all employees in 20 languages in order to outline the principles that form the common base of human resources within the Group.
