PIM PMA

Procurement Sourcing and Supply Selection Process Name University Course Instructor Date 1 Procurement Management Strategy For the disposing case company as a pharmaceutical wholesaler, the development of a procurement management strategy provides a good plan for formulating the sourcing and supplier selection process. This strategy will be done in line with the best procurement practices, keeping in mind the ethical, environmental, and regulatory aspects particular to the pharmaceutical industry. Hence, the general strategic vision is to improve the efficiency of the procurement function, compliance, and sustainability, thereby resulting in better supply chain outcomes. Several objectives or goals have been conceptualized to fit this procurement management strategy and attain strategic objectives. First, it is to guarantee that only high-quality and safe OTC medicines are sourced mainly because of the nature of the pharmaceutical products. This is through practising GMP (Good Manufacturing Process) and GDP (Good Distribution Practice), whereby the products must meet quality requirements that are safe, effective, and meet regulatory requirements. Secondly, the strategy aims to attain the right sourcing procurement strategy to increase cost efficiency. This comprises covering factors such as the price of the material, which in the broader view includes transport, storage, and other overhead costs. Besides, the strategy underlines the development and improvement of supplier relations, which is crucial for the supply base's reliability and innovation. That is the case since the following are some of the strategy's goals: promoting ethical and sustainable practices. It will also work to include ethical aspects, including labour relations and anti-corruption and environmental considerations, such as waste management and carbon emission reductions. Last, one of the strategies focuses on increasing flexibility in supply chain risk management by identifying and analyzing risks and designing effective risk management tools and approaches. Business Requirement Analysis In the next step, the business requirement assessment will have to establish a baseline for procurement-specific aspects relevant to the organization's functioning and compliance with best industry practices. It encompasses identifying the category's particular requirements when sourcing OTC medicines and executing a flow that would adequately meet pharmacy demands across the UK. Due to the nature of the pharmaceutical products, the focus will be on quality, safety, the applicability of costs, and compliance with the set regulations and ethics (Demir & Min, 2019). Furthermore, the organizational strategy must respond to short product life cycles, rising consumer demands, and seasonal and crucial product segments. This helps to guarantee that the sourcing process not only provides for the current challenges of operations but also the future problems that may prevail in the pharmacy industry. Ethical Considerations Ethical procurement with pharmaceutical firms is crucial in selecting suppliers since it guarantees that the suppliers meet certain labour standards, such as the non-use of child labour, payment of reasonable wages to employees, and proper working conditions (Hughes et al., 2019). Also, it is crucial to analyze the relationship between suppliers and the company and guarantee that suppliers are not involved in producing and distributing counterfeit products, particularly drugs that can negatively affect patients and the company's reputation. The final aspect of the ethical supply chain is transparency in sourcing, where it is required that the sourcing procedures must be disclosed to the public, and it should be proved that no unethical activities are being practised in the supply chain (Abaku & Odimarha, 2024). In evaluating suppliers, the ones with ethical issues solved in the past will be selected, and those suppliers with accreditations from relevant industry bodies in ethics will also be selected. It is essential to perform specific ethical audits regularly to check compliance, and any supplier who violates the ethical norms will no longer be allowed to work with the company. Environmental Considerations Environmental sustainability has become more relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, and therefore, the way companies engage in procurement activities should consider this (de Marco et al., 2018). Sustainability can and should be achieved, but it has to be done right, and that starts with focusing on the right suppliers. Chaudhary et al. (2019) averted that this can be done through procuring from manufacturers who have less wastage during production, recycle or use environmentally friendly packaging materials and move towards becoming environmentally friendly by ensuring less emissions through efficient transport and use of green energy sources during production. Legal regulations are important, but suppliers willing to follow environmental legislation beyond the standard will also be considered. This is not only in line with the changes in the consumer and regulatory expectations for ecologically friendly products but also results in the company contributing to achieving global environmental standards. This also enhances working with green suppliers who can lessen the cost of waste management within an organization or company. Regulatory Considerations Compliance with major legislative requirements is among the most important aspects of procuring pharmaceuticals (Kohler & Dimanscesco, 2020). The procurement process is required to ensure that all suppliers meet legal requirements, especially the GMP and GDP. These regulations include all the basic regulations for any industry involved in drug production, storage, and distribution. These aim to ensure that what reaches the patients is safe, effective, and high-quality (World Health Organisation, 2024). Thus, all the suppliers should prepare adequate documentation and be subjected to audits at least quarterly to satisfy compliance with GMP and GDP. This also involves quality assurance of production processes, product temperature control, and proper handling and transportation of products. Moreover, suppliers are bound by any changes in national and international regulatory standards that may be enforced; the procurement team must constantly evaluate and regulate the compliance aspects periodically. Breaches of these regulations result in highly stiff legal consequences, including product recalls and no admission by healthcare providers and their patients. Supplier Selection Criteria Criteria Development Depending on the business needs of the enterprise, the supplier selection criteria will be oriented to several essential factors, which ensure the effective purchasing of OTC medicines in compliance with industry standards. These criteria are particularized to this company to ensure it achieves its operational objectives and meets its ethical and legal requirements. Quality Assurance is always valued as pharmaceutical production has to meet the requirements mentioned in GMP and GDP. Vendors must show that they are reliable in providing high-quality materials to conform to these criteria (Sardella et al., 2021). Periodic checks shall also be conducted to confirm that suppliers are equally compliant with these standards, hence the faith in the effectiveness of the medicines delivered to the next chain, the pharmacies. Another factor is cost efficiency, under which a supplier must provide supplies at the best possible prices while maintaining a high-quality standard. Logistics factors based on the total transportation and storage, as well as other incidental costs associated with the ownership, will also be examined. This approach ensures that the company is sustainably financially positioned to account for its limits set in the budget. This is more so given the large number of suppliers the company deals with and the implementation of effective cost-containment measures when dealing with seasonable and high-demand products. Additionally, delivery performance focuses on activities to ensure customer satisfaction and service delivery levels. Logistics require that suppliers prove their ability to meet their schedules and meet these schedules as and when due (Moons et al., 2019). This criterion addresses the requirement that medicines be delivered to the pharmacies promptly to avoid instances where the stock is depleted and there is no restock yet. Besides, suppliers' selection involves ethical practices as one of the important key considerations. The company will also consider socially responsible suppliers, which means suppliers who pay their workers a fair wage, suppliers who have environmental policies, and suppliers who are anti-corruption. This commitment is deemed a part of the company's CSR policy, which attempts to ensure that its supply chain is ethically aligned with the company's values. Suppliers will be obliged to agree with the Supplier Code of Conduct. They can be subjected to regular checks by third-party auditors to verify compliance with the presented ethical standards. In many organizations in the pharmaceutical industry, there are several rules regarding the production, storage, and distribution of medicines that must always be adhered to. Regulatory compliance is thus an imperative criterion. It indicates that suppliers mus...