1) Fair business practices, transparency and equal opportunity
Sony's procurement policy stresses fair business practices, transparency and equal opportunity.
Fair business practices means conducting procurement activities in accordance with prescribed policies and procedures.
Transparency means avoiding any arbitrary actions.
Equal opportunity means providing all suppliers with a level playing field.
Sony believes that this policy for relationships between Sony employees engaged in procurement ("procurement agents") and suppliers is a major reason that a large number of outstanding companies have decided to become true partners.
2) Prohibition of personal relationships between suppliers and procurement agents
Procurement activities are business transactions carried out between Sony and its suppliers. For this reason, Sony procurement agents are forbidden from forming personal relationships or any other relationship based on potential personal gain with any supplier. The followings are examples of forbidden behavior for Sony procurement agents:
· Becoming involved in the management of a supplier.
· Acquiring stocks in a supplier prior to an IPO.
· Dealing in stocks in a supplier based on insider information.
· Accepting meals, outings and other forms of entertainment provided by a supplier that are beyond the bounds of reasonable social standards. One example is accepting invitations from one supplier on two or more occasions during a one-year period with no business-related reason.
· Accepting any amount of money or gift certificates from a supplier for any reason.
· Accepting payments from a supplier for transportation, lodging and other travel expenses when visiting a supplier.
· Accepting any gifts from suppliers on a personal basis.
