Print This PageGlobal Presence
Around the world, Monsanto products and technologies that farmers like to use are delivering economic value to many other stakeholder sectors.
As a global agricultural company, we do business wherever crops are grown. We have full- and part-time employees in almost every agricultural market. We grow seed for sale, and we manufacture products as close to our markets as possible. We also hire people from within each market and purchase goods locally whenever possible. We buy raw materials and supplies and services in most world regions.
Senior Breeder Bill McCarthy inspects bell peppers at a Seminis research farm.
Seminis has research and development stations in 17 countries and production
farms in 23 countries.
Supporting Local Suppliers
It is common practice across all Monsanto facilities in the United States to provide opportunities for locally based or diversity suppliers to do business with us. In 2007, 19 percent of purchases by our U.S. manufacturing sites were placed with local suppliers. We consider transactions to be local when the supplier is in the same state as the Monsanto facility it serves.
We focus on inclusion in the procurement process. Typically, suppliers are evaluated on “total cost of ownership” of the goods or services they provide. Factors that make up total cost of ownership are costs, quality, delivery, service, and technology. If a local supplier meets the criteria, it may be given preference over a nonlocal supplier who also meets the criteria. Suppliers who are not awarded business are often provided with coaching and feedback on why they were not selected and what steps they can take to improve their chances of winning future business.
The procurement team holds workshops in St. Louis to help diverse suppliers and local suppliers learn to do business with Monsanto. The workshops cover such topics as business conduct, ethics, and how to respond competitively to a request for a proposal.
In 2008, Monsanto’s procurement organization will establish a team to focus on sustainability. Goals for this team will include setting criteria for evaluating the environmental performance of suppliers’ goods and services.
Competitive Benefits and Compensation
We believe that employee compensation, recognition, and benefits are integral to our business success. We provide competitive rewards to attract and retain the best talent, and to foster a greater sense of ownership in the company.
Our rewards package globally provides our regular employees competitive base pay and the opportunity to earn an annual incentive award based on performance. In addition, we provide benefits programs in each country that complement locally provided government programs to ensure that our people have a competitive total compensation and benefits package. Our goal is to provide flexibility in our benefit offerings to meet the varied needs of our people and their families.
