A portion of our workforce is represented by unions. Failure to successfully negotiate collective bargaining
agreements, or strikes or work stoppages, can cause our business to suffer.
Many of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements, and other employees may seek to
be covered by collective bargaining agreements. Strikes or work stoppages or other business interruptions
can occur if we are unable to renew these agreements on satisfactory terms or enter into new agreements on
satisfactory terms or if we are unable to otherwise manage changes in, or that affect, our workforce, which
can impair manufacturing and distribution of our products or lead to a loss of sales, resulting in an adverse
impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. The terms and conditions of existing,
renegotiated or new collective bargaining agreements can also increase our costs or otherwise affect our
ability to fully implement future operational changes to enhance our efficiency or to adapt to changing business
needs or strategy.
If we are not able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or if we are found to infringe the
intellectual property rights of others, the value of our products or brands, or our competitive position, can
be reduced, resulting in an adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We possess intellectual property rights that are important to our business. These intellectual property rights
include ingredient formulas, trademarks, copyrights, patents, business processes and other trade secrets that
are important to our business and relate to a variety of our products, their packaging, the processes for their
production and the design and operation of various equipment used in our businesses. We protect our
intellectual property rights globally through a combination of trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret
laws, third-party assignment and nondisclosure agreements and monitoring of third-party misuses of our
intellectual property, although the laws of various jurisdictions have differing levels of protection of
intellectual property. If we fail to obtain or adequately protect our trademarks, copyrights, patents, business
processes and trade secrets, including our ingredient formulas, or if there is a change in law that limits or
removes the current legal protections of our intellectual property, the value of our products and brands, or
our competitive position, can be reduced, resulting in an adverse impact on our business, financial condition
or results of operations. In addition, if, in the course of developing new products or improving the quality of
existing products, we are found to have infringed the intellectual property rights of others, directly or indirectly,
31
such finding can have an adverse impact on our business, reputation, financial condition or results of operations
and may limit our ability to introduce new products or improve the quality of existing products.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |