MDLZ, §1A diff (2016 → 2017)

Item 1A. Risk Factors. You should read the following risk factors carefully when evaluating our business and the forward-looking information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and the actual outcome of matters described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. While we believe we have identified and discussed below the key risk factors affecting our business, there may be additional risks and uncertainties that we do not presently know or that we do not currently believe to be significant that may adversely affect our business, performance or financial condition in the future. We operate in a highly competitive industry. The food and snacking industry is highly competitive. Our principal competitors include major international food, snack and beverage companies that operate in multiple geographic areas and numerous local and regional companies. If we do not effectively respond to challenges from our competitors, our business could be adversely affected. Competitor and customer pressures may require that we reduce our prices. These pressures may also restrict our ability to increase prices in response to commodity and other cost increases. Failure to effectively and timely assess, change and set proper pricing or effective trade incentives may negatively impact our operating results and achievement of our strategic and financial goals. The rapid emergence of new distribution channels, such as e-commerce, may create consumer price deflation, affecting our retail customer relationships and presenting additional challenges to increasing prices in response to commodity or other cost increases. We may need to increase or reallocate spending on marketing, advertising, new product innovation, and existing and new distribution channels to protect or increase market share. These expenditures might not result in trade and consumer acceptance of our efforts. If we reduce prices or our costs increase but we cannot increase sales volumes to offset those changes, then our financial condition and results of operations will suffer. In addition, like other companies in our industry, we are under pressure to continue to improve the efficiency of our overall cost structure. We are pursuing a transformation agenda with the goals of focusing our portfolio, improving our cost structure and operating model, and accelerating our growth. If we do not achieve these objectives or do not implement transformation in a way that minimizes disruptions to our business, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Maintaining and enhancing our reputation and brand image is essential to our business success. Our success depends on our ability to maintain and enhance our brand quality and image, extend our brands into new geographies and to new distribution platforms, including e-commerce, and expand our brand image with new and renewed product offerings. We seek to enhance our brand image through product renovation, innovation and marketing investments, including advertising and consumer promotions. Failure to effectively address the continuing global focus on well-being, changing consumer perceptions of certain ingredients, nutritional expectations of our products, and increased attention from the media, shareholders, activists and other stakeholders on the role of food marketing could adversely affect our brand image. Undue caution or inaction on our part in addressing these challenges and trends could weaken our competitive position. Such pressures could also lead to stricter regulations and increased focus on food and snacking marketing practices. Increased legal or regulatory restrictions on our advertising, consumer promotions and labeling, or our response to those restrictions, could limit our efforts to maintain, extend and expand our brands. Moreover, adverse publicity or regulatory or legal action against us on product quality and safety, where we manufacture our products, or environmental risks or human and workplace rights across our supply chain could damage our reputation and brand image. Such actions could undermine our customers’ confidence and reduce demand for our products, even if the regulatory or legal action is unfounded or these matters are immaterial to our operations. Our product sponsorship relationships could also subject us to negative publicity. In addition, our success in maintaining and enhancing our brand image depends on our ability to anticipate change and adapt to a rapidly changing marketing and media environment, including our increasing reliance on social media and online dissemination of marketing and advertising campaigns. A variety of legal and regulatory restrictions limit how and to whom we market our products. These restrictions may limit our brand renovation, innovation and promotion plans, particularly as social media and the communications environment continue to evolve. Negative posts or comments about us or our brands on social media or web sites (whether factual or not) or security breaches related to use of our social media and failure to respond effectively to these posts, comments or activities could seriously damage our reputation and brand image across the various regions in which we operate. In addition, we might fail to invest sufficiently in maintaining, extending and expanding our brands, our marketing efforts might not achieve desired results and we might be required to recognize impairment charges on our brands or related intangible assets or goodwill. Furthermore, third parties may sell counterfeit or spurious versions of our products that are inferior or pose safety risks. If consumers confuse these counterfeit products for our products or have a bad experience with the counterfeit brand, they might refrain from purchasing our brands in the future, which could harm our brand image and sales. If we do not successfully maintain and enhance our reputation and brand image, then our brands, product sales, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. We are subject to risks from operating globally. We are a global company and generated 75.8% of our 2017 net revenues, 75.6% of our 2016 net revenues and 78.7% of our 2015 net revenues outside the United States. We manufacture and market our products in approximately 160 countries and have operations in more than 80 countries. Therefore, we are subject to risks inherent in global operations. Those risks include: • compliance with U.S. laws affecting operations outside of the United States, including anti-bribery laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”); • compliance with antitrust and competition laws, trade laws, data privacy laws, anti-bribery laws, and a variety of other local, national and multinational regulations and laws in multiple regimes; • currency devaluations or fluctuations in currency values, including in developing markets such as Argentina, Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Ukraine and South Africa as well as in developed markets such as the United Kingdom and other countries within the European Union; • the imposition of increased or new tariffs, quotas, trade barriers or similar restrictions on our sales or key commodities like cocoa, potential changes in U.S. trade programs and trade relations with other countries, or regulations, taxes or policies that might negatively affect our sales; • changes in capital controls, including currency exchange controls, government currency policies such as demonetization in India or other limits on our ability to import raw materials or finished product into various countries or repatriate cash from outside the United States; • increased sovereign risk, such as default by or deterioration in the economies and credit ratings of governments, particularly in our Latin America and AMEA regions; • changes in local regulations and laws, the uncertainty of enforcement of remedies in non-U.S. jurisdictions, and foreign ownership restrictions and the potential for nationalization or expropriation of property or other resources; • varying abilities to enforce intellectual property and contractual rights; • discriminatory or conflicting fiscal policies; • greater risk of uncollectible accounts and longer collection cycles; and • design, implementation and use of effective control environment processes across our diverse operations and employee base. In addition, political and economic changes or volatility, geopolitical regional conflicts, terrorist activity, political unrest, civil strife, acts of war, travel or immigration restrictions, public corruption, expropriation and other economic or political uncertainties could interrupt and negatively affect our business operations or customer demand. High unemployment or the slowdown in economic growth in some markets could constrain consumer spending. Declining consumer purchasing power could result in loss of market share and adversely impact our profitability. Continued instability in the banking and governmental sectors of certain countries or the dynamics and uncertainties associated with the United Kingdom’s planned exit from the European Union (“Brexit”), including currency exchange rate fluctuations and volatility in global stock markets, could have a negative effect on our business. All of these factors could result in increased costs or decreased revenues, and could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition, results of operations, and our relationships with customers, suppliers and employees in the short or long term. Tax matters, including changes in tax laws and rates, disagreements with taxing authorities and imposition of new taxes, could adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition. In December 2017, the United States enacted tax reform legislation (“U.S. tax reform”). The legislation implements many new U.S. domestic and international tax provisions. Many aspects of the U.S. tax reform are unclear, and although additional clarifying guidance is expected to be issued in the future (by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), the U.S. Treasury Department or via a technical correction law change), it may not be clarified for some time. In addition, many U.S. states have not yet updated their laws to take into account the new federal legislation. As a result, we have not yet been able to determine the full impact of the new laws on our results of operations and financial condition. It is possible that U.S. tax reform, or interpretations under it, could change and could have an adverse effect on us, and such effect could be material. In addition, foreign jurisdictions may also enact tax legislation that could significantly affect our ongoing operations. For example, foreign tax authorities could impose rate changes along with additional corporate tax provisions that would disallow or tax perceived base erosion or profit shifting. Aspects of U.S. tax reform may lead foreign jurisdictions to respond by enacting additional tax legislation that is unfavorable to us. Adverse changes in the underlying profitability or financial outlook of our operations in several jurisdictions could lead to changes in the realizability of our deferred tax assets and result in a charge to our income tax provision. Additionally, changes in tax laws in the U.S. or in other countries where we have significant operations could materially affect deferred tax assets and liabilities and our income tax provision. We are also subject to tax audits by governmental authorities. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, if a taxing authority disagrees with the positions we have taken, we could face additional tax liabilities, including interest and penalties. Unexpected results from one or more such tax audits could significantly adversely affect our income tax provision and our results of operations. Our operations in certain emerging markets expose us to political, economic and regulatory risks. Our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to expand our operations in emerging markets, including among others Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. However, some emerging markets have greater political, economic and currency volatility and greater vulnerability to infrastructure and labor disruptions than more established markets. In many countries, particularly those with emerging economies, engaging in business practices prohibited by laws and regulations with extraterritorial reach, such as the FCPA and the U.K. Bribery Act, or local anti-bribery laws may be more common. These laws generally prohibit companies and their employees, contractors or agents from making improper payments to government officials, including in connection with obtaining permits or engaging in other actions necessary to do business. Failure to comply with these laws could subject us to civil and criminal penalties that could materially and adversely affect our reputation, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, competition in emerging markets is increasing as our competitors grow their global operations and low cost local manufacturers improve and expand their production capacities. Our success in emerging markets is critical to achieving our growth strategy. If we cannot successfully increase our business in emerging markets and manage associated political, economic and regulatory risks, our product sales, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected, such as occurred when we deconsolidated and changed to the cost method of accounting for our Venezuelan operations at the close of 2015 or any potential impact on our business in Venezuela from future economic or political developments. Our use of information technology and third party service providers exposes us to cybersecurity breaches and other business disruptions that could adversely affect us. We use information technology and third party service providers to support our global business processes and activities, including supporting critical business operations; communicating with our suppliers, customers and employees; maintaining effective accounting processes and financial and disclosure controls; engaging in mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions; conducting research and development activities; meeting regulatory, legal and tax requirements; and executing various digital marketing and consumer promotion activities. Global shared service centers managed by third parties provide an increasing amount of services to conduct our business, including a number of accounting, internal control, human resources and computing functions. Continuity of business applications and services has been, and may in the future be, disrupted by events such as infection by viruses or malware, like the global malware incident in June 2017 that affected a significant portion of our global sales, distribution and financial networks (the “malware incident”) (see Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Malware Incident); other cybersecurity attacks; issues with or errors in systems’ maintenance or security; migration of applications to the cloud; power outages; hardware or software failures; denial of service; telecommunication failures; natural disasters; terrorist attacks; and other catastrophic occurrences. Further, cybersecurity breaches of our or third party systems, whether from circumvention of security systems, denial-of-service attacks or other cyberattacks, hacking, phishing attacks, computer viruses, ransomware or malware, employee or insider error, malfeasance, social engineering, physical breaches or other actions may cause confidential information belonging to us or our employees, customers, consumers, partners, suppliers, or governmental or regulatory authorities to be misused or breached. When risks such as these materialize, the need for us to coordinate with various third party service providers and for third party service providers to coordinate amongst themselves might make it more challenging to resolve the related issues. Additionally, if new initiatives, such as those related to e-commerce and direct sales, increase the amount of confidential information that we process and maintain, this could increase our potential exposure to a cybersecurity breach. If our controls, disaster recovery and business continuity plans or those of our third party providers do not effectively respond to or resolve the issues related to any such disruptions in a timely manner, our product sales, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected, and we might experience delays in reporting our financial results, loss of intellectual property and damage to our reputation or brands. We continue to devote focused resources to network security, backup and disaster recovery, enhanced training and other security measures to protect our systems and data; we are also in the process of enhancing the monitoring and detection of threats in our environment. However, security measures cannot provide absolute security or guarantee that we will be successful in preventing or responding to every breach or disruption on a timely basis. In addition, due to the constantly evolving nature of security threats, we cannot predict the form and impact of any future incident, and the cost and operational expense of implementing, maintaining and enhancing protective measures to guard against increasingly complex and sophisticated cyber threats could increase significantly. We regularly move data across national borders to conduct our operations and consequently are subject to a variety of continuously evolving and developing laws and regulations in numerous jurisdictions regarding privacy, data protection and data security, including those related to the collection, storage, handling, use, disclosure, transfer and security of personal data. Privacy and data protection laws may be interpreted and applied differently from country to country and may create inconsistent or conflicting requirements. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which greatly increases the jurisdictional reach of European Union law and becomes effective in May 2018, adds a broad array of requirements for handling personal data including the public disclosure of significant data breaches, and imposes substantial penalties for non-compliance of up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue for the preceding financial year. Our efforts to comply with GDPR and other privacy and data protection laws may impose significant costs and challenges that are likely to increase over time, and we could incur substantial penalties or litigation related to violation of existing or future data privacy laws and regulations. Unanticipated business disruptions could adversely affect our ability to provide our products to our customers. We manufacture and source products and materials on a global scale. We utilize an integrated supply chain - a complex network of suppliers and material needs, owned manufacturing locations, co-manufacturing locations, distribution networks, shared service delivery centers and information systems that support our ability to provide our products to our customers consistently. Factors that are hard to predict or beyond our control, like weather (including any potential effects of climate change), natural disasters, supply and commodity shortages, fire, explosions, terrorism, political unrest, cybersecurity breaches, generalized labor unrest or health pandemics could damage or disrupt our operations or our suppliers’ or co-manufacturers’ operations. If we do not effectively respond to disruptions in our operations, for example, by finding alternative suppliers or replacing capacity at key or sole manufacturing or distribution locations, or cannot quickly repair damage to our information, production or supply systems, we may be late in delivering or unable to deliver products to our customers such as occurred in connection with the malware incident (see Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Malware Incident), and the quality and safety of our products might be negatively affected. If a material or extended disruption occurs, we may lose our customers’ or business partners’ confidence or suffer damage to our reputation, and long-term consumer demand for our products could decline. In addition, we might not have the functions, processes or organizational capability necessary to achieve on our anticipated timeframes our strategic ambition to reconfigure our supply chain and drive efficiencies to fuel growth. Further, our ability to supply multiple markets with a streamlined manufacturing footprint may be negatively impacted by portfolio complexity, significant changes in trade policies, changes in volume produced and changes to regulatory restrictions or labor-related constraints on our ability to adjust production capacity in the markets in which we operate. These events could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition and results of operations. We are subject to currency exchange rate fluctuations. At December 31, 2017, we sold our products in approximately 160 countries and had operations in more than 80 countries. Consequently, a significant portion of our business is exposed to currency exchange rate fluctuations. Our financial results and capital ratios are sensitive to movements in currency exchange rates because a large portion of our assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses must be translated into U.S. dollars for reporting purposes or converted into U.S. dollars to service obligations such as our U.S. dollar-denominated indebtedness and to pay dividends to our shareholders. In addition, movements in currency exchange rates can affect transaction costs because we source product ingredients from various countries. We seek to mitigate our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations, primarily on cross-currency transactions, but our efforts may not be successful. Accordingly, changes in the currency exchange rates that we use to translate our results into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes or for transactions involving multiple currencies could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Commodity and other input prices are volatile and may increase or decrease significantly or availability of commodities may become constrained. We purchase and use large quantities of commodities, including cocoa, dairy, wheat, palm and other vegetable oils, sugar and other sweeteners, flavoring agents and nuts. In addition, we purchase and use significant quantities of packaging materials to package our products and natural gas, fuels and electricity for our factories and warehouses. Prices for these raw materials, other supplies and energy are volatile and can fluctuate due to conditions that are difficult to predict. These conditions include global competition for resources, currency fluctuations, political conditions, severe weather, the potential longer-term consequences of climate change on agricultural productivity, crop disease or pests, water risk, health pandemics, consumer or industrial demand, and changes in governmental trade, alternative energy and agricultural programs. Increasing focus on climate change, deforestation, water, plastic waste, animal welfare and human rights concerns and other risks associated with the global food system may lead to increased government intervention and consumer or activist responses, and could adversely affect our or our suppliers’ reputation and business and our ability to procure the materials we need to operate our business. Many of the commodities we purchase are grown by smallholder farmers, and they might lack the capacity to invest to increase productivity or adapt to changing conditions. Although we monitor our exposure to commodity prices and hedge against input price increases, we cannot fully hedge against changes in commodity costs, and our hedging strategies may not protect us from increases in specific raw material costs. Continued volatility in the prices of commodities and other supplies we purchase or changes in the types of commodities we purchase as we continue to evolve our product and packaging portfolio could increase or decrease the costs of our products, and our profitability could suffer as a result. Moreover, increases in the price of our products, including increases to cover higher input costs, may result in lower sales volumes, while decreases in input costs could require us to lower our prices and thereby affect our revenues, profits or margins. Likewise, constraints in the supply of key commodities may limit our ability to grow our net revenues and earnings. If our mitigation activities are not effective, if we are unable to price to cover increased costs or must reduce our prices, or if we are limited by supply constraints, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Complying with changes in and inconsistencies among laws and regulations in many countries in which we operate could increase our costs. Our activities throughout the world are highly regulated and subject to government oversight. Various laws and regulations govern food production, packaging, storage, distribution, sales, advertising, labeling and marketing, as well as licensing, trade, labor, tax and environmental matters, and health and safety practices. Government authorities regularly change laws and regulations as well as their interpretations. Our compliance with new or revised laws and regulations or the interpretation and application of existing laws and regulations could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition and results of operations. For instance, our financial condition and results of operations could be negatively affected by the regulatory and economic impact of changes in taxation and trade relations among the United States and other countries, including any changes to or repeal of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or changes in the European Union such as Brexit. We may be unable to hire or retain and develop key personnel or a highly skilled and diverse global workforce or manage changes in our workforce. We must hire, retain and develop effective leaders and a highly skilled and diverse global workforce. We compete to hire new personnel with a variety of capabilities in the many countries in which we manufacture and market our products and then to develop and retain their skills and competencies. Unplanned turnover, failure to attract and develop personnel with key emerging capabilities such as e-commerce and digital marketing skills, or failure to develop adequate succession plans for leadership positions or to hire and retain a diverse global workforce with the skills and in the locations we need to operate and grow our business could deplete our institutional knowledge base and erode our competitiveness. Changes in immigration laws and policies could also make it more difficult for us to recruit or relocate skilled employees. We also face increased personnel-related risks in connection with implementing the changes in our transformation agenda related to our operating model and business processes, including building a global shared services capability and reconfiguring our supply chain. These risks could lead to operational challenges, including increased competition for employees with the skills we require to achieve our business goals; higher employee turnover, including of employees with key capabilities; and challenges in developing the capabilities necessary to build and effectively execute a shared services function and transform our business processes. Furthermore, we might be unable to manage appropriately changes in, or that affect, our workforce or satisfy the legal requirements associated with how we manage and compensate our employees. This includes our management of employees represented by labor unions or workers’ councils, who represent approximately 64% of our 71,000 employees outside the United States and approximately 28% of our 12,000 U.S. employees. Strikes, work stoppages or other forms of labor unrest by our employees or those of our suppliers or distributors, or situations like the renegotiation of collective bargaining agreements that expired in February 2016 and that cover eight U.S. facilities, could cause disruptions to our supply chain, manufacturing or distribution processes. These risks could materially and adversely affect our reputation, ability to meet the needs of our customers, product sales, financial condition and results of operations. Our retail customers are consolidating and we must leverage our value proposition in order to compete against retailer and other economy brands. Retail customers, such as supermarkets, warehouse clubs and food distributors in the European Union, the United States and other major markets, continue to consolidate, form buying alliances or be acquired by new entrants in the food retail market, resulting in fewer, larger customers. Large retail customers and customer alliances can delist our products or reduce the shelf space allotted to our products and demand lower pricing, increased promotional programs or longer payment terms. Retail customers might also adopt these tactics in their dealings with us in response to the significant growth in online retailing for consumer products, which is outpacing the growth of traditional retail channels. In addition, larger retail customers have the scale to develop supply chains that permit them to operate with reduced inventories or to develop and market their own retailer and other economy brands that compete with some of our products. Our products must provide higher quality or value to our consumers than the less expensive alternatives, particularly during periods of economic uncertainty. Consumers may not buy our products if consumers perceive little difference between the quality or value of our products and those of retailer or other economy brands. If consumers switch to purchasing or otherwise prefer the retailer or other economy brands, then we could lose market share or sales volumes, or we may need to shift our product mix to lower margin offerings. Retail consolidation also increases the risk that adverse changes in our customers’ business operations or financial performance will have a corresponding material adverse effect on us. For example, if our customers cannot access sufficient funds or financing, then they may delay, decrease or cancel purchases of our products, or delay or fail to pay us for previous purchases. If we do not effectively respond to retail consolidation, increasing retail power and competition from retailer and other economy brands, our reputation, brands, product sales, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. We are subject to changes in our relationships with significant customers or suppliers. During 2017, our five largest customers accounted for 15.6% of our net revenues. There can be no assurance that our customers will continue to purchase our products in the same mix or quantities or on the same terms as in the past, particularly as increasingly powerful retailers continue to demand lower pricing and develop their own brands. The loss of or disruptions related to significant customers could result in a material reduction in sales or change in the mix of products we sell to a significant customer. This could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, disputes with significant suppliers, including disputes related to pricing or performance, could adversely affect our ability to supply products to our customers or operate our business and could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition and results of operations. We may decide or be required to recall products or be subjected to product liability claims. We could decide, or laws or regulations could require us, to recall products due to suspected or confirmed deliberate or unintentional product contamination including contamination of ingredients we use in our products that third parties supply, spoilage or other adulteration, product mislabeling or product tampering. In addition, if another company recalls or experiences negative publicity related to a product in a category in which we compete, consumers might reduce their overall consumption of products in this category. Any of these events could materially and adversely affect our reputation, brands, product sales, financial condition and results of operations. We may also suffer losses if our products or operations or those of our suppliers violate applicable laws or regulations, or if our or our suppliers’ products cause injury, illness or death. In addition, our marketing could face claims of false or deceptive advertising or other criticism. A significant product liability or other legal judgment against us, a related regulatory enforcement action, a widespread product recall or attempts to manipulate us based on threats related to the safety of our products could materially and adversely affect our reputation and profitability. Moreover, even if a product liability, consumer fraud or other claim is unsuccessful, has no merit or is not pursued, the negative publicity surrounding assertions against our products or processes could materially and adversely affect our reputation, brands, product sales, product inventory, financial condition and results of operations. We could be subject to legal or tax claims or other regulatory enforcement actions. We are a large snack food company operating in highly regulated environments and constantly evolving legal, tax and regulatory frameworks around the world. Consequently, we are subject to greater risk of litigation, legal or tax claims, or other regulatory enforcement actions. There can be no assurance that our employees, contractors or agents will not violate policies and procedures we have implemented to promote compliance with existing laws and regulations. Moreover, a failure to maintain effective control environment processes, including in connection with the development of our global shared services capability, could lead to violations, unintentional or otherwise, of laws and regulations. Litigation, legal or tax claims, or regulatory enforcement actions arising out of our failure or alleged failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations or controls, could subject us to civil and criminal penalties that could materially and adversely affect our reputation, product sales, financial condition and results of operations. We must correctly predict, identify and interpret changes in consumer preferences and demand and offer new and improved products that meet those changes. Consumer preferences for food and snacking products change continually. Our success depends on our ability to predict, identify and interpret the tastes, dietary habits, packaging, sales channel and other preferences of consumers around the world and to offer products that appeal to these preferences. Moreover, weak economic conditions, recession, equity market volatility or other factors, such as severe weather events, could affect consumer preferences and demand. If we do not offer products that appeal to consumers or if we misjudge consumer demand for our products, our sales and market share will decrease and our profitability could suffer. We must distinguish between short-term fads and trends and long-term changes in consumer preferences. If we do not accurately predict which shifts in consumer preferences or category trends will be long-term, or if we fail to introduce new and improved products to satisfy those changing preferences, our sales could decline. In addition, because of our varied and geographically diverse consumer base, we must offer an array of products that satisfy the broad spectrum of consumer preferences. If we fail to expand our product offerings successfully across product categories, or if we do not rapidly develop products in faster growing and more profitable categories, demand for our products could decrease and our profitability could suffer. Prolonged negative perceptions concerning the health, environmental and social implications of certain food products and ingredients could influence consumer preferences and acceptance of some of our products and marketing programs. For example, consumers have increasingly focused on well-being, including reducing sodium and added sugar consumption. Developing more well-being products and contemporizing our brands by refining their ingredient and nutrition profiles are critical to our growth. In addition, consumer preferences differ by region, and we must monitor and adjust our use of ingredients to respond to these regional preferences. We might be unsuccessful in our efforts to effectively respond to changing consumer preferences and social expectations. Continued negative perceptions and failure to satisfy consumer preferences could materially and adversely affect our reputation, product sales, financial condition and results of operations. We may not successfully identify, complete or manage strategic transactions. We regularly evaluate a variety of potential strategic transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, equity method investments and other strategic alliances that could further our strategic business objectives. We may not successfully identify, complete or manage the risks presented by these strategic transactions. Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to identify suitable transactions; negotiate favorable contractual terms; comply with applicable regulations and receive necessary consents, clearances and approvals (including regulatory and antitrust clearances and approvals); integrate or separate businesses; realize the full extent of the benefits, cost savings or synergies presented by strategic transactions; effectively implement control environment processes with employees joining us as a result of a transaction; minimize adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers; achieve accurate estimates of fair value; minimize potential loss of customers or key employees; and minimize indemnities and potential disputes with buyers, sellers and strategic partners. In addition, execution or oversight of strategic transactions may result in the diversion of management attention from our existing business and may present financial, managerial and operational risks. With respect to acquisitions and joint ventures in particular, we are also exposed to potential risks based on our ability to conform standards, controls, policies and procedures, and business cultures; consolidate and streamline operations and infrastructures; identify and eliminate, as appropriate, redundant and underperforming operations and assets; manage inefficiencies associated with the integration of operations; and coordinate timely and ongoing compliance with antitrust and competition laws in the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions. Joint ventures and similar strategic alliances pose additional risks, as we share ownership and in some cases management responsibilities with one or more other parties whose objectives for the alliance may diverge from ours over time, who may not have the same priorities, strategies or resources as we do, or whose interpretation of applicable policies may differ from our own. Transactions or ventures into which we enter might not meet our financial and non-financial control and compliance expectations or yield the anticipated benefits. Depending on the nature of the business ventures, including whether they operate globally, these ventures could also be subject to many of the same risks we are, including political, economic, regulatory and compliance risks, currency exchange rate fluctuations, and volatility of commodity and other input prices. Either partner might fail to recognize an alliance relationship that could expose the business to higher risk or make the venture not as productive as expected. Furthermore, we may not be able to complete, on terms favorable to us, desired or proposed divestitures of businesses that do not meet our strategic objectives or our growth or profitability targets. Our divestiture activities, or related activities such as reorganizations, restructuring programs and transformation initiatives, may require us to recognize impairment charges or to take action to reduce costs that remain after we complete a divestiture. Gains or losses on the sales of, or lost operating income from, those businesses may also affect our profitability. Any of these risks could materially and adversely affect our business, product sales, financial condition and results of operations. We could fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting. The accuracy of our financial reporting depends on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements and may not prevent or detect misstatements because of its inherent limitations. These limitations include, among others, the possibility of human error, inadequacy or circumvention of controls and fraud. If we do not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or design and implement controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of our financial statements, including in connection with controls executed for us by third parties, we might fail to timely detect any misappropriation of corporate assets or inappropriate allocation or use of funds and could be unable to file accurate financial reports on a timely basis. As a result, our reputation, results of operations and stock price could be materially adversely affected. Weak financial performance, downgrades in our credit ratings, illiquid global capital markets and volatile global economic conditions could limit our access to the global capital markets, reduce our liquidity and increase our borrowing costs. We access the long-term and short-term global capital markets to obtain financing. Our financial performance, our short-and long-term debt credit ratings, interest rates, the stability of financial institutions with which we partner, the liquidity of the overall global capital markets and the state of the global economy, including the food industry, could affect our access to, and the availability or cost of, financing on acceptable terms and conditions and our ability to pay dividends in the future. There can be no assurance that we will have access to the global capital markets on terms we find acceptable. We regularly access the commercial paper markets in the United States and Europe for ongoing funding requirements. A downgrade in our credit ratings by a credit rating agency could increase our borrowing costs and adversely affect our ability to issue commercial paper. Disruptions in the global commercial paper market or other effects of volatile economic conditions on the global credit markets also could reduce the amount of commercial paper that we could issue and raise our borrowing costs for both short- and long-term debt offerings. Limitations on our ability to access the global capital markets, a reduction in our liquidity or an increase in our borrowing costs could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Volatility in the equity markets, interest rates, our participation in multiemployer pension plans and other factors could increase our costs relating to our employees’ pensions. We sponsor a number of defined benefit pension plans for our employees throughout the world and also contribute toward our employees’ pensions under defined benefit plans that we do not sponsor. At the end of 2017, the projected benefit obligation of the defined benefit pension plans we sponsor was $12.6 billion and plan assets were $11.0 billion. For defined benefit pension plans that we maintain, the difference between plan obligations and assets, or the funded status of the plans, significantly affects the net periodic benefit costs of our pension plans and the ongoing funding requirements of those plans. Our largest funded defined benefit pension plans are funded with trust assets invested in a globally diversified portfolio of investments, including equities and corporate and government debt. Among other factors, changes in interest rates, mortality rates, early retirement rates, investment returns, funding requirements in the jurisdictions in which the plans operate and the market value of plan assets can affect the level of plan funding, cause volatility in the net periodic pension cost and increase our future funding requirements. Legislative and other governmental regulatory actions may also increase funding requirements for our pension plans’ benefits obligation. Volatility in the global capital markets may increase the risk that we will be required to make additional cash contributions to the pension plans and recognize further increases in our net periodic pension cost. We also participate in multiemployer pension plans. Our exposure under those plans may extend beyond what our obligation would be with respect to our own employees. Our contributions to a multiemployer plan may increase beyond our bargaining obligations depending on the financial condition of the multiemployer plan and the financial viability of other employers in the plan. We may be required to participate in funding the unfunded obligations of the plan allocable to a withdrawing employer, and our costs might increase as a result. Further, if we partially or completely withdraw from a multiemployer pension plan, we may be required to pay a partial or complete withdrawal liability. This withdrawal liability will generally increase if there is also a mass withdrawal of other participating employers or if the plan terminates. (See Note 9, Benefit Plans, to the consolidated financial statements for more information on our multiemployer pension plans.) A significant increase in our pension benefit obligations or funding requirements could curtail our ability to invest in the business and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Our failure to protect our valuable intellectual property rights could reduce the value of our products and brands. We consider our intellectual property rights, particularly and most notably our trademarks, but also our patents, trade secrets, copyrights and licensing agreements, to be a significant and valuable part of our business. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights by taking advantage of a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws in various countries, as well as licensing agreements, third party nondisclosure and assignment agreements and policing of third party misuses of our intellectual property. Our failure to obtain or adequately protect our intellectual property rights, or any change in law or other changes that serve to lessen or remove the current legal protections of our intellectual property, may diminish our competitiveness and could materially harm our business. We may be unaware of third party claims of intellectual property infringement relating to our technology, brands or products. Any litigation regarding patents or other intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and could divert management’s and other key personnel’s attention from our business operations. Third party claims of intellectual property infringement might require us to pay monetary damages or enter into costly license agreements. We also may be subject to injunctions against development and sale of certain of our products. Any of these occurrences could materially and adversely affect our reputation, ability to introduce new products or improve the quality of existing products, product sales, financial condition and results of operations. Item 1B.