Dollar General 2013 Annual Report Download - page 92

defend future litigation may be significant. There also may be adverse publicity associated with
litigation that could negatively affect customer perception of our business, regardless of whether the
allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. As a result, litigation may adversely
affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. See Note 8 to the consolidated
financial statements for further details regarding certain of these pending matters.
Natural disasters (whether or not caused by climate change), unusual weather conditions, pandemic
outbreaks, terrorist acts, and global political events could disrupt business and result in lower sales and
otherwise adversely affect our financial performance.
The occurrence of one or more natural disasters, such as hurricanes, fires, floods, tornadoes and
earthquakes, unusual weather conditions, pandemic outbreaks, terrorist acts or disruptive global
political events, such as civil unrest in countries in which our suppliers are located, or similar
disruptions could adversely affect our business and financial performance. Uncharacteristic or
significant weather conditions can affect consumer shopping patterns, which could lead to lost sales or
greater than expected markdowns and adversely affect our short-term results of operations. To the
extent these events result in the closure of one or more of our distribution centers, a significant
number of stores, or our corporate headquarters or impact one or more of our key suppliers, our
operations and financial performance could be materially adversely affected through an inability to
make deliveries or provide other support functions to our stores and through lost sales. In addition,
these events could result in increases in fuel (or other energy) prices or a fuel shortage, delays in
opening new stores, the temporary lack of an adequate work force in a market, the temporary or
long-term disruption in the supply of products from some domestic and overseas suppliers, the
temporary disruption in the transport of goods from overseas, delay in the delivery of goods to our
distribution centers or stores, the inability of customers to reach or have transportation to our stores
directly affected by such events, the temporary reduction in the availability of products in our stores
and disruption of our utility services or to our information systems. These events also can have indirect
consequences such as increases in the costs of insurance if they result in significant loss of property or
other insurable damage.
Material damage or interruptions to our information systems as a result of external factors, staffing
shortages or unanticipated challenges or difficulties in maintaining or updating our existing technology or
developing or implementing new technology could have a material adverse effect on our business or results of
operations.
We depend on a variety of information technology systems for the efficient functioning of our
business. Such systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and
telecommunications failures, computer viruses, cybersecurity breaches, natural disasters and human
error. Damage or interruption to these systems may require a significant investment to fix or replace
them, and we may suffer interruptions in our operations in the interim and may experience loss or
corruption of critical data, which could have a material adverse effect on our business or results of
operations.
We also rely heavily on our information technology staff. Failure to meet these staffing needs may
negatively affect our ability to fulfill our technology initiatives while continuing to provide maintenance
on existing systems. We rely on certain vendors to maintain and periodically upgrade many of these
systems so that they can continue to support our business. The software programs supporting many of
our systems were licensed to us by independent software developers. The inability of these developers
or us to continue to maintain and upgrade these information systems and software programs would
disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations if we were unable to convert to alternate systems in
an efficient and timely manner. In addition, costs and potential problems and interruptions associated
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