Fluor 2014 Annual Report Download - page 55

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a foreign subsidiary’s non-U.S. dollar functional currency, the company would report less revenue, cost and
earnings in U.S. dollars than it would have had the U.S. dollar depreciated against the same foreign
currency or if there had been no change in the exchange rate.
Our business may be negatively impacted if we are unable to adequately protect intellectual property rights.
Our success is dependent, in part, on our ability to differentiate our services through our technologies
and know-how. This success includes the ability of companies in which we invest, such as NuScale
Power, LLC, to protect their intellectual property rights. We rely principally on a combination of patents,
copyrights, trade secrets, confidentiality agreements and other contractual arrangements to protect our
interests. However, these methods only provide a limited amount of protection and may not adequately
protect our interests. This can be especially true in certain foreign countries that do not protect intellectual
property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. We cannot provide assurances that
others will not independently develop technology substantially similar to our trade secret technology or
that we can successfully preserve our intellectual property rights in the future. Our intellectual property
rights could be invalidated, circumvented, challenged or infringed upon. Litigation to determine the scope
of intellectual property rights, even if ultimately successful, could be costly and could divert management’s
attention away from other aspects of our business.
In addition, our clients or other third parties may also provide us with their technology and
intellectual property. There is a risk that we may not sufficiently protect our or their information from
improper use or dissemination and, as a result, could be subject to claims and litigation and resulting
liabilities, loss of contracts or other consequences that could have an adverse impact on our business,
financial condition and results of operation.
We also hold licenses from third parties which may be utilized in our business operations. If we are no
longer able to license such technology on commercially reasonable terms or otherwise, our business and
financial performance could be adversely affected.
Our continued success requires us to hire and retain qualified personnel.
The success of our business is dependent upon being able to attract and retain personnel, including
engineers, project management and craft employees around the globe, who have the necessary and
required experience and expertise. Competition for these and other experienced personnel is intense. It
may be difficult to attract and retain qualified individuals with the expertise and in the timeframe
demanded by our clients. In certain geographic areas, for example, we may not be able to satisfy the
demand for our services because of our inability to successfully hire and retain qualified personnel. Also, it
may be difficult to replace personnel who hold government granted eligibility that may be required to
obtain certain government projects and/or who have significant government contract experience.
As some of our executives and other key personnel approach retirement age, we need to provide for
smooth transitions, which may require that we devote time and resources to indentify and integrate new
personnel into these leadership roles and other key positions. If we are unable to attract and retain a
sufficient number of skilled personnel or effectively implement appropriate succession plans, our ability to
pursue projects may be adversely affected, the costs of executing our existing and future projects may
increase and our financial performance may decline.
In addition, the cost of providing our services, including the extent to which we utilize our workforce,
affects our profitability. For example, the uncertainty of contract award timing can present difficulties in
matching our workforce size with our contracts. If an expected contract award is delayed or not received,
we could incur costs resulting from excess staff, reductions in staff, or redundancy of facilities that could
have a material adverse impact on our business, financial conditions and results of operations.
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