Waste Management 2015 Annual Report Download - page 80

• We may not be able to hire or retain the personnel necessary to manage our strategy effectively.
• A key element of our strategy is yield management through focus on price leadership, which has
presented challenges to keep existing business and win new business at reasonable returns. We have
also continued our environmental fee and fuel surcharge programs to offset costs. The loss of volumes
as a result of price increases and our unwillingness to pursue lower margin volumes may negatively
affect our cash flows or results of operations.
• We may be unsuccessful in implementing improvements to operational efficiency and such efforts may
not yield the intended result.
• We may not be able to maintain cost savings achieved through restructuring efforts.
• Strategic decisions with respect to our asset portfolio may result in impairments to our assets. See Item 1A.
Risk Factors —We may record material charges against our earnings due to impairments to our assets.
• Our ability to make strategic acquisitions depends on our ability to identify desirable acquisition
targets, negotiate advantageous transactions despite competition for such opportunities, fund such
acquisitions on favorable terms, and realize the benefits we expect from those transactions.
• Acquisitions, investments and/or new service offerings may not increase our earnings in the timeframe
anticipated, or at all, due to difficulties operating in new markets or providing new service offerings,
failure of emerging technologies to perform as expected, failure to operate within budget, integration
issues, or regulatory issues, among others.
• Integration of acquisitions and/or new services offerings could increase our exposure to the risk of
inadvertent noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations.
• Execution of our strategy, particularly growth through acquisitions, may cause us to incur substantial
additional indebtedness, which may divert capital away from our traditional business operations and
other financial plans.
• We continue to seek to divest underperforming and non-strategic assets if we cannot improve their
profitability. We may not be able to successfully negotiate the divestiture of underperforming and non-
strategic operations, which could result in asset impairments or the continued operation of low-margin
businesses.
In addition to the risks set forth above, implementation of our business strategy could also be affected by a
number of factors beyond our control, such as increased competition, legal developments, government
regulation, general economic conditions, increased operating costs or expenses and changes in industry trends.
We may decide to alter or discontinue certain aspects of our business strategy at any time. If we are not able to
implement our business strategy successfully, our long-term growth and profitability may be adversely affected.
Even if we are able to implement some or all of the initiatives of our business strategy successfully, our operating
results may not improve to the extent we anticipate, or at all.
Compliance with existing or future regulations and/or enforcement of such regulations may restrict or
change our operations, increase our operating costs or require us to make additional capital expenditures.
Stringent government regulations at the federal, state, provincial, and local level in the United States and Canada
have a substantial impact on our business, and compliance with such regulations is costly. A large number of complex
laws, rules, orders and interpretations govern environmental protection, health, safety, land use, zoning, transportation
and related matters. In recent years, we have perceived an increase in both the amount of government regulation and
the number of enforcement actions being brought by regulatory entities against operations in the waste services
industry. We expect this heightened governmental focus on regulation and enforcement to continue. Among other
things, governmental regulations and enforcement actions may restrict our operations and adversely affect our financial
condition, results of operations and cash flows by imposing conditions such as:
• limitations on siting and constructing new waste disposal, transfer, recycling or processing facilities or
on expanding existing facilities;
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