Symantec 2008 Annual Report Download - page 99

Our international operations involve risks that could increase our expenses, adversely affect our operating
results, and require increased time and attention of our management.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from customers located outside of the U.S. and we have
significant operations outside of the U.S., including engineering, sales, customer support, and production. We plan
to expand our international operations, but such expansion is contingent upon the financial performance of our
existing international operations as well as our identification of growth opportunities. Our international operations
are subject to risks in addition to those faced by our domestic operations, including:
• Potential loss of proprietary information due to misappropriation or laws that may be less protective of our
intellectual property rights than U.S. laws
• Requirements of foreign laws and other governmental controls, including trade and labor restrictions and
related laws that reduce the flexibility of our business operations
• Regulations or restrictions on the use, import, or export of encryption technologies that could delay or
prevent the acceptance and use of encryption products and public networks for secure communications
• Central bank and other restrictions on our ability to repatriate cash from our international subsidiaries or to
exchange cash in international subsidiaries into cash available for use in the U.S.
• Fluctuations in currency exchange rates and economic instability such as higher interest rates in the U.S. and
inflation that could reduce our customers’ ability to obtain financing for software products or that could
make our products more expensive or could increase our costs of doing business in certain countries
• Limitations on future growth or inability to maintain current levels of revenues from international sales if we
do not invest sufficiently in our international operations
• Longer payment cycles for sales in foreign countries and difficulties in collecting accounts receivable
• Difficulties in staffing, managing, and operating our international operations, including difficulties related to
administering our stock plans in some foreign countries
• Difficulties in coordinating the activities of our geographically dispersed and culturally diverse operations
• Seasonal reductions in business activity in the summer months in Europe and in other periods in other
countries
• Reduced sales due to the failure to obtain any required export approval of our technologies, particularly our
encryption technologies
• Costs and delays associated with developing software in multiple languages
• Political unrest, war, or terrorism, particularly in areas in which we have facilities
A significant portion of our transactions outside of the U.S. are denominated in foreign currencies. Accord-
ingly, our future operating results will continue to be subject to fluctuations in foreign currency rates. We may be
negatively affected by fluctuations in foreign currency rates in the future, especially if international sales continue
to grow as a percentage of our total sales.
The level of corporate tax from sales to our non-U.S. customers is less than the level of tax from sales to our
U.S. customers. This benefit is contingent upon existing tax regulations in the U.S. and in the countries in which our
international operations are located. Future changes in domestic or international tax regulations could adversely
affect our ability to continue to realize these tax benefits.
Our products are complex and operate in a wide variety of computer configurations, which could result
in errors or product failures.
Because we offer very complex products, undetected errors, failures, or bugs may occur, especially when
products are first introduced or when new versions are released. Our products are often installed and used in large-
scale computing environments with different operating systems, system management software, and equipment and
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