Item 1. Business.

General

Becton, Dickinson and Company (also referred to herein as “BD”) was incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey in November 1906, as successor to a New York business started in 1897. BD’s executive offices are located at 1 Becton Drive, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey 07417-1880, and its telephone number is (201) 847-6800. All references in this Form 10-K to "BD", "the Company", "we", "our" or "us" refer to Becton, Dickinson and Company and its domestic and foreign subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated by the context.

BD is a global medical technology company engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of a broad range of medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment and diagnostic products used by healthcare institutions, physicians, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public. We provide customer solutions that are focused on improving medication management and patient safety; supporting infection prevention practices; equipping surgical and interventional procedures; improving drug delivery; aiding anesthesiology care; enhancing the diagnosis of infectious diseases and cancers; advancing cellular research and applications; and supporting the management of diabetes.

Business Segments

BD’s operations consist of three worldwide business segments: BD Medical, BD Life Sciences and BD Interventional. As is further described below, BD completed its acquisition of C.R. Bard, Inc. ("Bard") on December 29, 2017, and BD Interventional includes the majority of Bard’s product offerings, along with certain product offerings formerly within BD Medical. Additionally, certain of Bard's product offerings are included within BD Medical as part of the Medication Delivery Solutions unit. Information with respect to BD’s business segments and the Bard acquisition is included in Note 7 and Note 10, respectively, to the consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, and is incorporated herein by reference.

BD Medical

BD Medical produces a broad array of medical technologies and devices that are used to help improve healthcare delivery in a wide range of settings. The primary customers served by BD Medical are hospitals and clinics; physicians’ office practices; consumers and retail pharmacies; governmental and nonprofit public health agencies; pharmaceutical companies; and healthcare workers. BD Medical consists of the following organizational units:

Organizational Unit			Principal Product Lines
Medication Delivery Solutions			Peripheral intravenous ("IV") catheters (conventional, safety); advanced peripheral catheters (guidewire assisted peripherally inserted venous catheters, midline catheters, port access); central lines (peripherally inserted central catheters); acute dialysis catheters; vascular access technology (ultrasonic imaging); vascular care (lock solutions, prefilled flush syringes, disinfecting caps); vascular preparation (skin antiseptics, dressings, securement); needle-free IV connectors and extensions sets; closed-system drug transfer devices; hazardous drug detection; conventional and safety hypodermic syringes and needles, anesthesia needles (spinal, epidural) and trays; enteral syringes; and sharps disposal systems.
Medication Management Solutions			IV medication safety and infusion therapy delivery systems, including infusion pumps, dedicated disposables, and IV fluids; medication compounding workflow systems; automated medication dispensing; automated supply management systems; medication inventory optimization and tracking systems; and informatics and analytics solutions for enterprise medication management.
Diabetes Care			Syringes, pen needles and other products related to the injection or infusion of insulin and other drugs used in the treatment of diabetes.
Pharmaceutical Systems			Prefillable drug delivery systems - prefillable syringes, safety, shielding and self-injection systems and support services - provided to pharmaceutical companies for use as containers for injectable pharmaceutical products, which are then placed on the market as drug/device combinations.

BD Life Sciences

BD Life Sciences provides products for the safe collection and transport of diagnostics specimens, and instruments and reagent systems to detect a broad range of infectious diseases, healthcare-associated infections and cancers. In addition, BD Life Sciences produces research and clinical tools that facilitate the study of cells, and the components of cells, to gain a better understanding of normal and disease processes. That information is used to aid the discovery and development of new drugs and vaccines, and to improve the diagnosis and management of diseases. The primary customers served by BD Life Sciences are hospitals, laboratories and clinics; blood banks; healthcare workers; public health agencies; physicians’ office practices; retail pharmacies; academic and government institutions; and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. BD Life Sciences consists of the following organizational units:

Organizational Unit			Principal Product Lines
Integrated Diagnostic Solutions			Integrated systems for specimen collection; safety-engineered blood collection products and systems; automated blood culturing and tuberculosis culturing systems; molecular testing systems for infectious diseases and women’s health; microorganism identification and drug susceptibility systems; liquid-based cytology systems for cervical cancer screening; rapid diagnostic assays for testing of respiratory infections; microbiology laboratory automation; and plated media for clinical and industrial applications.
Biosciences			Fluorescence-activated cell sorters and analyzers; antibodies and kits for performing cell analysis; reagent systems for life science research; solutions for high-throughput single-cell gene expression analysis; and clinical oncology, immunological (HIV) and transplantation diagnostic/monitoring reagents and analyzers.

BD Interventional

BD Interventional provides vascular, urology, oncology and surgical specialty products that are intended, with the exception of the V. Muller™ surgical and laparoscopic instrumentation products, to be used once and then discarded or are either temporarily or permanently implanted. The primary customers served by BD Interventional are hospitals, individual healthcare professionals, extended care facilities, alternate site facilities, and patients via our Homecare business. BD Interventional consists of the following organizational units:

Organizational Unit			Principal Product Lines
Surgery			Hernia and soft tissue repair, biological grafts, bioresorbable grafts, biosurgery, and other surgical products; BD ChloraPrep™ surgical infection prevention products; and V. Mueller™ surgical and laparoscopic instrumentation products.
Peripheral Intervention			Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (“PTA”) balloon catheters, peripheral vascular stents, self-expanding and balloon-expandable stent grafts, vascular grafts, drug coated balloons, ports, biopsy, chronic dialysis, feeding, inferior vena catheter filters, endovascular fistula creation devices and drainage products, and atherectomy and thrombectomy system.
Urology and Critical Care			Urine management devices, urological drainage products, intermittent catheters, kidney stone management devices, Targeted Temperature Management, and fecal management devices.

C. R. Bard Acquisition

On December 29, 2017, BD completed the acquisition of Bard, a global medical technology company in the fields of vascular, urology, oncology and surgical specialty products. Under the terms of the transaction, Bard common shareholders received approximately $222.93 in cash and 0.5077 shares of BD stock per Bard share. BD financed the cash portion of the total consideration transferred with available cash, which included net proceeds raised in the third quarter of fiscal year 2017 through registered public offerings of securities and debt transactions. Additional information regarding the Bard acquisition is contained in Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Divestitures

Advanced Bioprocessing

In October 2018, BD completed the sale of its Advanced Bioprocessing business pursuant to a definitive agreement that was signed in September 2018.

Respiratory Solutions and Vyaire Medical

In April 2018, BD completed the sale of its remaining interest in Vyaire Medical. BD received gross cash proceeds of approximately $435 million and recognized a pre-tax gain on the sale of approximately $303 million.

Additional information regarding these divestitures is contained in Note 11 to the consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, which is incorporated herein by reference.

International Operations

BD’s products are manufactured and sold worldwide. For reporting purposes, we organize our operations outside the United States as follows: Europe, EMA (which includes the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East and Africa); Greater Asia (which includes countries in Greater China, Japan, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Korea, and Australia and New Zealand); Latin America (which includes Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America); and Canada. The principal products sold by BD outside the United States are hypodermic needles and syringes; insulin syringes and pen needles; BD Hypak™ brand prefillable syringe systems; infusion therapy products, including BD Alaris™ infusion pumps; pharmacy automation equipment, including Pyxis™ systems; devices and services for the treatment of peripheral arterial and venous disease, cancer detection, and end-stage renal disease and maintenance; synthetic and resorbable mesh, biologic implants and fixation systems to complement innovative techniques for inguinal, ventral and other hernia repair procedures; medical devices for urine drainage in the acute care hospital and home care settings; BD Vacutainer™ brand blood collection products; diagnostic systems and laboratory equipment and products; and flow cytometry instruments and reagents. BD has manufacturing operations outside the United States in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Geographic information with respect to BD’s operations is included under the heading “Geographic Information” in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

Foreign economic conditions and exchange rate fluctuations have caused the profitability related to foreign revenues to fluctuate more than the profitability related to domestic revenues. BD believes its activities in some countries outside the United States involve greater risk than its domestic business due to the factors cited herein, as well as the economic environment, local commercial and economic policies and political uncertainties. See further discussion of these risks in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Distribution

BD’s products are marketed and distributed in the United States and internationally through independent distribution channels, and directly to hospitals and other healthcare institutions by BD and independent sales representatives. BD uses acute care, non-acute care, laboratory and drug wholesaler distributors to broadly support our overall disposable product demand from our end user customers in the United States. In international markets, products are distributed either directly or through distributors, with the practice varying by country. Order backlog is not material to BD’s business inasmuch as orders for BD products generally are received and filled on a current basis, except for items temporarily out of stock. BD’s worldwide sales are not generally seasonal, with the exception of certain medical devices in the Medication Delivery Solutions business unit, and flu diagnostic products in the Integrated Diagnostic Systems business unit, which relate to seasonal diseases such as influenza. In order to service its customers, optimize logistics, lower facilities costs and reduce finished goods inventory levels, BD operates consolidated distribution facilities in both the United States and Europe. Orders are normally shipped within a matter of days after receipt.

Raw Materials and Components

BD purchases many different types of raw materials and components, including plastics, glass, metals, textiles, paper products, agricultural products, electronic and mechanical sub-assemblies and various biological, chemical and petrochemical products. BD seeks to ensure continuity of supply by securing multiple options for sourcing. However, there are situations where raw materials and components are only available from one supplier, which are referred to as sole sourced. The use of sole sourced materials and components may be due to sourcing of proprietary and/or patented technology and processes that are intended to provide a unique market differentiation to our product. In other cases, while a raw material or component can be sourced from multiple manufacturers, only one supplier is qualified due to quality assurance, cost or other considerations. In order to provide alternate sources, BD must complete a rigorous qualification process, which most often includes completion of regulatory registration and approval. If clinical trials are not required, this qualification process can take 3-18 months depending on the criticality of the change. When clinical trials are required, this process may lengthen the qualification phase from one to three years. BD continuously assesses its sole sourced raw materials and components, and maintains business continuity plans with its suppliers. BD’s continuity plans may include securing secondary supply with alternate suppliers, qualification of alternate manufacturing facilities, maintaining contingency stock, internal development of supply and establishment of technology escrow accounts. While BD works closely with its suppliers, no assurance can be given that these efforts will be successful, and there may be events that cause supply interruption, reduction or termination that adversely impacts BD’s ability to manufacture and sell certain products.

Research and Development

BD conducts its research and development (“R&D”) activities at its operating units and at BD Technologies in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The majority of BD’s R&D activities are conducted in North America. Outside North America, BD primarily conducts R&D activities in China, France, India, Ireland and Singapore. BD also collaborates with certain universities, medical centers and other entities on R&D programs and retains individual consultants and partners to support its efforts in specialized fields.

Intellectual Property and Licenses

BD owns significant intellectual property, including patents, patent applications, technology, trade secrets, know-how, copyrights and trademarks in the United States and other countries. BD is also licensed under domestic and foreign patents, patent applications, technology, trade secrets, know-how, copyrights and trademarks owned by others. In the aggregate, these intellectual property assets and licenses are of material importance to BD’s business. BD believes, however, that no single patent, technology, trademark, intellectual property asset or license is material in relation to BD’s business as a whole, or to any business segment.

Competition

BD operates in the increasingly complex and challenging medical technology marketplace. Technological advances and scientific discoveries have accelerated the pace of change in medical technology, the regulatory environment of medical products is becoming more complex and vigorous, and economic conditions have resulted in a challenging market. Companies of varying sizes compete in the global medical technology field. Some are more specialized than BD with respect to particular markets, and some have greater financial resources than BD. New companies have entered the field, particularly in the areas of molecular diagnostics, safety-engineered devices and in the life sciences, and established companies have diversified their business activities into the medical technology area. Other firms engaged in the distribution of medical technology products have become manufacturers of medical devices and instruments as well. Acquisitions and collaborations by and among companies seeking a competitive advantage also affect the competitive environment. In addition, the entry into the market of low-cost manufacturers has created increased pricing pressures. BD competes in this evolving marketplace on the basis of many factors, including price, quality, innovation, service, reputation, distribution and promotion. The impact of these factors on BD’s competitive position varies among BD’s various product offerings. In order to remain competitive in the industries in which it operates, BD continues to make investments in research and development, quality management, quality improvement, product innovation and productivity improvement in support of its core strategies. See further discussion of the risks relating to competition in the medical technology industry in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Third-Party Reimbursement

Reimbursement is an important strategic consideration in the development and marketing of medical technology. Obtaining coverage, coding and payment is critical to the commercial success of a new product or procedure. Difficulty in achieving market access can lead to slow adoption in the marketplace and inadequate payment levels that can continue for months or even years.

A majority of BD’s customers rely on third-party payers, including government programs and private health insurance plans, to reimburse some or all of the cost of the procedures, products and services they provide. Vertical integration has created a very concentrated market among commercial third-party payers in the U.S. Global payers are increasingly focused on strategies to control spending on healthcare and reward improvements in quality and patient outcomes.

BD is actively engaged in identifying and communicating value propositions of its products for payer, provider, and patient stakeholders, and it employs various efforts and resources to attempt to positively impact coverage, coding and payment pathways. However, BD has no direct control over payer decision-making with respect to coverage and payment levels for BD products. The manner and level of reimbursement in any given case may depend on the site of care, the procedure(s) performed, the final patient diagnosis, the device(s) and/or drug(s) utilized, the available budget, or a combination of these factors, and coverage and payment levels are determined at each payer’s discretion. As BD’s product offerings are diverse across a variety of healthcare settings, they are affected to varying degrees by the many payment pathways that impact the decisions of healthcare providers regarding which medical products they purchase and the prices they are willing to pay for those products. Therefore, changes in reimbursement levels or methods may either positively or negatively impact sales of BD products in any given country for any given product.

As government programs expand healthcare coverage for their citizens, they have at the same time sought to control costs by limiting the amount of reimbursement they will pay for particular procedures, products or services. In addition, most payers are seeking price predictability in order to mitigate future exposure to manufacturer price increases. This is coupled with an increase in high deductible private insurance plans, which transfer more pricing exposure and burden directly to the patient.

Many payers both in the U.S. and globally have developed specific payment and delivery mechanisms to support these cost control efforts and to focus on paying for value. These mechanisms include payment reductions, pay for performance measures, quality-based performance payments, restrictive coverage policies, bidding and tender mechanics, studies to compare the effectiveness of therapies and use of technology

assessments. These changes, whether the result of legislation, new strategic alliances or market consolidations, have created an increased emphasis on the delivery of more cost-effective and quality-driven healthcare.

For example, as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”), the U.S. has implemented value-based payment methodologies and has created alternative payment models such as bundled payments to continue to drive improved value. We see other governments around the world considering similar bundling reform measures, with the utilization of the Diagnosis Related Group (“DRG”) as a payment mechanism to drive toward quality and resource based reimbursement becoming more common in regions outside the U.S.

Regulation

General

BD's operations are global and are affected by complex state, federal and international laws relating to healthcare, environmental protection, antitrust, anti-corruption, marketing, fraud and abuse (including anti-kickback and false claims laws), export control, product safety and efficacy, employment, privacy and other areas.

BD’s medical technology products and operations are subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and various other federal and state agencies, as well as by foreign governmental agencies. These agencies enforce laws and regulations that govern the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, advertising, marketing and distribution, and market surveillance of BD’s medical products. The scope of the activities of these agencies, particularly in the Europe, Japan, and Asia Pacific regions in which BD operates, has been increasing.

BD actively maintains FDA/ISO Quality Systems that establish standards for its product design, manufacturing, and distribution processes. Prior to marketing or selling most of its products, BD must secure approval from the FDA and counterpart non-U.S. regulatory agencies. Following the introduction of a product, these agencies engage in periodic reviews and inspections of BD’s quality systems, as well as product performance and advertising and promotional materials. These regulatory controls, as well as any changes in agency policies, can affect the time and cost associated with the development, introduction and continued availability of new and existing products. Where possible, BD anticipates these factors in its product development and planning processes. These agencies possess the authority to take various administrative and legal actions against BD, such as product recalls, product seizures and other civil and criminal sanctions. BD also undertakes voluntary compliance actions, such as voluntary recalls.

BD also is subject to various federal and state laws, and laws outside the United States, concerning healthcare fraud and abuse (including false claims laws and anti-kickback laws), global anti-corruption, transportation, safety and health, and customs and exports. Many of the agencies enforcing these laws have increased their enforcement activities with respect to medical device manufacturers in recent years. This is part of a general trend toward increased regulation and enforcement activity within and outside the United States.

In addition, as part of PPACA, the federal government has enacted the Sunshine Act provisions requiring BD to publicly report gifts and payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals. Countries outside the United States have enacted similar local laws requiring medical device companies to report transfers of value to health care providers licensed in those countries. Failure to comply with these laws could result in a range of fines, penalties and/or other sanctions.

Consent Decree with FDA

Our infusion pump organizational unit is operating under an amended consent decree entered into by CareFusion with the FDA in 2007. CareFusion’s consent decree with the FDA is related to its Alaris™ SE infusion pumps. In February 2009, CareFusion and the FDA amended the consent decree to include all infusion pumps manufactured by or for CareFusion 303, Inc., the organizational unit that manufactures and sells BD Alaris infusion pumps in the United States. The amended consent decree does not apply to intravenous administration sets and accessories.

While this BD organizational unit remains subject to the amended consent decree, which includes the requirements of the original consent decree, it has made substantial progress in its compliance efforts. However, we cannot predict the outcome of this matter, and the amended consent decree authorizes the FDA, in the event of any violations in the future, to order us to cease manufacturing and distributing infusion pumps, recall products and take other actions. We may be required to pay damages of $15,000 per day per violation if we fail to comply with any provision of the amended consent decree, up to $15 million per year.

We also cannot currently predict whether additional monetary investment will be incurred to resolve this matter or the matter’s ultimate impact on our business. We may be obligated to pay more costs in the future because, among other things, the FDA may determine that we are not fully compliant with the amended consent decree and therefore impose penalties under the amended consent decree, and/or we may be subject to future proceedings and litigation relating to the matters addressed in the amended consent decree. As of September 30, 2020, we do not believe that a loss is probable in connection with the amended consent decree, and accordingly, we have no accruals associated with compliance with the amended consent decree.

We are undertaking certain remediation of our BD Alaris System, and are currently shipping the product in the U.S. only in cases of medical necessity. We will not be able to fully resume commercial operations for the BD Alaris System in the U.S. until a 510(k) submission relating to the product has been filed with and subsequently cleared by the FDA.

Following an inspection that began in March 2020 of our Medication Management Systems facility (CareFusion 303, Inc.) in San Diego, California, the FDA issued to BD a Form 483 Notice that contains a number of observations of non-conformance. BD has provided the FDA with its response to the Form 483 and has begun to implement certain corrective actions to address the observations. However, the FDA’s review of the items raised in the Form 483 remains ongoing and no assurances can be given regarding further action by the FDA as a result of the observations.

FDA Warning Letter

On January 11, 2018, BD received a Warning Letter from the FDA with respect to our BD Preanalytical Systems ("PAS") unit, citing certain alleged violations of quality system regulations and of law. The Warning Letter states that, until BD resolves the outstanding issues covered by the Warning Letter, the FDA will not clear or approve any premarket submissions for Class III devices to which the non-conformances are reasonably related or grant requests for certificates to foreign governments. BD has worked closely with the FDA and implemented corrective actions to address the concerns identified in the warning letter. In March 2020, the FDA conducted a subsequent inspection of PAS, which it classified as Voluntary Action Indicated, which means the FDA will not take or recommend any administrative or regulatory action as a result of the unit’s response to the observations in the inspection.

Consent Order - Covington, Georgia

On October 28, 2019, BD entered into a consent order with the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (the “EPD”), following the filing of a complaint and motion for temporary restraining order by the EPD seeking to enjoin BD from continuing sterilization operations at its Covington, Georgia facility. Under the terms of the consent order, which has been amended two times upon mutual agreement of BD and EPD, BD voluntarily agreed to a number of operational changes at its Covington and Madison, Georgia facilities designed to further reduce ethylene oxide emissions, including but not limited to operating at a reduced capacity. BD does not believe that the consent order will have a material impact on its operations. Violation of the consent order, though, could subject us to additional restrictions on the sterilization operations at our Covington and Madison facilities. BD has business continuity plans in place to mitigate the impact of any additional restrictions on our operations at these facilities, although it is possible that these plans will not be able to fully offset such impact.

For further discussion of risks relating to the regulations to which we are subject, see Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Human Capital Management

As of September 30, 2020, we had approximately 72,000 associates located in over 70 different countries in a variety of different roles. We compete in the highly competitive medical technology industry. Attracting, developing and retaining talented people in technical, marketing, sales, research and other positions is crucial to executing our strategy and our ability to compete effectively. Our ability to recruit and retain such talent depends on a number of factors, including compensation and benefits, talent development and career opportunities, and work environment. To that end, we invest in our associates in order to be an employer of choice.

Diversity & Inclusion

Our associates reflect the communities we live and work in, the customers and patients we serve, and possess a broad range of thought and experiences that have helped BD achieve our leadership position in the medical technology industry and the global marketplace. A key component of our journey to continually build a better BD is our commitment to global inclusion and diversity ("I&D"). We believe this commitment allows us to better our understanding of patient and customer needs and develop technologies to meet those needs. Our I&D efforts have garnered recognitions, including Best Places to Work for Disability and LGBTQ Inclusion, Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index, and Diversity Inc’s Noteworthy Companies. Although we have made progress in our workforce diversity representation, we seek to continuously improve in this area. Each year, we establish annual corporate I&D goals to continue improving our hiring, development, advancement, and retention of diverse talent and our overall diversity representation. In addition, our executive leaders serve as sponsors of our nine associate-led resource groups ("ARGs") in support of their efforts to provide meaningful professional development for our workforce, drive business improvement and innovation and contribute to BD's role as a socially responsible community member.

Externally, we are involved in industry I&D efforts as one of several companies taking a leadership role in AdvaMed’s efforts to improve diversity in the medical technology industry. We have also committed to leadership in I&D through our support for the Equality Act and the United Nations’ Open for Business program and organizations like The Human Rights Campaign, Equal Justice Initiative, and The United Negro College Fund. Through the BD Helping Build Healthy Communities initiative, we committed $22.6 million to support Direct Relief and the National Association of Community Health Centers in expanding the innovative practices of U.S. community health centers, which collectively serve more than 30 million U.S. patients – the majority of which are in underrepresented communities.

BD 2020 Workforce Diversity Representation
			Gender (Global)			Year-Over-Year Improvement			Race (U.S. Only)			Year-Over-Year Improvement
Executive			28%			+3%			20%			+2%
Management			39%			—			28%			+2%
All associates			49%			—			38%			+1%

For the above table, we define “executives” as associates in positions of vice president and above. “Management” positions are defined as those in manager, director or equivalent roles. Information regarding race and gender is based on information provided by associates.

Associate Growth and Development

We invest significant resources to develop talent with the right capabilities to deliver the growth and innovation needed to support our strategy. We have launched an enhanced Strategic Organizational Planning process to ensure we build the organizational capabilities required in the years to come. We offer associates and their managers a number of tools to help in their personal and professional development, including career development plans, mentoring programs and in-house learning opportunities, including BD University, our in-house continuing education program that follows a "leaders-as-teachers" approach. We also have a deeply-rooted practice of investing in our next generation of leaders and offer associates a number of leadership

development programs, including programs dedicated to certain specific areas, such as finance and technology. We have also launched a set of expectations and curriculum to enhance our more than 7,500 people leaders’ ability to develop their teams and create the right work environment for their teams to excel. We believe in and encourage in our associates and leaders a Growth Mindset, a belief that qualities and talents can be developed through dedication and hard work, and have aligned our performance management system to support our culture evolution and increased focus on continuous learning and development.

Associate Engagement

As we work to continually make an impact on how healthcare is delivered, we believe it is critical that our associates are informed and engaged. We communicate frequently and transparently with our associates through a variety of communication methods, including video and written communications, town hall meetings, associate surveys and our company intranet, and acknowledge individual contributions to BD through a number of rewards and recognition award programs. We believe these engagement efforts keep associates informed about our strategy, culture and purpose and motivated to do their best work. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also further strengthened our digital communication and social networking platforms. Our associate communications during the pandemic have kept our associates informed on critical priorities, important actions being taken by management in response to the pandemic, and continued efforts to protect associate healthy, safety and well-being.

In addition to helping associates stay engaged, we also work to foster and reinforce an inclusive culture where diverse perspectives are valued. This year, our ARGs hosted company-wide dialogues and panel sessions to advance our business and cultural priorities and engage associates on timely topics on racial injustice, health care inequity and access, mental health and parent-caregiver considerations during a pandemic.

We also have a long-standing history of associate volunteerism that we believe has had an impact on local and global communities. Through our public-private partnerships and collaborations with non-government organizations, we sponsor volunteer trips and other meaningful volunteer opportunities to help communities around the world. On a local front, associates are encouraged and empowered to serve organizations and causes that are important to them. This includes a matching gift program, paid time off to volunteer, and an award program to give grants to non-profit organizations in honor of associates who engage in exceptional volunteer efforts.

Compensation and Benefits

We are committed to rewarding, supporting, and developing the associates who make it possible to deliver on our strategy. To that end, we offer a comprehensive total rewards program aimed at the varying health, home-life and financial needs of our diverse and global associates. Our total rewards package includes market-competitive pay, broad-based stock grants and bonuses, healthcare benefits, pension and retirement savings plans, paid time off and family leave, flexible work schedules, on-site health and fitness centers, free physicals and flu vaccinations, and an Employee Assistance Program and other mental health services.

Available Information

BD maintains a website at www.bd.com. BD makes available its Annual Reports on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and its Current Reports on Form 8-K (and amendments to those reports) as soon as reasonably practicable after those reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These filings may be obtained and printed free of charge at www.bd.com/investors.

In addition, the written charters of the Audit Committee; the Compensation and Management Development Committee; the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee; the Executive Committee; the Quality and Regulatory Committee; and the Science, Marketing, Innovation and Technology Committee of the Board of Directors, BD’s Corporate Governance Principles and its Code of Conduct, are available and may be printed free of charge at BD’s website at www.bd.com/investors/corporate_governance/. Printed copies of these materials, this 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K, and BD’s reports and statements filed with, or furnished to,

the SEC, may also be obtained, without charge, by contacting the Corporate Secretary, BD, 1 Becton Drive, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey 07417-1880, telephone 201-847-6800. In addition, the SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

BD also routinely posts important information for investors on its website at www.bd.com/investors. BD may use this website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD adopted by the SEC. Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investor Relations portion of BD’s website noted above, in addition to following BD’s press releases, SEC filings, and public conference calls and webcasts. Our website and the information contained therein or connected thereto shall not be deemed to be incorporated into this Annual Report.

Forward-Looking Statements

BD and its representatives may from time-to-time make certain forward-looking statements in publicly-released materials, both written and oral, including statements contained in filings with the SEC and in its reports to shareholders. Additional information regarding BD’s forward-looking statements is contained in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.