Item 1. Business

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Item 1. Business

The Company

We are a global leader providing Enterprise Asset Intelligence (“EAI”) solutions in the Automatic Identification and Data Capture (“AIDC”) industry. The AIDC market consists of mobile computing, data capture, radio frequency identification devices (“RFID”), barcode printing, and other workflow automation products and services. The Company’s solutions are proven to help our customers and end-users digitize and automate their workflows to achieve their critical business objectives, including improved productivity and operational efficiency, optimized regulatory compliance, and better customer experiences.

We design, manufacture, and sell a broad range of AIDC products, including: mobile computers, barcode scanners and imagers, RFID readers, specialty printers for barcode labeling and personal identification, real-time location systems (“RTLS”), related accessories and supplies, such as labels and other consumables, and related software applications. We also provide a full range of services, including maintenance, technical support, repair, managed and professional services, as well as cloud-based software subscriptions and robotics automation solutions. End-users of our products, solutions and services include those in the

retail and e-commerce, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, healthcare, public sector, and other industries. We provide our products, solutions and services globally through a direct sales force and extensive network of over 10,000 channel partners, operating in approximately 190 countries, with 120 facilities and approximately 10,500 employees worldwide.

Through continual innovation of our technologies, we are leading an evolution of the traditional AIDC market into EAI, which encompasses solutions that sense key operational information such as packages moving through a supply chain, equipment in a factory, workers and robots in a warehouse, shoppers in a store, and patients in a hospital. Data from enterprise assets, including status, condition, location, utilization, and preferences, is then analyzed to provide prioritized actionable insights. Finally, with the benefits of cloud computing and connectivity, these insights and directives can be delivered to the right user at the right time to drive the best next action. As a result, our solutions enable enterprises to “sense, analyze, and act” more effectively throughout their workflows.

The evolution of the AIDC market to transform workflows is being driven by strong underlying secular trends in technology, which include the internet of things (“IoT”), cloud-based data analytics, intelligent automation, mobility, computer vision, as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning. The IoT enables the real-time exchange of an increasingly broad set of information among a proliferation of smart, connected devices. Cloud computing and expanded data analytics are allowing enterprises to make better business decisions through improved timeliness and increased visibility into workflows. While traditional AIDC solutions capture limited amounts of data and populate static enterprise systems, newer solutions that can leverage artificial intelligence through machine learning can analyze real-time data from many sources to generate actionable insights. The continued rapid growth of mobile devices and application software are also significantly expanding mobile computing use cases throughout enterprises and supply chains. With these expanded capabilities, end-users can consume and act upon dynamic enterprise data and information anytime and anywhere. Additionally, computer and machine vision technology, which enables the automatic extraction and understanding of useful information from a digital image or video, provides a key element in many of our solutions.

Acquisitions

Matrox: On June 3, 2022, the Company acquired Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. (“Matrox”) for $881 million in cash, net of Matrox’s cash on-hand. Matrox is a leading provider of advanced machine vision components and software serving multiple end-markets. Through its acquisition, the Company significantly expands machine vision products and software offerings. The operating results of Matrox are included in the EVM segment.

Antuit: On October 7, 2021, the Company acquired Antuit Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“Antuit”) for $145 million in cash, net of cash acquired. Antuit is a provider of demand-sensing and pricing optimization software solutions for retail and consumer products companies. Through this acquisition, the Company expands its portfolio of software solution offerings to customers in these industries by combining Antuit’s platform with its existing software solutions and EVM products. The operating results of Antuit are included in the EVM segment.

Fetch: On August 9, 2021, the Company acquired Fetch Robotics, Inc. (“Fetch”) for $301 million, which consisted of $290 million in cash paid, net of cash acquired, and the fair value of the Company’s existing minority ownership interest in Fetch of $11 million, as remeasured upon acquisition. Fetch is a provider of autonomous mobile robot solutions for customers who operate in the manufacturing, distribution, and fulfillment industries, enabling customers to optimize workflows through robotic automation. Through this acquisition, the Company intends to expand its automation solution offerings within these industries. The operating results of Fetch are included within the EVM segment.

Adaptive Vision: On May 17, 2021, the Company acquired Adaptive Vision Sp. z o.o. (“Adaptive Vision”) for $18 million in cash, net of cash acquired. Adaptive Vision is a provider of graphical machine vision software with applications in the manufacturing industry, as well as a provider of libraries and other offerings for machine vision developers. The operating results of Adaptive Vision are included within the EVM segment.

Reflexis: On September 1, 2020, the Company acquired Reflexis Systems, Inc. (“Reflexis”) for $547 million in cash, net of cash acquired. Reflexis is a provider of task and workforce management, execution, and communication software solutions for customers in the retail, food service, hospitality, and banking industries. Through this acquisition, the Company intends to enhance its solution offerings to customers in those industries by combining Reflexis’ platform with its existing software solutions and EVM products. The operating results of Reflexis are included within the EVM segment.

See Note 5, Business Acquisitions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional details.

Operations and Technologies

Our operations consist of two reportable segments that provide complementary offerings to our customers: Asset Intelligence & Tracking (“AIT”), which includes barcode and card printing, supplies and services; and Enterprise Visibility & Mobility (“EVM”), which includes mobile computing, data capture, RFID, fixed industrial scanning and machine vision, services and workflow optimization solutions including location solutions.

Asset Intelligence & Tracking

Barcode and Card Printing: We design, manufacture, and sell printers, which produce high-quality labels, wristbands, tickets, receipts, and plastic cards on demand. Our customers use our printers in a wide range of applications, including routing and tracking, patient safety, transaction processing, personal identification, and product authentication. These applications require high levels of data accuracy, speed, and reliability. They also include specialty printing for receipts and tickets for improved customer service and productivity gains.

Our printers use thermal printing technology, which creates images by heating certain pixels of an electrical printhead to selectively image a ribbon or heat-sensitive substrate. Our printers integrate company-designed mechanisms, electrical systems, and firmware that supports serial, parallel, Ethernet, USB, Bluetooth, or 802.11 wireless communications with appropriate security protocols. Enclosures of metal or high-impact plastic help ensure durability of our printers. Printing instructions can be received as a proprietary language such as Zebra Programming Language II, as a print driver-provided image, or as user-defined Extensible Markup Language. These features make our printers easy to integrate into most computer systems.

We also provide dye-sublimination thermal card printers that produce high quality images and are used for secure, reliable personal identification (e.g. state identification cards, drivers’ licenses, and healthcare identification cards), access control (e.g. employee or student building access), and financial transactions (e.g. credit, debit and ATM cards). Additionally, we provide RFID printers that encode data into passive RFID transponders embedded in a label or card. We offer a wide range of accessories and options for our printers, including carrying cases, vehicle mounts and battery chargers.

Supplies: We produce and sell stock and customized thermal labels, receipts, ribbons, plastic cards, and RFID tags suitable for use with our printers, as well as wristbands for use in laser printers. We support our printing products, resellers, and end-users with an extensive line of superior quality, high-performance supplies optimized to a particular end-user’s needs, such as chemical or abrasion resistance, extreme temperature environments, exceptional image quality, or long life. We promote the use of supplies with our printing equipment. Our supplies business also includes temperature-monitoring labels primarily used in vaccine distribution, which incorporate chemical indicators designed to change color upon exceeding predefined time and/or temperature thresholds.

Services: We provide a full range of maintenance, technical support, and repair services. We also provide managed and professional services, including those which help customers manage their devices and related software applications. Our offerings include cloud-based subscriptions and multiple service levels. They are typically contracted through multi-year service agreements. We provide our services directly and through our global network of partners.

Enterprise Visibility & Mobility

Mobile Computing: We design, manufacture, and sell rugged and enterprise-grade mobile computing products and accessories in a variety of specialized form factors and designs to meet a wide array of enterprise applications. Purpose-built devices ensure reliable operations for targeted use cases, surviving years of rough handling and harsh environments. Industrial applications include inventory management in warehouses and distribution centers; field mobility applications include field service, post and parcel, and direct store delivery; and retail and customer facing applications include e-commerce, omnichannel, mobile point of sale, inventory look-up, staff collaboration, and analytics. Our mobile computing products primarily incorporate the Android™ operating system and support local-area and wide-area voice and data communications. Our products are also offered with software tools and services that enable secure data transmission while also supporting application development, device configuration, and field support to facilitate seamless, rapid deployment and maximum customer return on investment. Our products often incorporate barcode scanning, global position system and RFID features, and other sensory capabilities. Additionally, specialized features, such as advanced data capture technologies, data analytics technologies, voice and video collaboration tools, and advanced battery technologies, enable our customers to work more efficiently and better serve their own customers.

Data Capture, RFID, Fixed Industrial Scanning, and Machine Vision: We design, manufacture, and sell barcode scanners, RFID readers, industrial machine vision cameras, and fixed industrial scanners. Our portfolio of scanners includes laser scanning and imager products in a variety of form factors, including fixed, handheld, and embedded original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) modules. Our scanners incorporate a range of technologies including area imagers, linear imagers, and lasers, as well as read linear and two-dimensional barcodes. They are used in a broad range of applications, ranging from

supermarket checkouts to industrial warehouse optimization to patient management in hospitals. The design of these products reflects the diverse needs of these markets, with different ergonomics, multiple communication protocols, and varying levels of ruggedness. Our RFID products include fixed readers, RFID enabled mobile computers, and RFID sleds that utilize passive ultra-high frequency to provide high-speed, non-line of sight data capture from hundreds or thousands of RFID tags in near real-time. Using the Electronic Product Code (“EPC”) standard, end-users across multiple industries use our RFID technology to track high-value assets, monitor shipments, and drive increased retail sales through improved inventory accuracy. We also offer mobile computers that support high frequency near-field communications and low frequency radio technologies. In 2021 we introduced fixed industrial scanning and machine vision solutions, and in 2022, we significantly expanded our machine vision solutions through the acquisition of Matrox Imaging. Our fixed industrial scanning products automatically track and trace items that move from production through distribution. Our industrial machine vision platform-independent software, software development kits, smart cameras, vision controllers, frame grabbers, input/output cards, and 3D sensors capture, inspect, assess, and record data from industrial vision systems in factory automation, semiconductor inspection, pharmaceutical packaging, food & beverage, among other use cases. We also provide related software and accessories for these products.

Services: We provide a full range of maintenance, technical support, and repair services. We also provide managed and professional services that, among other things, help customers design, test, and deploy our solutions as well as manage their mobility devices, software applications and workflows. Our offerings include cloud-based subscriptions with multiple service levels, which are typically contracted through multi-year service agreements. We provide our services directly and through our global network of partners.

Workflow optimization solutions: We provide a portfolio of solutions that help our customers improve the agility and productivity of key operational workflows by analyzing and acting on data in real time. Our primary focus is on frontline workers in Zebra’s core customer segments, including retail, transportation and logistics, warehouse and distribution, and healthcare. Our workflow optimization solutions include:

  • Software-based solutions, which include workforce management, workflow execution and task management, demand-sensing, price optimization, prescriptive analytics, as well as communication and collaboration-based solutions. These solutions are typically delivered through cloud-based software subscriptions and leverage big data, artificial intelligence, and mobile and web applications to provide customers with real-time visibility and actionable insights about their business. By analyzing labor, inventory, transactional and real-time situational data, these solutions are able to forecast demand, prescribe actions, schedule workers, and enhance collaboration. Our software-based solutions are available with multiple service levels, and are often contracted through multi-year service agreements;

  • Retail solutions, which include a range of physical inventory management solutions, including solutions for full store physical inventories, cycle counts, and analytics; and

  • Robotic automation solutions, which include software-powered autonomous robots that enable customers to orchestrate workflows alongside frontline workers, improving productivity and operational efficiency. Our robotic automation solutions are available in a variety of form factors to accommodate many use cases.

  • Location Solutions, which include a range of RTLS and services that generate precise, on-demand information about the physical location and status of high-valued assets, equipment, and people. These solutions incorporate active and passive RFID technologies, beacons, and other tracking technologies to enable users to locate, track, manage, and optimize the utilization of enterprise assets and personnel. We provide substantially all elements of the location solution, including tags, sensors, exciters, middleware software, and application software. Our location solutions are deployed primarily in manufacturing, aerospace, transportation and logistics, sports, and healthcare industries.

Our Competitive Strengths

The following are core competitive strengths that we believe enable us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors:

An industry leader focused on improving enterprise workflows

We are focused on the key technology solutions of EAI that drive improved enterprise workflows, including mobile computing, barcode and card printing, data capture, RFID, fixed industrial scanning, machine vision, and workflow optimization solutions, along with related software, services, and accessories. Our leadership position enables us to work with and support customers globally, in a variety of industries, who are focused on implementing leading-edge solutions.

High barriers to entry

On a global basis, we have long-standing relationships with end-users and with our extensive network of channel partners. We believe these customer relationships and our strong partner network are critical to our success and would be difficult for a new market entrant to replicate. We believe a significant portion of our products and solutions are deployed with specialized product performance and software application requirements, which could result in high switching costs.

Commitment to innovation and deep industry-specific expertise

Over time, we have developed and delivered improved, targeted end-to-end solutions for our customers. We remain committed to leveraging our technology portfolio and expertise in the industries that we service to continue to develop innovative solutions that meet the key needs of our customers.

Highly diversified business mix

We are highly diversified across business segments, end markets, geographies, and customers. Additionally, we have strong recurring business in services, supplies, and software driven by an extensive global installed base of purpose-built products and solutions.

Global reach and brand

We sell to customers directly and through our network of channel partners around the world. This global presence gives us the capability to supply our customers with products, solutions, and services no matter the location of their operations. In addition, we believe we have strong brand recognition with a reputation in the industry as a trusted and strategic partner, known for delivering high quality products that are reliable and durable.

Scale advantages

We believe the size and scope of our operations, including market leadership, product and solution development investment, portfolio breadth, and global distribution, give us advantages over our competitors. We believe we have the largest installed base of products compared to other companies in our industry. These characteristics enable us to compete successfully, achieve economies of scale, and develop industry-leading solutions.

Our Business Strategies

Leverage our market leadership position and innovation to profitably grow our core business

We expect to drive revenue growth by continuing to outpace our competition in our core businesses, including mobile computing, data capture, barcode printing, and services. We expect to achieve this by leveraging our broad portfolio of solutions and product innovation and continuing to be a strategic partner to end customers. We also expect to drive growth by capitalizing on technology transitions occurring in the industry, including the transition to the Android™ operating system in mobile computing and transitions in data capture to newer technologies involving 2D and 3D imaging and RFID. This includes increased focus on market segments and geographies that offer share-gain opportunities. In addition, we plan to leverage our market-leading installed base to accelerate growth in attach-oriented offerings, including services, supplies, accessories, and software applications. Our global channel partner network is vital to helping us achieve these goals. As such, we will ensure that we provide the necessary value and support for our partners to be successful.

Advance our Enterprise Asset Intelligence vision

Our EAI vision is for every asset and front-line worker to be connected, visible, and fully optimized. We believe that secular technology trends, particularly in IoT, cloud computing, intelligent automation, and mobility, advance our vision and are transforming our customers’ businesses and our industry, providing us with significant new opportunities to create value for our customers and for the Company. We expect to capitalize on these trends, and in particular the proliferation of smart connected sensors and devices in our core market segments, by providing end-to-end solutions that integrate these sensors and devices with cloud-based workflows and analytics applications. We plan to continue investing in the development of technologies that will enable intelligent automation solutions, providing increased visibility into the enterprise, real-time, actionable information, and improved customer experiences. Our solutions will also increasingly include advanced features, functions, and user experiences to drive additional competitive differentiation and elevate our role as a solutions provider.

Increase our opportunity for growth through expansion in adjacent market segments

We plan to drive growth through expansion, organically and inorganically, in adjacent market segments that are synergistic with our core markets. We will focus specifically on segments where our products and solutions, workflow expertise, and customer and industry relationships will enable us to provide significant value to end-users.

Enhance financial strength and flexibility

While maintaining our strong balance sheet, we intend to continue to improve profitability and cash flow generation through operational execution and increased productivity derived from continuous business process improvement, supply chain resiliency, cost management, and focus on working capital efficiency.

Sustainable business model

Zebra’s foundational ESG priorities of human capital management, resource conservation, and climate align with our strategic focus and corporate values. Initiatives within these priorities are advanced by our cross-functional Sustainability Council, with executive sponsorship and board oversight. Our approach helps to ensure that our business is sustainable over the long term for the benefit of our primary stakeholder groups, including employees, customers, partners, and investors. We are driving a high-

performance, inclusive and diverse culture, striving to consistently be the employer of choice in the communities where we work and live. We also focus on waste reduction, circular economy product innovation with certified refurbished devices, eco-packaging and sustainable product design. Additionally, we have science-based targets on carbon emission reductions in Zebra’s operations and throughout our value chain.

Competition

We operate in a highly competitive environment. The need for companies to improve productivity and implement their strategies, as well as the secular trends around IoT, cloud computing, intelligent automation, and mobility, are some of the factors that are creating growth opportunities for established and new competitors.

Key competitive factors include the breadth and quality of products, solutions and services, as well as pricing, design, performance, durability, geographic availability, warranty coverage, relationships with customers and channel partners, company reputation, and brand recognition. We believe we compete effectively with respect to these factors.

Mobile Computing: Competitors in mobile computing and related services include companies that have historically served enterprises with ruggedized devices. For some applications, we compete with companies that provide tablets and smart phones. Competitors include: Datalogic, Honeywell, and Panasonic.

Data Capture, RFID, Fixed Industrial Scanning, and Machine Vision: Competitors that provide a broad portfolio of barcode scanning products and related services that are suitable for most global market applications include Datalogic and Honeywell. We also compete against smaller companies that focus on limited product subsets or specific regions, including Newland and Impinj. Competitors in our fixed industrial scanning and machine vision business include Cognex, SICK, and Keyence.

Barcode and Card Printing: We consider our direct competition in printing to be producers of on-demand thermal transfer and direct thermal label fixed and mobile printing systems and RFID printers/encoders. We also compete with companies engaged in the design, manufacture, and marketing of printing systems that use technologies such as ink-jet, direct marking and laser printing, as well as card printers based on ink-jet, thermal transfer, embossing, film-based systems, encoders, laser engraving, and large-scale dye sublimation printers. In addition, service bureaus, which provide centralized services, compete for end-user business and provide an alternative to our card printing solutions. Competitors include: Fargo Electronics (a unit of HID Global), Honeywell, Sato, Toshiba TEC, TSC, Brother, and Dymo.

Supplies: The supplies industry is highly fragmented with competition comprised of numerous companies of various sizes around the world.

Workflow optimization solutions: We compete with a diverse and varied group of companies across our solution offerings worldwide. Competitors range from providers of software-based solutions serving customers in the retail industry to providers of autonomous mobile robot solutions serving customers in the manufacturing, distribution, and fulfillment industries.

Customers

End-users of our products, solutions and services are diversified across a wide variety of industries. We have three customers, who are distributors of the Company’s products and solutions, that individually accounted for more than 10% of our Net sales during the past three years. No other customer accounted for more than 10% of our Net sales during these years. See Note 20, Segment Information & Geographic Data in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

Our Net sales to significant customers as a percentage of the Company’s total Net sales were as follows:

Year Ended December 31,
202220212020
Customer A20.7%22.3%20.7%
Customer B15.0%13.6%13.9%
Customer C12.8%12.6%17.7%

Sales and Marketing

Sales: We sell our products and services primarily through distributors (two-tier distribution), value added resellers (“VARs”), independent software vendors (“ISVs”), direct marketers, and OEMs, and our software solutions primarily through our direct sales force. We also sell our products and services directly to a select number of customers through our direct sales force. Distributors purchase our products and sell to VARs, ISVs and others, thereby increasing the distribution of our products globally. VARs, ISVs, OEMs, and systems integrators provide end users with a variety of hardware, accessories, software applications, and services. VARs and ISVs typically customize solutions for specific end-user applications using their industry, systems, and applications expertise. Some OEMs resell Zebra-manufactured products and solutions under their own brands as part of their own product offerings. Because these sales channels provide specific software, configuration, installation, integration, and support services to end-users within various industry segments, these relationships are highly valued and allow our products to reach end users in a wide array of industries around the world. We believe that the breadth of our distributor and channel partner network is a competitive differentiator and enhances our ability to compete. Finally, we experience some seasonality in sales, depending upon the geographic region and industry served.

Marketing: Our marketing function aligns closely with sales and product management functions to market our products and to deliver and promote solutions that address the needs of our customers and partners. Our marketing organization includes regional and channel marketing teams that interface closely with customers, partners, and sellers. Our marketing organization also includes teams that support global strategies and communications, including portfolio marketing, digital marketing, marketing operations and communications, and strategic marketing functions.

Manufacturing and Outsourcing

Final assembly of our hardware products is performed by third-parties, including electronics manufacturing services companies (“EMSs”) and joint design manufacturers (“JDMs”). Our products are currently produced in facilities primarily located in the Asia-Pacific region, including China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia, as well as Mexico and Brazil. The EMSs and JDMs produce our products to our design specifications. We maintain control over portions of the supply chain, including supplier selection and price negotiations for key components. The manufacturers generally purchase all the components and subassemblies used in the production of our products. Our products are shipped to regional distribution centers, operated by third party logistics providers or the Company. A portion of products are reconfigured at the distribution centers through firmware downloads, packaging, and customer specific customization before they are shipped to customers. In addition, certain products are manufactured in accordance with procurement regulations and various international trade agreements and remain eligible for sale to the U.S. government.

Production facilities for our supplies products are located in the U.S. and Western Europe. We also supplement our in-house supplies production capabilities with third-party manufacturers, principally located in Asia-Pacific.

Repair services for our products are performed by either our own operations or through third-parties, with repair service hubs located in each of the regions in which we serve our customers.

Research and Development

The Company devotes significant resources to developing innovative solutions for our target markets and ensuring that our products, solutions, and services maintain high levels of reliability and provide value to end-users. Research and development expenditures for the years ended 2022, 2021, and 2020 were $570 million, $567 million, and $453 million, or 9.9%, 10.1% and 10.2% of Net sales, respectively. Worldwide, we have employed approximately 3,100 engineers and innovation and design experts, who along with contractors, are focused on strengthening and broadening our extensive portfolio of products and solutions.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of trade secrets, patents, trademarks, copyrights, and contractual rights to establish and protect our innovations, and hold a large portfolio of intellectual property rights in the U.S. and other countries. As of December 31, 2022, the Company owned approximately 2,200 trademark registrations and trademark applications, and approximately 6,500 patents and patent applications, worldwide.

We believe that our intellectual property will continue to provide us with a competitive advantage in our product areas as well as provide leverage for future technologies. Our success depends more upon our extensive know-how, deep understanding of end-user processes and work-flows, innovative culture, technical leadership and marketing and sales abilities. Although we do not rely only on patents or other intellectual property rights to protect or establish our market position, we will enforce our intellectual property rights when and where appropriate.

Human Capital

The Company is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining talent to enable our strategic vision. This commitment directly shapes our approach to fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity and ensuring employees can reach their potential.

We believe that our strong Company culture is a key enabler of our success. The values of accountability, integrity, teamwork, agility, and innovation are central to our culture and how we operate and work together. We take proactive steps to ensure that this culture continues to permeate throughout our organization. Employee engagement within the Company is consistently high with the most recent measures scoring above relevant benchmarks for technology companies. We consider our relations with our employees to be very good. In addition, we believe our compensation structure aligns with our stockholders’ long-term interests by balancing profitability and growth, and reflects the Company’s commitment to pay for performance.

In response to employee survey feedback, this year the Company implemented well-being solutions including a speaker series on resilience, a manager toolkit, and a “Be You, Be Real, Be Well” campaign. In addition, the Company implemented zDay, a paid, company-wide day off for all eligible Zebra employees, and Focus Fridays to encourage meeting-free time on Friday afternoons.

As recognition of the Company’s strong culture and commitment to its employees, the Company ranked #42 on Newsweek’s list of America’s 100 Most Loved Workplaces, #42 on Fast Company’s list of the Best Workplaces for Innovators, #79 on Forbes’ list of America’s 500 Best Midsize Employers and was Great Place to Work-Certified™ in 2022.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had approximately 10,500 employees globally, with a majority in sales and technical roles. Our employees work in 56 countries with a majority of our employees located outside of the U.S. Some portions of our business, primarily in Europe, China, and India, are subject to labor laws that differ significantly from those in the U.S. In Europe, for example, it is common for a works council to represent employees when discussing matters such as compensation, benefits, restructurings and layoffs.

Talent Development

We are a Company built on a community of changemakers, innovators, and doers who come together to deliver a performance edge to the front line of business. We believe that empowered team members enable us to advance our strategic priorities. As a result, we provide ample employee development opportunities, starting with our robust onboarding process. Our Zebra Education Network online learning platform offers a wide variety of learning and development resources such as formal learning courses, cross-functional development experiences, as well as tools for mentoring and career shadowing. We also offer annual training and certification programs. Additionally, on an annual basis, we conduct a comprehensive talent review to assess our leadership pipeline and align on the skills we need to proactively develop employees for the future. This annual exercise is complemented by quarterly sessions with management to ensure we make progress on our critical talent development efforts throughout the year.

Inclusion and Diversity

We are committed to leveraging a diverse workforce where employees can bring their best selves to work, to being an inclusive workplace where all employees are seen, heard, valued, and respected, and to being a recognized leader in the marketplace that values the diversity of its’ employees, customers, partners and suppliers. We have continued to expand our Inclusion & Diversity program, formalized in 2018, through the launch of our Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Council in 2020, the launch of our Inclusion Champions program in 2021, and the formalization of an internal I&D goals framework in 2022. This expansion has been enabled through our continued focus on a culture of inclusion (leveraged through our inclusion networks), embedding I&D as a component of a career at Zebra (including expanding the hiring, retention & career development of diverse talent with the support of our external outreach partnerships) and setting the foundations for wider outreach in the community (building multiple pathways for access to employment at Zebra), as well as deepening relationships with our customers through a shared vision to advance I&D.

  • Culture: Our inclusion networks are employee-driven, executive sponsored communities which foster a more inclusive workplace by bringing together employees from across the business to empower, support and learn from each other. The inclusion networks promote collaboration and host productive dialogue to help all Zebras understand the unique needs of our diverse employee populations. Currently at Zebra, we have eight inclusion networks: Women’s Inclusion Network (WIN), Zebra Equality Alliance (ZEAL), Zebra Veteran’s Inclusion Network (VETZ), Zebras of African Descent (ZAD), Zebra Hispanic/Latinx Inclusion Network (UNIDOZ), Zebras of All Abilities (ZoAA) and Zebra’s Early Career Inclusion Network (EDGE). In 2022, we launched The Green Herd employee network to support grassroots sustainability efforts, inspire a conservation mindset at each Zebra site, and support and develop focus areas for active employee engagement across the globe.

  • Career: We have established talent acquisition partnerships with organizations such as Society of Women Engineers (SWE), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Disability:IN, Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), Hiring our Heroes (HOH), Out in STEM (oSTEM), as well as Hispanic Serving Institutions to enhance our recruitment efforts and deepen our partnerships with diverse talent. In addition to external outreach, we provide a variety of training including unconscious bias awareness for all employees, interviewing bias awareness training for hiring managers, and a mandatory Inclusive Leadership workshop for all people leaders. There are additional diversity and inclusion learning tools and resources available for all Zebras, including discussion forums and on-demand learning geared specifically on allyship focusing on the development of our diverse talent. Additionally, we have launched employee development programs with external coaching, partnered with CEO Action’s Executive Level Mentoring Initiative.

  • Community: We focus on how the Company deepens the impact that we have on the local communities we serve through aligned philanthropic activity, as well as increasing access for learning and employment opportunities within our communities.

  • Customers: The Company values the opportunity to engage on the journey of advancing a culture of Inclusion & Diversity in collaboration with our customers and partners together, recognizing that we may share many similar opportunities and challenges. Our inclusion networks have started collaborating with employee resource groups at external customers and partners to share best practices and innovate on initiatives to foster inclusive cultures, as well as hosting joint events to raise overall awareness and education.

Regulatory Matters

Wireless Regulatory Matters

Our business is subject to certain wireless regulatory matters. The use of wireless voice, data, and video communications systems requires radio spectrum, which is regulated by government agencies throughout the world. In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) regulate spectrum use by non-federal entities and federal entities, respectively. Similarly, countries around the world have one or more regulatory bodies that define and implement the rules for use of the radio spectrum, pursuant to their respective national laws and international coordination under the International Telecommunications Union. We manufacture and market products in spectrum bands already made available by regulatory bodies, these include voice and data infrastructure, mobile radios, and portable or hand-held devices. Consequently, our results of operations could be positively or negatively affected by the rules and regulations adopted from time-to-time by the FCC, NTIA, or regulatory agencies in other countries. Our products operate both on the licensed and unlicensed spectrum. The availability of additional radio spectrum may provide new business opportunities, and consequently, the loss of available radio spectrum may result in the loss of business opportunities. Regulatory changes in current spectrum bands may also provide opportunities or may require modifications to some products so they can continue to be manufactured and marketed.

Other Regulatory Matters

Some of our operations use substances regulated under various federal, state, local, and international laws governing the environment and worker health and safety, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the ground, air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Certain products are subject to various federal, state, local, and international laws governing chemical substances in electronic products. During 2022, compliance with U.S. federal, state and local, and foreign laws regulating the discharge of materials into the environment, or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment did not have a material effect on our business or results of operations.

Available Information

Our website address is www.zebra.com. The information on our website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or incorporated into any other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, are made available free of charge on the Investor Relations page of our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with or furnish them to the SEC.

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