BUSINESS AND GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS

Effective with the Merger, Dow’s business activities are components of its parent company’s business operations. Dow’s business activities, including the assessment of performance and allocation of resources, ultimately are reviewed and managed by DowDuPont. Information used by the chief operating decision maker of Dow relates to the Company in its entirety. Accordingly, there are no separate reportable business segments for the Company under ASC Topic 280 “Segment Reporting” and the Company’s business results are reported in this Form 10-K as a single operating segment. See Note 3 for additional information on the Merger.

Principal Product Groups

Dow combines science and technology knowledge to develop premier materials science solutions that are essential to human progress. Dow has one of the strongest and broadest toolkits in the industry, with robust technology, asset integration, scale and competitive capabilities that enable it to address complex global issues. Dow’s market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of advanced materials, industrial intermediates and plastics deliver a broad range of differentiated technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 175 countries in high-growth markets such as packaging, infrastructure and consumer care. The Company's more than 7,000 product families are manufactured at 178 sites in 35 countries across the globe. In 2017, Dow had annual sales of approximately $56 billion. The following is a description of the Company’s principal product groups:

Coatings & Performance Monomers Coatings & Performance Monomers leads innovation in technologies that help advance the performance of paints and coatings and also provides critical building blocks needed for the production of coatings, textiles and home and personal care products. Its water-based acrylic emulsion technology revolutionized the global paint industry. This product grouping offers innovative and sustainable product solutions to accelerate paint and coatings performance across diverse market segments, including architectural paints and coatings, as well as industrial coatings applications used in paper, leather, wood, metal packaging, traffic markings, maintenance and protective industries. Coatings & Performance Monomers is a worldwide supplier of plastics additives used in a large variety of applications ranging from packaging to consumer appliances and office equipment.

Construction Chemicals

Construction Chemicals combines its deep application know-how, materials science and formulation competence to offer manufacturers key building blocks for formulating efficient and differentiated building and construction materials. With a broad range of technologies - including cellulose ethers, redispersible latex powders, silicones and acrylic emulsions - Construction Chemicals is a leading supplier to customers around the world and addresses the specific requirements of the industry across many market segments and applications, from roofing to flooring, and gypsum-, cement-, concrete- or dispersion-based building materials. Construction Chemicals' chemistries are designed to help advance the performance, durability and aesthetics of buildings and infrastructure.

Consumer Solutions

Consumer Solutions collaborates closely with global and regional brand owners to deliver innovative solutions for creating new and unrivaled consumer benefits and experiences; provides standalone silicone and acrylic-based materials that are used in a wide range of applications including adhesion promoters, coupling agents, crosslinking agents, dispersing agents and surface modifiers; and uses innovative, versatile silicone-based technology to provide solutions and ingredients to customers in personal care, consumer goods, silicone elastomers and the pressure sensitive industry.

Crop Protection

Crop Protection serves the global production agriculture industry with crop protection products for field crops such as wheat, corn, soybean and rice, and specialty crops such as trees, fruits and vegetables. Principal crop protection products are weed control, disease control and insect control offerings for foliar or soil application or as a seed treatment.

Electronics & Imaging

Electronics & Imaging is a leading global supplier of differentiated materials and systems for a broad range of consumer electronics including mobile devices, television monitors, personal computers and electronics used in a variety of industries. Dow offers a broad portfolio of semiconductor and advanced packaging materials including chemical mechanical planarization ("CMP") pads and slurries, photoresists and advanced coatings for lithography, metallization solutions for back-end-of-line advanced chip packaging, and silicones for light emitting diode ("LED") packaging and semiconductor applications. This product line also includes innovative metallization processes for metal finishing, decorative, and industrial applications and cutting-edge materials for the manufacturing of rigid and flexible displays for liquid crystal displays and quantum dot applications.

Energy Solutions

Energy Solutions supplies smart, innovative and customized solutions to enhance productivity and efficiency in the oil, gas and mining markets. This product grouping is aligned with all markets of the oil and gas industry - including exploration, production (including enhanced oil recovery), refining, gas processing and gas transmission.

Hydrocarbons & Energy

Hydrocarbons & Energy is one of the largest global producers of ethylene, an internal feedstock; and a leading producer of propylene and aromatics products that are used to manufacture materials that consumers use every day. It also produces and procures the power used by the Company's manufacturing sites. Hydrocarbons & Energy leverages its global scale, operational discipline and feedstock flexibility to create a cost-advantaged foundation for the Company. In the U.S. & Canada, the increased supplies of natural gas and natural gas liquids (“NGLs”) remain a key cost-competitive advantage for the Company's ethane- and propane-based production. The Company's U.S. and European ethylene production facilities have the flexibility to use different feedstocks in response to price conditions.

Industrial Biosciences

Industrial Biosciences is an innovator that works with customers to improve the performance, productivity and sustainability of their products and processes through advanced microbial control technologies such as advanced diagnostics and biosensors, ozone delivery technology and biological microbial control.

Industrial Solutions

Industrial Solutions provides a broad portfolio of sustainable solutions that address world needs by enabling and improving the manufacture of consumer and industrial goods and services, including products and innovations that minimize friction and heat in mechanical processes, manage the oil and water interface, deliver active ingredients for maximum effectiveness, facilitate dissolvability, enable product identification and provide the foundational building blocks for the development of chemical technologies. Industrial Solutions supports manufacturers associated with a large variety of end-markets, notably better crop protection offerings in agriculture, coatings, detergents and cleaners, solvents for electronics processing, inks and textiles. Dow is also the world’s largest producer of purified ethylene oxide.

Nutrition & Health

Nutrition & Health uses cellulosics and other technologies to improve the functionality and delivery of food and the safety and performance of pharmaceutical products.

Packaging and Specialty Plastics

Packaging and Specialty Plastics serves high-growth, high-value sectors using world-class technology and a rich innovation pipeline that creates competitive advantages for customers and the entire value chain. Dow is also the leader in polyolefin elastomers and ethylene propylene diene monomer elastomers. Market growth is expected to be driven by major shifts in population demographics; improving socioeconomic status in emerging geographies; consumer and brand owner demand for increased functionality; global efforts to reduce food waste; growth in telecommunications networks; global development of electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure; and renewable energy applications.

Polyurethanes & CAV

Polyurethanes & CAV is the world’s largest producer of propylene oxide and propylene glycol, a leading producer of polyether polyols and aromatic isocyanates that serve energy efficiency, consumer comfort and industrial market sectors, and an industry leader in the development of fully formulated polyurethane systems. Propylene oxide is produced using the chlorohydrin process as well as hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide manufacturing technology. The product group also provides cost advantaged chlorine and caustic soda supply and markets caustic soda, a valuable co-product of the chlor-alkali manufacturing process, and ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomer.

Safety & Construction

Safety & Construction unites market-driven science with the strength of highly regarded brands such as STYROFOAM™ brand insulation products, GREAT STUFF™ insulating foam sealants and adhesives, and DOW FILMTEC™ reverse osmosis and nanofiltration elements to deliver products to a broad array of markets including industrial, building and construction, consumer and water processing. Safety & Construction is a leader in the construction space, delivering insulation, air sealing and weatherization systems to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy costs and provide more sustainable buildings. Safety & Construction is also a leading provider of purification and separation technologies including reverse osmosis membranes and ion exchange resins to help customers with a broad array of separation and purification needs such as reusing waste water streams and making more potable drinking water.

Seed

Seed provides seed/plant biotechnology products and technologies to improve the productivity and profitability of its customers. Seed develops, produces and markets canola, cereals, corn, cotton, rice, soybean and sunflower seeds.

Transportation & Advanced Polymers

Transportation & Advanced Polymers provides high-performance adhesives, lubricants and fluids to engineers and designers in the transportation, electronics and consumer end-markets. Key products include MOLYKOTE® lubricants, DOW CORNING® silicone solutions for healthcare, MULTIBASE™ TPSiV™ silicones for thermoplastics and BETASEAL™, BETAMATE™ and BETAFORCE™ structural and elastic adhesives.

Corporate

Corporate includes certain enterprise and governance activities (including insurance operations, environmental operations, geographic management, etc.); business incubation platforms; non-business aligned joint ventures; gains and losses on the sales of financial assets; severance costs; non-business aligned litigation expenses; and discontinued or non-aligned businesses.

The following table provides sales to external customers by principal product group:



Sales to External Customers by Principal Product Group
In millions	2017		2016		2015
Chlorinated Organics ¹	$	—	$	—	$	212
Coatings & Performance Monomers	3,761		3,362		3,857
Construction Chemicals	736		704		709
Consumer Solutions	5,039		3,050		660
Crop Protection	4,553		4,628		4,877
Electronics & Imaging	2,615		2,307		1,987
Energy Solutions	355		354		453
Epoxy ¹	—		—		1,125
Hydrocarbons & Energy	6,831		5,088		4,591
Industrial Biosciences	484		419		437
Industrial Solutions	3,735		3,335		3,805
Nutrition & Health	591		556		592
Packaging and Specialty Plastics	14,110		13,316		13,766
Polyurethanes & CAV	7,804		6,424		7,358
Safety & Construction	1,932		1,877		1,938
Seed	1,393		1,545		1,450
Transportation & Advanced Polymers	1,167		897		583
Corporate	383		281		349
Other	19		15		29
Total	$	55,508	$	48,158	$	48,778


1.	On October 5, 2015, the Company completed the transfer of its U.S. Gulf Coast Chlor-Alkali and Vinyl, Global Chlorinated Organics and Global Epoxy businesses to Olin. See Note 7 for additional information.

Effective with the Merger, the Company changed the geographic alignment for the country of India to be reflected in Asia Pacific (previously aligned with Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”)) and aligned Puerto Rico with the United States (previously aligned with Latin America).

Sales are attributed to geographic regions based on customer location; long-lived assets are attributed to geographic regions based on asset location. The United States is home to 57 of the Company's 178 manufacturing sites, representing 66 percent of the Company’s long-lived assets value.



Geographic Region Information	United States		EMEA		Rest of World		Total
In millions	United States		EMEA		Rest of World		Total
2017
Sales to external customers	$	19,166	$	16,393	$	19,949	$	55,508
Long-lived assets	$	15,715	$	2,999	$	5,098	$	23,812
2016 ¹
Sales to external customers	$	16,681	$	13,633	$	17,844	$	48,158
Long-lived assets	$	14,812	$	2,708	$	5,966	$	23,486
2015 ¹
Sales to external customers	$	16,865	$	14,288	$	17,625	$	48,778
Long-lived assets	$	11,062	$	2,137	$	4,655	$	17,854


1.	Updated to conform with the current year presentation.