Their businesses need to have a competitive advantage and the power to raise prices for their goods or services in case inflation hits, or maintain their prices in case of deflation, and they need to be noncyclical businesses.
The merger, which analysts expect to survive antitrust scrutiny, will give Dow a greater presence in Asia, the Middle East and parts of Europe in its basic commodities business, as well as slightly increase, to 62% , revenues from noncyclical products.