Pros
- good money in senior positions - solid financial situation - deeply connected in its ecosystem - financial muscle to invest when it wants to - execs are very approachable - sense of community - lots of job opportunities if you are a fit and like the core business
Cons
- extremely conservative : "because it's always been like that" as an answer is not only acceptable but expected and accepted. Change, if any, is only superficial - Poor and outdated processes across the board: Walter kennt nur Walter und kann nur Walter: general internal promotion and fierce self-centricity leaves very little room for improvement. - Walter is literally inbred and comes to the conclusion that there's only one way to do things, that is the Walter way, regardless of the results. The inability to integrate experienced figures from the outside explains why the overall competence and education level is pretty low apart from Walter's core transactional business. High-level competencies are often sourced outside - at a huge cost - but poorly managed due to internal politics, lack of strategy and training. - culture can be pretty toxic: politics are central and encouraged on every level, and a bad rumor can kill in a snap as appearance or loyalty matter more than results or integrity - overwhelming self-made man culture: lots of machism, little analysis. Do first, think second - senior management gains an incredible level of autonomy with time, without oversight or formal perfomance monitoring. Some have turned the company into a self-promoting machine to a level never seen anywhere else. - senior management is so inward-looking that it often doesn't know that it doesn't know