Pros
Arizona is very nice, especially during the winter. A good place to get started if you're young, sharp, attractive, have good people skills, are politically astute, and willing to put in the hours.
Cons
Not adept at process improvement and process management. Germans seem to take a simplistic view of business requirements in other countries, and insist on one set of processes and tools for everyone, all implemented in the same way. Claim to manage by long-term goals, yet insist long term profitability can only be achieved by profitability every quarter. Cut costs by cutting head count, and not by addressing processes. Fewer people are doing more work. Morale among non-managers is going down the tubes. Decisions are not made (even locally) in a timely manner, and seldom on the basis of the data. Germany often interferes(and late) in package design in the US. Company is marketing-biased. People in brand management rotate often to parts of the business. Nice in theory, disruptive in practice. It's basically an up-or-out system. Pays less than other major CPG companies. Training is for managers and above. Non-managers can get training in soft skills, but forget getting anything of value to put in your tool kit. They do not promote employee development. A lot of on-the-job training, with little standardized and documented processes. New motto is "Excellence is our passion": declared and not sold to the employees.
