Pros
An employer that doesn't look at your track record or background. If you come from a different background other than market research / consulting; it's a good transition point to move into the research/consulting/business fields, especially if you come from a technical background. The reason is simply because the company's business units are defined by industry (i.e. Chemicals, Manufacturing & Food, Automotive, Aerospace and Defense e.t.c.), you will be able to apply a more technical background to the work here and slowly hone more relevant skills (market analysis, forecasting e.t.c.). It's also a good place to hone other skills that are quite relevant to the business/consulting industries which include :- Giving presentations to top tier personnel (C-level executives), :- Establish a broad professional network due to the constant interaction required on a regular basis, :- Proposal writing and business development skills; typically reserved for senior management in the corporate industry :- Generating and following up on sales leads, public relations activities and marketing strategies; since the support teams are often neglected and do little; as part of the core of the organization (analysts, consultants, researchers e.t.c.) will have to do and manage everything independently.
Cons
On a global scale, we're looking at a firm that is clearly deluded about its capacity, all too often touting the 'blue ocean' strategy it has allegedly adopted to differentiate itself from strategic management consulting firms (the likes of BCG, McKinsey, Bain e.t.c.) as well as research houses (Gartner, IDC e.t.c.); claiming non-competition from either side. The sad fact is that we tend to compete with all sides, leaving ourselves begging for scraps of very very low priced work that other firms wouldn't take. The Asian offices (excluding Australia) have become a playground for senior management from India, the structuring of persons from the Senior partners where cronies have been put in place therefore fortifying their stronghold on the politics of all Asian branches. Thus enabling 5-6 figure bonuses for Vice Presidents upwards (all from India) whilst cutting bonuses, freezing promotions and hiring across all other staff (directors and below , typically locals). Under staffing issues have been solved by hiring a mass number of temporary staff which include interns providing for lower than average quality of work. The turnover in the firm is very high with weekly resignations throughout the year across all offices; staff who have been here for more than a year and a half are considered more senior than 75% of all employees. There is, unfortunately, a clear racist and nationalist policy whereby only Indians from India are provided certain opportunities and luxuries. Overhead at the Asian offices are rumored to be approximately 50% as a result of placing Indian nationals all over Asia as well as over expenditure by senior management (i.e. a presidential suite at a 5 star hotel for visiting senior partners for the entire duration of stay which may accumulate to a month a year per APAC branch; head of an Asian branch based in North America taking business class return flights twice a month). To top it off, Senior Management is typically unconcerned about quality of work and retaining productive staff, instead it all boils down to cost cutting, project grabbing and blame throwing. Numbers for forecasting (for off the shelf reports as well as "consults") are all to often deduced from thin air and assumptions wildly thrown in. Employee training is non-existent and a handful of 'nothing-to-do-employees' typically related to senior management are given redundant positions which result in nonsensical internal projects and policies created by such persons who are not at all embarrassed to share that these time-wasting initiatives are nothing more than efforts to justify their salaries by satisfying KPI (key performance index) requirements. Last but not least, the 'awards' presented by Frost & Sullivan are but a marketing gimmick (and is proudly announced by senior management), approximately 25% of our annual revenue comes from 'award licensing', employees dread writing reports due to the fact that these honors are given to market players who are 'most likely to license' these awards; there is no benchmarking process; only revenue. The North American branch has, during the recent financial epic, been known to throw awards without research whatsoever, pulling in as much revenue as they possibly can.
