Pros
-Good work life balance -Decent offices in a convenient location within the city. Gives you credibility when handing over your business card! -Most people are at least superficially friendly - Business Monitor has HUGE potential, but ONLY if its problems are handled properly.
Cons
-Middle and senior management are completely detached from reality and err on the side of caution so much that by the time things get done, we've missed our chance and lag behind.Typically, senior management is an old boys club - even though they've recently hired new blood (which have since disappointed by falling in line), Without exception, the people in senior management have very little relevant outside experience and also have very little time for those of us that come from environments they're trying to operate in. -Decisions either made without full information, or subject to constant change. It feels like they're inexplicably dithering rather than just going for what makes sense for the firm's objectives. On the subject of objectives.... Senior management lack direction and hide it by saying they dont want to make mistakes. Then they involve all stakeholders to make sure that it DEFINITELY becomes a case of too many cooks. They then try to promote this approach by saying that we make collective decisions. - Pay is generally low for just about everyone doing the actual research . Don't be surprised if people leave - they're neither learning [who from? everyone is either junior or doesn't see clients] nor earning enough to be able to afford to coast. - The business model is outdated - content gets recycled, and data offering falls behind other competitors. Decisions have to be made here - you either focus on reviving your content and offer less breadth, or, you sink when people realise that there's very little new stuff coming out. Likewise goes with data... you cannot sell data yet be happy when the latest monthly figure you have is over 2 years old. Sales cannot spin this in any positive way, nor are they trained to be able to counteract this argument. This offering just isn't good for clients, nor internal morale - its just designed to keep costs down. Which is fine, so long as you're not pitching yourself as the go to source for information. - No one knows what's going on: what are we aiming towards? What are our sales targets? What is the aim of our research? Where are we going in 5-10yrs time? None of these questions get an answer - people who are NOT decisive are mtaking these decisions behind closed doors, not communicating them, and then half enacting them - only to change 6 months later. That is NOT a business strategy, my friends! - Some reviews here are questionable in terms of authenticity - Going by comments I have heard from peers, the positive reviews on here definitely don't feature in day to day conversation. Sort out the real problem, don't try to entice talent to join your firm and end up miserable.