Pros
Quad was an exciting and large player to work for in the local area. It was like working for the 400lb gorilla in the room, - as they also saw themselves.
Cons
Quad engaged in construction and growth activities that were unsafe and illegal when I worked there, largely because local enforcement officials permitted them to. I let the company know about these practices and told the legal department that I was required by law to report them, and would have to do so if they did nothing to address them. I was let go shortly afterward. I had a professional license to protect and was in a position that would definitely have made me aware of these activities, so my concerns were also self-serving. Quad had a practice of promoting unqualified people to high positions so that they would be loyal (they had nowhere else to go). It was run very much like the mafia: loyalty to the Owner was valued over qualifications, professionalism, or even competence, and some people were promoted like "made men". Having a professional license created dual masters that the company would not tolerate, and they let professionals go whenever there was a conflict between law and business practices. They were then part of a juggernaut in the local area that could do as it pleased. As it turned out, my concerns over illegal and unsafe practices were on target: They had a large fire in a building that cost a life a couple of years after I was fired, which the founder became very despondent about, and there was speculation that it may have cost the company the life of it's founder, Harry Quadracci. I was bitter for awhile, but have seen that many American companies operate this way, to some degree or another. There is no escaping it. It's the NASCAR mentality: If you ain't cheatin', you aint tryin hard enough. But I think a better adage would be: For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. ... For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.