Many of the executive level leaders and upper tier leaders are unethical, sociopathic, and entirely focused on THEIR careers to the exclusion of lower level associates. Management will give lip service to ethical behavior but they exclude themselves from ethical conduct. Greed and politics are rampant in the management ranks. Promotions are more often based on being well liked than on being competent and productive. There are lots of brown nosers and suck ups to deal with.
Highly productive and knowledgeable senior employees are often let go to keep salaries down.Layoffs and consolidations are continuous. R & D investment seriously lag the industry and quality is fair at best. Manufacturing plants are old and antiquated and lacking common operating procedures. The newest plant was built in the 60's - the oldest circa 1900. Costly recalls are often avoided to minimize embarrassment to responsible management,
Divisions to particularly avoid that have very poor leadership include; Technical, Manufacturing, and Logistics. Field jobs outside the corporate complex tend to be better positions with higher levels of motivation and less politics to deal with.
The customer base has been largely eroded by the implementation of a wholesale distribution model. Longtime loyal customers are no more. Dealer's are unhappy with poor margins and costs being pushed from the corporation to them. Unit volume has declined dramatically over the last decade.
Advertising and marketing programs are completely derivative and lack any imagination. Purchasing imposes very harsh 90 day payment terms on vendors. Product liability is a big cost to the company resulting from inadequate design and quality control.
The company is structured into global regions. Each region does it's own thing and there are few shared processes and practices within regions.
