Pros
Great brand name, excellent product, excellent penetration into North American distribution channel. Parent company Amsted really focus on people development. Great Chairman & CEO at Amsted, highly experienced and talented executive team at Amsted, competent leadership at the top level. Many great people dedicate their lives to the company. Free parking for Colts games. Walking distance to the Slippery Noodle.
Cons
Company is used as a training ground for new presidents rising through the Amsted ranks. Every president brings a different strategic initiative, and with the president comes new executive management. In less than 10 years there were four (4) different presidents, four (4) different heads of sales & marketing, four (4) different heads of operations, and four (4) different heads of HR. Having seismic shifts in strategy and focus every few years is highly detrimental to the business and morale. Company's product lines are relatively limited compared with similar competitors; performance & quality gap narrowing, enabling competitors to take chunks of shares away; nature of the business place limits on what it can do to really grow, but that's the flip side of the ESOP.