Vantaggi
I had worked for Thoratec for a few years before St. Jude Medical acquired it. Almost immediately, Abbott acquired St Jude Medical and that is how wound up working for Abbott. I was very impressed with the efficiency at which Abbott destroyed the place. Most original top performers and good managers left within the first year. The only "Pro" to speak of is that these acquisitions just about tripled the value of my original Thoratec RSUs.
Svantaggi
Abbott management is very abrasive and condescending. As I mentioned above, many people left or were pushed out but they were not replaced. Abbott management expected/demanded that the work get absorbed by those remaining. Many people are doing the work of two or three with no additional compensation. In some cases, workers were expected to take on the work of their departed manager without additional compensation or even a title upgrade. It appears their business model as it relates to quality has four steps*: 1) cut cut cut costs obsessively for two years. 2) Earn an FDA warning letter 3) spend $ millions remediating two years worth of work 4) repeat * (for abbott lawyers, this is just my opinion and nothing more. Any appearance of disclosing trade secret is purely coincidental)