Vantaggi
This is a huge organization with numerous opportunities for horizontal movement. You'll be exposed to a large a talented pool of very skilled colleagues. The people are great and seem to truly care deeply about their job and the company. The recently resigned CEO has done a fantastic job of overseeing a sustained period of growth driven mostly by strategic acquisitions and divestitures which has evolved the company into a wide range specialty coatings company. This has lead to excellent stock performance.
Svantaggi
Sadly, senior management seems detached from reality. It's a very traditional company, with outdated views on technology and growth. They grow by acquisition. Innovation is stalled by rigid procedures, and political maneuvering. The company has several interesting and potentially innovative market segments, but they have siloed these SBU's and segments so deeply that only real vanguards with a disregard for internal obstacles can bridge these gaps to cross SBU and cross segment success. Because they seem almost knee-jerk reactionary In making personnel changes when something changes in the market, employees seem averse to making any decisions that might make them standout, for total fear of failure. To say the culture is risk averse is a huge understatement. Pay is very uncompetitive. Due to the huge number of employees who have begun their career with PPG and remained there through a willingness to accept any assignment given, there's a lack of understanding about the global jobs marketplace or pay scales. This also leads to a very closed minded view of how things get done...the PPG way. The benefits are marginal, with long term retirement a plus, but healthcare costs a huge negative.