Pros
Alcon used to be a good company to work for in the past, and money for R&D projects was never an issue. There were more projects than people able to handle them. Previous owner Nestle funded extremely well and let company and R&D operate as an independent company. R&D used to have lots of senior and experienced people. All this was BEFORE the acquisition by Novartis.
Cons
Shortly before the acquisition all good and experienced managers left Alcon's R&D. Current R&D managers, including very TOP management, are people manipulators, have no clues or any ideas how to create and build new products, and are totally worthless. Most of experienced and skillful people were either laid off, retired, fired, or left on their own during and shortly after the merger. The current R&D crew is mostly worthless, and are predominantly filled with interns, co-op students, and new grads.