Pros
A strong emphasis on conformity, which helps streamline collaboration across teams by ensuring everyone uses the same tools. Fast to migrate over subsidiaries. Decisive on policy and ensures it trickles down to all locations. (The downside is lack of attention to needs in specific areas) Quick to scale up with new hires when necessary. A clearly defined company ladder to climb. Opportunity to join a large selection of teams who work on very different things.
Cons
Policies are enforced uniformly, often without consideration of individual business needs. Decisions on policy, salary, and restructuring are made at a higher level, with limited opportunity for subsidiary input. No clarity on who makes decisions, which means that there is no accountability or anyone to raise concerns to. Company politics can be a deciding factor in if you and your team succeeds. Hiring restricted to few sites and always decided from the top. There is no possibility to recruit e.g. brilliant master thesis students or brilliant people outside of the official hiring zones. Aged and slow development processes, like not having an allow list for commonly used programs and libraries. The company prioritizes policy adherence, even if it means letting go of key personnel (e.g., large teams of long-term consultants), which can impact products.