Pros
Job security is extremely high, but only because people keep leaving due to low compensation and poor company culture. No one can fire you since the Japanese side needs to maintain headcount and make it seem like they are properly collaborating with local members. Work-life balance is good because Japanese members don’t share any information, so you don’t have to do anything. Basically, even if you do nothing, it doesn’t affect the work. Since upper management can’t just let employees sit idle, they come up with random tasks to keep them busy.
Cons
Management consists solely of project managers—there are no engineers work. Only the Japanese members make decisions and drive progress, while local members’ opinions are ignored and disrespected. Japanese members do not share information, yet you are blamed for not knowing things or not doing your work properly. They share information based on favoritism. If you accidentally step on the wrong foot? Well, it’s better to leave the company as soon as possible. If you’re good at sucking up to the Japanese members, you’ll get promoted. The company is filled with meaningless meetings and political conflicts. Half of the management could be fired—they just exist to approve things meaninglessly. - 4M, purchasing approval, Capex and etc.. processes take up to three weeks to release a PO, even after approval from the presentation. If you’re white and speak Japanese? You don’t need to work hard or perform well—you’ll still be treated favorably and get promoted. Don’t have an engineering degree? No problem! If you speak Japanese, you can be anything here. If you have a PhD and want an easy life, the Cell Engineering team is your best fit! The Japan side handles everything without sharing information, so local members don’t have much to do. If you have a PhD, you’re highly likely to be considered for a promotion—mainly to make their company look good. You can come and go without doing much work—yet still get promoted! In reality, all they do is mingle with the Japanese members to gather more information and maintain an advantage over others. Upper management still thinks that Panasonic holds a strong position in the battery field, but Tesla ditched them a long time ago. Panasonic keeps getting pushed further down the list of battery vendors, now ranking outside the top 15 in the world. This is a sinking ship.