Pros

Maxim has a team of very technically competent engineers and engineering managers. Most of the top management, CEO, group presidents, and VPs have a technical background. Although many have left a strong core from Maxim's first decade remain. Backdating and other financial issues not withstanding, Maxim still is fundamentally very strong financially with very good gross margins and a lot of cash on hand.

Cons

Although things have begun to change since the departure of Jack Gifford, Maxim has a history of being extremely micromanaged. Managers at all levels do not have the responsibility that they might at other companies with equivalent job titles because there is a reluctance from the top to give up power to your underlings - essentially it amounts to a lack of trust in the decision-making ability of the managers below you. So you give them the responsibility, in the sense that they have to answer to any mistakes or problems, but you don't give them the power they need to control those problems. A perfect example is the ability to approve purchase requistions - in the Jack era at least even a person at the level of managing director, one step below VP, could only sign for $1000.

Advice to Senior Management

Understand that the company you see daily is not the same company that the rank-and-file sees. They don't have the same compensation, but more importantly they don't have the same visibility or the same amount of control that you do, so it is inevitable that they do not feel the same sense of ownership that you do. This is not a small company anymore, where everybody knows everybody and everybody knows what their contributions are to the big picture. And no amount of bonuses, sub-sub-sub-dividing of the company, or re-orgs is going to make it so. You can't expect that people will work for below average compensation in a stressful environment and still be willing to give 110%, just for the "good of Maxim".