It's increasingly bureaucratic and slow to get things done, despite efforts to improve. Some functions such as HR and IT massively behind the curve on efficiency and decent processes - this can make administrative tasks at BAT very frustrating.
Growing the top line is hard so cost cutting remains a huge focus to deliver shareholder expectations. There's still plenty of fat in the business but senior management seems reluctant to really go for the big drivers of cost such as the senior management structure, high cost office locations, etc. So plenty of scratching around for savings without addressing the fundamental cost drivers.
In all my years at BAT, the company has always felt second best to the competition, particularly PMI. That's depressing. PMI always seems one step ahead and BAT never seems able to do things as well, despite what it says externally.
