Pros
As long as the VP "likes" you then you can basically do whatever you want without consequences. Up to and including missing absorbent amounts of time, coming and going as you please, working from home whenever you want, never meeting a deadline yet still being generously rewarded. This all of course if he "likes" you, which is determined by how much you're willing to stroke his ego.
Cons
Incompotent management allowed to stay in place simply because of tenure and the impression that corporate is still "snowed" by the manager of this unit What a joke! They can't claim to be unaware at this point, they are very aware they simply refuse to address any of it. The systems or lack thereof will continue to be a major downfall in this organization. Lying to your customers is a regular thing to hide the fact that this company doesn't want to invest in the tools necessary to support their stagnant customer base. Lack of innovation also plagues this company and will continue due to the structure and their failure to utilize people for their strengths and talents as well as their lack to attract and retain new talents. New talent attrition rates are awful yet corporate still doesn't see the need to get involved past believing everything the self preserving VP presents to them. They ignore blogs such as this, they ignore exit interviews, they ignore feedback from their customer base (or at least find a scapegoat), they ignore current employees cries for help. When they do pretend to address current employee concerns, they twist every word to fit their agenda. They show no interest in real change to move the company forward. It's almost comical how corporate handles reports of wrong doing. It's a shame if they claim not to see the pattern. Either they are blind, deaf and dumb or just as incompotent as the local manager.