Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle • Hacker News Board

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#31

Post by danssig » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 2:28 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #20

coliveira wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans don't like to talk about it, but they should better learn how emulate Europe rather than the opposite. The USA is nowadays more similar to Europe than to new developing economies. While Europe hasn't the high growth it once had, they know how to maintain an economy that retains prosperity for most of its people.

In the global race to have the worst economy, Europe (as a whole) currently has a significant edge over the US, although the US is certainly running the race with gusto. There's serious talk of having to break the EU up over the economic crisis it is having. The traditional "US should be more like Europe" rhetoric should be packed away in storage for a while, conditions are not ripe for it.

There is talk of breaking up the EU because the bad countries are bankrupting the ones that are doing really well. When everyone notices that the producers and the problem countries are the usual suspects, of course the conclusion is that maybe this agreement wasn't such a good idea after all.

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#32

Post by danssig » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 2:33 PM UTC

Honest question: Is WSJ really an HN worthy source anymore?

EDIT: How far are you WSJ fanboys going to downvote me on this? The company is owned by Rupert Murdock. The same one who owns Fox news. And this article was rubbish. Am I really the only person surprised to see this here?

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#33

Post by forkandwait » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 2:34 PM UTC

Note the rhetoric " ... seen as Europe's Biggest Obstacle": by using the passive and an authoritative tone, the WSJ tries to make it seem that there this idea comes from nowhere, and is a universal truth without being attached to real people politicking to make the world the world into what they want (umm, low taxes and regulation for us, thank you). Making seemingly universal statements is one of the best tricks to hiding partisan interests (and the left does this just as often as the right).

I would bet money that if you gave a poll, more Europeans would want to move AWAY from a "entrepeneurial culture" (whatever that means) than toward it. For the average working Fritz and Hannah it would mean giving up social services, safety, free education, and excellent vacations.

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#34

Post by Maro » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 2:37 PM UTC

I'm an entrepreneur in E.Europe. Biggest obstacle is lack of markets, lack of capital. For most tech products like websites and software, the best (and first) market is the US. I used to think that the Internet can bridge this gap, after all, you don't need physical proximity to sell digital goods, but I was wrong. In most cases you need physical/cultural proximity to build your tech business.

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#35

Post by jbooth » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 2:46 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #20

coliveira wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans don't like to talk about it, but they should better learn how emulate Europe rather than the opposite. The USA is nowadays more similar to Europe than to new developing economies. While Europe hasn't the high growth it once had, they know how to maintain an economy that retains prosperity for most of its people.

In the global race to have the worst economy, Europe (as a whole) currently has a significant edge over the US, although the US is certainly running the race with gusto. There's serious talk of having to break the EU up over the economic crisis it is having. The traditional "US should be more like Europe" rhetoric should be packed away in storage for a while, conditions are not ripe for it.

Most of the European problems right now are problems that the US just plain cannot have -- Greece, Spain and Italy running up huge debts because they have the credibility of the eurozone without any of the responsibility.

America's different, we're one country.

Those problems aside, we could do a lot worse than modeling europe, way less gas usage, higher health insurance coverage, 2 months of vacation a year. Sounds a lot more stable to me.

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#36

Post by shareme » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 2:50 PM UTC

A question for European readers:

Do you see the culture of the Welfare State as an obstacle to changing culture to accept that being successful, doing new business ventures is a good thing?

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#37

Post by jdietrich » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 2:55 PM UTC

My favourite company in the world is a German engineering firm called Rohloff. Their motto is "No slogans, just facts" and their business is really just a single product - a beautifully engineered internal gearbox for bicycles called the Speedhub, that costs €1000 and lasts 100,000km.

Rohloff make a product as finely engineered as any swiss watch, but in doing so create an anti-consumerist product. Their product is built to last forever and usually does. While their Japanese, American and Italian competitors battle to create ever more fragile "racing" components and strive for ever increasing levels of built-in obsolescence, Rohloff obstinately refuse to make anything the most durable and reliable product.

If we measure the wellbeing of society purely in terms of GDP, Rohloff are a disaster; But the only way for Rohloff to improve profitability would be for them to throw their customers under the bus. There is nothing left to improve in a Rohloff Speedhub - it is for all practical purposes perfect. Any possible "improvement" would benefit the marketers, not the customer.

I prefer Mercedes and BMW to Cadillac and Lincoln. I would rather see my country emulate Germany than America.

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#38

Post by dpapathanasiou » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 3:04 PM UTC

franze wrote: post #19

ok, as i'm currently starting my business in austria (that's in europe) i want to add my 2c. the biggest obstacle is that the government won't go out of your way. 1. i could start my company now 2. but it would be stupid, as i would miss out on the "unternehmensgründerförderung" (start up support) 3. for getting "unternehmensgründerförderung" you have to attend a sh#tload of courses (for about 2 months) which tell yo…

Well, Austria is a paradise compared to a place like Greece (which, unlike Germany, could stand for a bit of the cultural change espoused by the WSJ article): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/business/30greek.html

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#39

Post by marknutter » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 3:12 PM UTC

jbooth wrote: post #35

jerf wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the global race to have the worst economy, Europe (as a whole) currently has a significant edge over the US, although the US is certainly running the race with gusto. There's serious talk of having to break the EU up over the economic crisis it is having. The traditional "US should be more like Europe" rhetoric should be packed away in storage for a while, conditions are not ripe for it.

Most of the European problems right now are problems that the US just plain cannot have -- Greece, Spain and Italy running up huge debts because they have the credibility of the eurozone without any of the responsibility. America's different, we're one country. Those problems aside, we could do a lot worse than modeling europe, way less gas usage, higher health insurance coverage, 2 months of vacation a year. Sounds…

I don't understand how higher health insurance coverage, 2 months of vacation, and less gas usage equates to a healthy economy, or maybe I'm missing something?

Re: Lack of Entrepreneurial Culture Seen as Europe’s Biggest Obstacle

#40

Post by marknutter » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 3:19 PM UTC

jdietrich wrote: post #37

My favourite company in the world is a German engineering firm called Rohloff. Their motto is "No slogans, just facts" and their business is really just a single product - a beautifully engineered internal gearbox for bicycles called the Speedhub, that costs €1000 and lasts 100,000km. Rohloff make a product as finely engineered as any swiss watch, but in doing so create an anti-consumerist product. Their product is b…

I hope Rohloff is aware of the irony that "No slogans, just facts" is a slogan.

While I admire companies who make products that last forever, most people aren't that interested in spending a ton of money on something that will last forever. If you're sure you're going to be using your bike for 70+ years, $1000 isn't a bad investment. If you're like most people, you probably bike once every few months, if that, and the cheap US/Chinese/Japanese products are probably fine.

It's not fair to compare companies that are competing on price with companies that are competing on quality. For most people, "ok" and "cheap" are good enough.