I live in a small EU country, sometimes it feels like I live in a total state. Government and universities glued together by big consulting firms following some innovation management framework with people that don't know what they are talking about ranking stuff by points scored on some technology readiness index. It just laks any soul, feels like i'm stuck here, would move if I could but where would I go.
Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
11–20 of 905 posts
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#12This article doesn't do a good job of explaining why having many huge corporations is a boon. My guess is that many Europeans are perfectly fine with that.
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#13This article doesn't do a good job of explaining why having many huge corporations is a boon. My guess is that many Europeans are perfectly fine with that.
I think while the average European is fine, as the article alludes to European politicians aren't.
In fact the last tech darling from Europe ended up as a massive scam - Wirecard.
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#14Would have been nice if they had given a serious mention to some of the positives. Sure, Europe ahs hundreds of mobile operators but we also have cheaper plans than any I could find in America. We also have serious competition with our internet providers so I can actually switch to a better service. Anyway it is sad that we can't seem to grow as many new large companies. Hopefully we can improve at that while keeping…
> Hopefully we can improve at that while keeping worker protections
This is how Europeans defend their system - better worker protections. But I get far better pay, conditions, and work-life balance at a North American company than I could possibly expect working for a local company. I'm not sure this defence really works anymore.
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#15This article hasn't ruled out the easy answer - EU stocks might be taxed differently so the stock prices are lower.
I'm personally sure there are problems with their policies, but this article is leaping ahead a little bit linking cause and effect.
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#16> These internal barriers mean Europe has many smaller firms operating at national, not continental, scale. Each country tends to have its own banks, utilities, airlines and supermarkets. (Europe has over 100 mobile operators, compared with a handful in America or China.) But all of that is a tremendous bonus for Europeans, not a penalty.
True. American tech and telecom is increasingly being looked at as being monopolistic. And this feeling is bipartisan, even if the starting arguments are different for each party.
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#17This article doesn't do a good job of explaining why having many huge corporations is a boon. My guess is that many Europeans are perfectly fine with that.
I think while the average European is fine, as the article alludes to European politicians aren't. In fact the last tech darling from Europe ended up as a massive scam - Wirecard.
Well, it's main competitor, checkout.com is also from Europe.
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#18A point not made in the article: American consumers are better at consuming and driving growth than European consumers:
When the article mentioned Starbucks and Tesla, I immediately thought, those would never have taken off in Europe. Americans are just much better consumers. Americans spend more on luxury and value convenience to a greater deal. American consumers are also more adventurous and willing to try new things. If I spent $80k on a Tesla when their brand was still nothing, people would call me crazy. "Could have gotten a Porsche", would probably be, what they'd say.
And if you notice, what is happening, luxury markets is where all the growth is, these days. Essentials are not growing much. This is probably another reason why Europe, with all its experience in these essentials markets is not capturing much of this growth. With the exception of clothing and apparel.
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#19Is it really so grim? This report has London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin in the top 20 startup global ecosystems.
https://cdn.startupgenome.com/sites/5c98cab2fb6681000470c58c...
Re: Europe is now a corporate also-ran. Can it recover its footing?
#20A point not made in the article: American consumers are better at consuming and driving growth than European consumers: When the article mentioned Starbucks and Tesla, I immediately thought, those would never have taken off in Europe. Americans are just much better consumers. Americans spend more on luxury and value convenience to a greater deal. American consumers are also more adventurous and willing to try new thi…
Europe has plenty of "luxury" brands, although few in the tech sector, admittedly.
But consumer-facing brands aren't everything. Germany's industry is famously reliant on "hidden champions": specialist mid-sized companies you've never heard of, producing, say, industrial pumps, chewing-gum wrapping machines, or large curved glass panels.