My 2 cents, some of the reasons America succeeds: (fact) America is a single market with a single language with basically a single set of regulations. Expansion is cheap in America. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to expand to another US city than it does to expand to Norway or New Zealand; but for a company in those countries, expansion is very expensive, expanding requires new laws, regulations, business entiti…
Ow, I never heard of this?
> They also have no access to capital, essentially.
This is like the most foundamentally important issue and you have in tucked away in a minor point
Raise invesment in US, you get $million for a minor stake in the company
Raise investment in UK, you get $100 K for a minor stake
Raise investment in Czech republic, you get $50K for 51%
Raise investment in Russia, they break your legs if you don't pay back. They don't understand thw difference between investment and debt.
And if you die they will pursue your family for your debts.
Raise investment in Zimbabwe.. I don't even know.
This is in jest, but the overall point is roughly this:
Non-westerners cringe when they hear 'Don't take China's money for Belt and road, it's a trap'. In 2nd/3rd world, securing capital for non-elites is impossible even if you just came up with a working fusion reactor.
The relevant amount of money isn't just with strings attached, it can be dangerous to life and limb.
> Americans are ambitious to a fault
Plenty of ambitious people in Russia, the problem is their activity is usually something detrimental to society.
Consider the dominance hierarchy
The top of American society is a billionaire entrepreneur, not sure where to place politicians, maybe a distant third. Civil servants are basicallt nobodys, they are treated worse than people working in the private sector, called lazy, etc.
Top of a society in Russia is FSB/ Security services. Second is politicians. Third is civil servants. Fourth is organised crime bosses. What do all these people have in common? They have the powet to ruin your life. And they use it.
Entrepreneurs are like 6th person down the food chain, and they are preyed upon by the layers above.
https://www.rferl.org/a/newspaper-says-russian-businessman-r...
This is also what the right wing does not understand, when life gets harsh, life of crime becomes more attractive. The world becomes god-eat dog, a man who didn't take advantage of a situation to enrich himself, is not an uostanding citizen. He is a loose who failed to peovide for his family.