Point taken. Some parts of Europe have better corporate culture than others and Slovenia is probably not the best representative of the entire continent (although it's not the worst either). But you misunderstood me: I'm not saying that Europeans are not risk takers -- I know quite a few of them that are -- I'm merely saying that the corporate culture in Europe discourages risk taking far more than the corporate culture in the States, which is why there is no shortage of successful European entrepreneurs on the US market.
Why do you believe that all Europeans have got the same corporate culture?
Firstly Western Europe is still nothing like ex-communist block countries. Hell, parts of Russia lies with Europe.
Then even looking at individual countries France != Germany != UK != Holland, etc.
We all have wildly different histories. Different labour laws. Different business laws. Different tax rates. Different GDPs. Different natural resources.
There's no common corporate culture as the business climate is so varied.
Perhaps the best example of this is Britain and France. Britain and France are separated by 23 miles of water. In France, egalité reigns supreme. Many places are union driven. The unions are all powerful. People aren't permitted to work more than 35 hours per week and get a large amount of holidays relative to their cousins 23 miles away.
Meanwhile, in the UK there's an opt out to allow people to work more than 40 hours a week, people get 25 days holiday on average and unions have little power in most cases, or act in ways that often damage peoples' jobs in others.
The differences between doing business in England and France are much more vast than the 23 miles that separate them. They're a product of France executing their aristocracy and the British not. A product of the French considering work 'travail' (toiling, or otherwise arduous activity) and the English not. And of course of the English being part of the industrial revolution early, meaning that the English could be more productive than everyone else with less resources, and of the French having to compete at a disadvantage. Add to that the other differences in French history and it's no wonder that many Brits (I wouldn't want to claim to speak for all as even we on a tiny island aren't a monoculture) generally feel closer to Anglophonic and former imperial countries than our European friends.
Sorry for that. The reason I switched from British to English is because of the distance over the channel being 23 miles, not a suggestion that Britain is essentially England or that it's a monoculture. Please don't think otherwise.
Not at all. The conclusion that US corporate culture is more risk-tolerant than European wasn't made by me. It's been talked about in media for years, especially lately. My anecdotes are hardly the only ones that argue in its favor. As a European, I'd honestly like to read anecdotes that prove the opposite.
As an Englishman, I'd love to see anecdotes that establish you as a European (and us all as such) instead of something that subverts your slovenian identity.
Don't get me wrong, I thnk slovenia is a wonderful country but I think you cheapen your point by suggesting that a man in ljubjana should have the same world view as a man in London or Berlin.
