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It is quite easy question actually. In short, US is unified market with one language, laws for business are same across all states, one currency, one culture,

It is quite easy question actually. In short, US is unified market with one language, laws for business are same across all states, one currency, one culture, low taxes, no social system and a lot of money. In EU you have 28 countries, 24 languages which equals to same amount of cultures. 11 currencies. Every country got own laws so once you make business across many countries, you have taxation and law hell. EU tries to improve it so it is getting better but it is still very bad. You basically need a lawyer and a translator for every country where you operate. We have quite big taxes, social system and health system. All these needs to be payed for every employee and it increases the operation cost. The country that I am from, we had better search engine than Google before Google, we had Uber before Uber and many other. Unfortunately they didn't expand because of problems I mentioned and nobody gave investment that would overcome all these problems. At the end when big name comes to our market they just buy established local competitor and rename it. Also Silicon Valley is a bubble. In Europe we never heard about most of startups from there and we have local competitors that are established here and do basically same things.

ThomPete 11y ago
Europe has more Fortune 500 companies on than the US according to what I am linking. If it was just a matter of language then how come they USED to be able to create global players but aren't able to as much any more. Whats changed thats holding Europe back?
- egwor 11y ago
  According to the fortune web site, the fortunate 500 only covers companies that "are incorporated and operate in the US." I think it was probably cheaper and easier to do this in the past, but now regulatory and tax reasons make it more difficult and more expensive. > Companies are ranked by total revenues for their respective fiscal years. Included in the survey are companies that are incorporated in the U.S. and operate in the U.S. and file financial statements with a government agency. This includes private companies and cooperatives that file a 10-K or a comparable financial statement with a government agency, and mutual insurance companies that file with state regulators. It also includes companies that file with a government agency but are owned by private companies, domestic or foreign, that do not file such financial statements. Excluded are private companies not filing with a government agency; companies incorporated outside the U.S.; and U.S. companies consolidated by other companies, domestic or foreign, that file with a government agency. Also excluded are companies that failed to report full financial statements for at least three quarters of the current fiscal year. Percent change calculations for revenue, net income, and earnings per share are based on data as originally reported. They are not restated for mergers, acquisitions, or accounting changes. The only changes to the prior years' data are for significant restatement due to reporting errors that require a company to file an amended 10-K.
- SneakerXZ 11y ago
  These companies were founded when the world weren't so connected. The size of US market unified with one currency and language didn't matter back then. Because if you have founded a company in California, it was hard for you to reach people in New York because there was no internet so when somebody founded a company in Germany, he had basically same position as the guy in US. And after many years the guy in Germany had a lot of money so he could easily expand to France and so on. So business were growing with same pace and it didn't matter where you were. But there is more factors in it, Europe used be more rich (it had a lot of colonies), US wasn't so developed as it is now. GDP of US was lower than GDP of UK in 1900. And of course laws changed, we have more bureaucracy than we used to have.
KaiserPro 11y ago
There is one currency, there are no import taxes, VAT is per country. (assuming EEC) This ofcourse assume that you are operating in one country and providing goods to another. Employment is another issue. Thats almost the same as in the US(excluding employment). The issue of low taxes is frankly utter bollocks, yes the US's taxes might be lower but so is your life expectancy, and productivity. The main issue with startups is that most of europe is based on trade. What can I sell to you for a profit, what can I invest in that will give a decent return with a balanced risk? Most tech startups fail. Most tech startups are clones of another well established startup. Those startups do not make money. Why would I invest in something with such a terrible likleyhood of return?
- tosseraccount 11y ago
  "productivity is lower" ??? wtf? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PP... We're Number 3 !!!! Life expectancy appears to be about what is the European Union. U.S. is 79 years ( source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe... ) ( Euro stats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Europe_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Eu... ) Europe doesn't have import taxes? what? Did you fact check any of your statements?
  - bpicolo 11y ago
    To be fair, all that Norwegian GDP is big oil.
  - KaiserPro 11y ago
    import taxes between countries
- SneakerXZ 11y ago
  Nobody says it is impossible, you can provide goods to other country with EUR but you are competing with other markets. French local company has advantage over German company that tries to sell good in France because French company has smaller shipping cost (it is not unified through EU), they offer localized goods, they have local visibility, they know local laws, they can provide localized support and these things are hard when you are new company and you want to grow.

ThomPete 11y ago

Europe has more Fortune 500 companies on than the US according to what I am linking. If it was just a matter of language then how come they USED to be able to create global players but aren't able to as much any more. Whats changed thats holding Europe back?

egwor 11y ago
According to the fortune web site, the fortunate 500 only covers companies that "are incorporated and operate in the US." I think it was probably cheaper and easier to do this in the past, but now regulatory and tax reasons make it more difficult and more expensive. > Companies are ranked by total revenues for their respective fiscal years. Included in the survey are companies that are incorporated in the U.S. and operate in the U.S. and file financial statements with a government agency. This includes private companies and cooperatives that file a 10-K or a comparable financial statement with a government agency, and mutual insurance companies that file with state regulators. It also includes companies that file with a government agency but are owned by private companies, domestic or foreign, that do not file such financial statements. Excluded are private companies not filing with a government agency; companies incorporated outside the U.S.; and U.S. companies consolidated by other companies, domestic or foreign, that file with a government agency. Also excluded are companies that failed to report full financial statements for at least three quarters of the current fiscal year. Percent change calculations for revenue, net income, and earnings per share are based on data as originally reported. They are not restated for mergers, acquisitions, or accounting changes. The only changes to the prior years' data are for significant restatement due to reporting errors that require a company to file an amended 10-K.
SneakerXZ 11y ago
These companies were founded when the world weren't so connected. The size of US market unified with one currency and language didn't matter back then. Because if you have founded a company in California, it was hard for you to reach people in New York because there was no internet so when somebody founded a company in Germany, he had basically same position as the guy in US. And after many years the guy in Germany had a lot of money so he could easily expand to France and so on. So business were growing with same pace and it didn't matter where you were. But there is more factors in it, Europe used be more rich (it had a lot of colonies), US wasn't so developed as it is now. GDP of US was lower than GDP of UK in 1900. And of course laws changed, we have more bureaucracy than we used to have.

KaiserPro 11y ago

There is one currency, there are no import taxes, VAT is per country. (assuming EEC) This ofcourse assume that you are operating in one country and providing goods to another. Employment is another issue. Thats almost the same as in the US(excluding employment). The issue of low taxes is frankly utter bollocks, yes the US's taxes might be lower but so is your life expectancy, and productivity. The main issue with startups is that most of europe is based on trade. What can I sell to you for a profit, what can I invest in that will give a decent return with a balanced risk? Most tech startups fail. Most tech startups are clones of another well established startup. Those startups do not make money. Why would I invest in something with such a terrible likleyhood of return?

tosseraccount 11y ago
"productivity is lower" ??? wtf? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PP... We're Number 3 !!!! Life expectancy appears to be about what is the European Union. U.S. is 79 years ( source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe... ) ( Euro stats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Europe_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Eu... ) Europe doesn't have import taxes? what? Did you fact check any of your statements?
- bpicolo 11y ago
  To be fair, all that Norwegian GDP is big oil.
- KaiserPro 11y ago
  import taxes between countries
SneakerXZ 11y ago
Nobody says it is impossible, you can provide goods to other country with EUR but you are competing with other markets. French local company has advantage over German company that tries to sell good in France because French company has smaller shipping cost (it is not unified through EU), they offer localized goods, they have local visibility, they know local laws, they can provide localized support and these things are hard when you are new company and you want to grow.