If so, the biggest question of the test boiled down to this: Wouldentrepreneurs from the very different countries of Europe actuallyfind a common language? The answer: a resounding affirmative. "Thesepeople have all done what they've done in spite of, "explains von Liechtenstein. "In spite of no intelligent politics onthe national or European level, in spite of no intelligent forms ofrisk capital. But they couldn't care less about the in spiteofs."
More so than the Inc. 500, many of whom have surelyconfronted daunting and discouraging circumstances, the leadingEuropean entrepreneurs have shaped their businesses by sheer force oftheir own defiance. They aren't likely to lose that rebelliousquality anytime soon. "They all wish to change certain things abouttheir governments," observes von Liechtenstein, "but they basicallycouldn't care less about what their governments are doing."
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Just mention the word entrepreneur in France, and some2 million people will take to the streets, refuse to go to work,and plunge the country into economic paralysis for three weeks.
Certainly, entrepreneurs were not overtly the issue in thenationwide strikes of late last year. Most immediately, what sparkedthe discontent was the government's attempt to trim certain medicaland pension benefits , budget cuts that will be required forFrance to enter into Europe's planned common-currency system come1999. But the level of protest provides a barometer for just howpassionately people feel about the many benefits -- such assubsidized health care and generous unemployment payments -- theyexpect to get from the government, and how receptive they are tofree-market approaches. "People feel that they can sit back, thatthey don't have to contribute, that the government and the companyowe them a living," says Derek Hughes, managing director ofHughes Group Ltd., a Dublin bookseller. "It's just the wrong culture.It's against an enterprise culture."
And while that culture may very well be changing, prodded bydouble-digit unemployment rates and unmanageable budget deficits,it's still true that the entrepreneurs who built Europe's 500 havedone so with an almost unimaginable lack of governmental or culturalsupport. "Entrepreneurs should be able to spend 80% of theirtime getting customers," says Kenneth Iversen, managingdirector of Unimerco A/S, a tool-grinding company in Sunds,Denmark. "But if you have to spend 50% of your time doingadministrative work for the government, you have only about 40% leftto sell." Beyond eating up time, some regulations can even inflictharm, forcing company builders to reveal company financials tocompetitors. (See "It's Against Regulations," below.)
In most countries, the government further burdens start-ups withhigh taxation rates -- in Germany, most companies are taxed at a rateof 70%, "which is not very friendly to entrepreneurs," Kramer says.And labor agreements make it difficult to fire or lay off employees."It's not good enough to say that they are lazy, they're not doingtheir jobs," says John Nike, chairman of Nike LandSecurities, a real-estate-holding company based in England ."You have to build a lot of evidence."
Not that most European entrepreneurs have to worry about suchproblems. Many never get that far, because they can't find investors."If you want to raise small amounts of venture capital for astart-up, you cannot do it," claims Tim Atterton, director of thesmall-business center at the Durham University BusinessSchool, in England. "We don't have the mechanism for it." Currently,only 7% of available venture capital in Europe -- a pool that totaled$5.4 billion in 1994 -- ever finds its way into start-ups. "We havemore capital than in America. We have much higher savings," saysTwaalfhoven. "But we don't have people willing to risk thosesavings." Banks, for the most part, are an expensive and demandingalternative. Hervé Coutelas, CEO of Plastic SystemInternational , a plastic and aluminum wholesaler in Reims,France, says that banks charge small growth companies such high ratesthat he can't grow as rapidly as he'd like and fend off competitors."This climate of excessive prudence is a stumbling block todevelopment," he says.
If the bankers lack faith in entrepreneurs -- well, they are only human. And no matter which country they hailed from, themembers of Europe's 500 agreed that entrepreneurs tended not to beheld in the most altitudinous esteem. "There's no particular glamourin starting a business," says Lorna MacDougall, an organizationalconsultant in Scotland. "It's not thought of as a particularly heroicthing to do." As evidence, albeit scant, that that may be changing,she points to a Scottish TV game show called The BusinessGame, a corporate-tinged Star Search during which a panelof experts analyzes a group of businesses, awarding one a prize."Little by little, there's a realization that business is an activitywith real contributions to make," she says.
Unless, of course, you happen to be starting out. "There's anegative view of start-ups," says Liautaud. "People aren't sure aboutthe people who run them."
But Europeans who are starting businesses now at least will haverole models to inspire them: 500 of them, to be exact. "The fact thatthese people exist at all is a much greater testament to theirefforts than it would be for entrepreneurs over here," says DavidBirch. "These people are gutsy. They're doing things they're notsupposed to do." Including, now, creating a forum for themselves atwhich they can push for the kinds of policy shifts European countrieswill have to make to encourage more entrepreneurship. And, of course,at which they can begin to feel less alone as company builders.
