Law /
Poland low on national brand chart [66]
Siemens
What, no suitcases of cash? ;-)
Yup, but less and less. You are starting to see a lot more innovation coming out of our "supplier nations
Peaks and valleys.. this is natural for the most part. I don't think our ship is that far adrift. Besides our infrastructure is largely there while they're are still building theirs. Problem with us is it's all .. me, me, me. Little cohesion.. this is where the Krauts and Japanese shine.
Private ownership, management has the companies best interest at hand. That makes winners. Less distance between owner and worker. Better feedback system.
It's sounds nice and quaint and it's effective to a degree with the homogenous population (for the most part, what a few Turks? ) the Euros have.. everbody on the same page, similar to the Japanese I suppose. However, to grow globally and do it effectively is a little trickier. You need to understand different cultures , supply chains. However, to hear you describe it, I'm envious, because it sounds like a lot less headache than working for a big boy.
I did recently see Consumer Reports auto special recently.. they all gave BMW , Mercedes and Audi even Porsche pretty low grades for quality, defects etc. And they're are typically pretty objective .. and usually praise the hell out of those companies.