Home Entrepreneurship Did Europe fall of the map?

Did Europe fall of the map?

Posted under Entrepreneurship on Thursday, 9 October 2008 by Joop Dorresteijn

How do you explain the location of your home to a fellow city-citizen? You probably refer to the area or street you come from but someone from another city would initially be interested in the name your city. More extreme, A Greek in Italy would probably refer to Greece as one’s home location. One step further; what if that particular Greek travels to another continent like South-America, would the Greek tell his fellow amigo that its home location is Greece or Europe? – Probably still Greece! Why is that?!

In contrary to Americans, Europeans don’t love their union as they should. Granted, one can’t compare apples with pears but considering political struggles and acceptance, the European Union is facing major identity problems that will affect results on the global market. I feel that the EU is not advocated enough.

How can it be that I’m not hearing anything about Europe here in Korea? I keep thinking of my time in Sweden; most of the discussions were either about China, Korea or Taiwan; Here in Korea it’s all about the US, and its frustrating me. Okay, its likely that my US professors reference to home, but is America that important to discuss about them 99% of the time in the news or in the classroom? How come we never talk about the world’s biggest exporter: Germany? Are their struggles not just as important as the US elections? People don’t pay attention to it.

The picture above is a fraction of a Korean world map. Logically, Koreans position themselves in the middle of their map. The US and Europe equally far away. How come all is focussed on their friends on the right side of the map? A friend from France told me: “Funny, I got in the plane in France, landed here in Korea. Suddenly, I lost contact with everything there; it feels like the world turned around, and Europe fell off!” And I think he had a point. Actually, it would be quite hard to follow the news in Europe without using the Internet. London the financial center of the world? Here it’s all about New York. Let me recap that: I think one of EU’s biggest struggles is to unify its union members. I have never seen a European flag being carried proudly by an individual; we (Europeans) need that kind of behavior to work together to become more visible! When my professor in Korea is educating with US examples, that student will less likely be interested in trading with Europe. Final note: Granted, Not Korea or China are ‘the rest of the world’, and are only used to make an example.

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  • Besides the 15 US professors, here's why you hear so much about the US
    and not Europe in S. Korea:

    1. The U.S. has provided a crucial nuclear umbrella and big military
    presence since WW2 and fought with So. Korea in the Korean War. We're
    strong allies.
    2. The U.S., not Europe, is deeply involved in the N. Korea nuclear
    negotiations.
    3. Wall Street has a huge impact on the Korean capital markets.
    4. The U.S. is a major market for Korean products.
    5. Tens of thousands of Korean students and business people have
    studied and moved to the U.S., where they are more welcome than in
    Europe.
    6. Silicon Valley is still the #1 destination for Korean tech people.
    7. American pop culture, like Japanese pop culture, is big among young
    Koreans (e.g. blue jeans, Nikes, Hollywood, etc.)
    8. U.S. companies are more dynamic than most European companies, esp.
    in high tech.
  • Joop, if it makes you feel any better, you do see the odd EU flag on cars sometimes here in Toronto, Canada. Usually you'll see them when there is a big football (real football/soccer, not American football) tournament.

    As for Korea's fascination with the US -- well, the Korean War was only 60 years ago, and Korea wouldn't be divided into South and North if it wasn't for the US and the former USSR. Not everyone looks at things through the the lens of economics.
  • I find those different world maps always very fascinating, it says everything about world view and stuff. Thanks for the interesting insights Joop!
  • Interesting views Joop and an intresting conversation!

    So do I get this right? The unity of Europe would help increase visibility in the Korean (and global) press (etc), which in turn would increase sales of European products and services? I think it might, but is it really worth it? I'm not sure. Trade is entirely based on visibility and images.

    I think the diversity of Europe is its asset too. Countries have very strong individual country images (Italy for wines, Germany for engineering, French cuisine etc., you got the point). What would we then have? European clogs? No, it wouldn't work at all.

    Sorry I think I lost the point somewhere along the lines. Was it about WHY Europe isn't presented in Korea (I think that question has been answered) or why it would be important that we had a stronger European image? Sorry, I'm confused! :)

    As for the financial crisis, I agree cooperation is needed but I'm quite happy our economy isn't directly linked to that of Romania!
  • Anonymous
    @Joop I think I should make something clear, I do know how you feel. I am a Canadian ExPat living in the southern US. I hear about my birth-country about as much as you do and I live less then 1000 miles from the border. Yes it's pretty darn annoying.

    The problem with newspapers and stocks in particular the advent of the internet and near real-time stock tracking has put a lot of pressure on finance sections of newspapers to shed a lot of pages. In the 80 or early 90s you probably would have found that stock on there but not anymore.

    I think the problem with EU not getting much attention twofold. One is that it doesn't have the power of a nation's government and as such many of the important decisions take place in the parliaments of the respective countries. To a lesser extent secondly it's all a tad bit confusing to an outsider. Having this government, that really isn't government over, but not really, the member countries government, which are relatively autonomous maintaining their own budgets, military and etc, and all built upon a bunch of treaties.
  • @Ratfink U don't sound like you have limited sanity. :)

    When this Dutch guy moved to Spain and later Sweden, I realized that the AEX (Dutch stock) wasn't in their newspaper. I found it interesting because I was used of the daily rating, on a prominent location in my own newspaper. In one year time, I read about my home country only two times in that particular 'global' news paper. At that point I realized that The Netherlands is a rather small country, and that we need the EU.

    Then I came to Asia, I noticed that the EU isn't as prominent as I thought. cognitive dissonance, created by local news and strategy? Maybe! I realized that the EU could be better advocated, that's why I wrote this down initially.
  • Anonymous
    @Joop, Thought I was loosing it for a minute. Thanks for confirming my rather limited sanity. :)

    I am not really getting what you are throwing out. Are you asking why the exports of the EU countries aren't counted as a whole and thus be more of a player relative to bigger players such as the US and China?
  • @Ratfink Yes it said Admin! I was logged in incorrectly and changed to joop.

    Thanks for your reflection, I agree that the US is very important to Korea. Your notion of the US being the biggest Korean import and export partner takes the discussion back to the initial point. Europe is not represented on the global play-field; I don't hear about them on the news at all! How could that be? I think unity has a awful lot to do with it!
  • Anonymous
    The last post was directed at Joop not Admin. Could have sworn it said admin.
  • Anonymous
    @Admin But that’s the great thing of one country. America is very diverse from East to West but they resemble unity. How come a European doesn’t have that affection?

    The US is a far older union and has benefited from people moving around it, sharing a common set of laws, currency and language for 200 years. The EU is just over 10 years old, it is hard to take pride in something that really hasn't truly been tested.

    "We are no under-performer on the global market! I think its a question of unity, something the US has, and the EU lacks."

    The fact of the matter is it doesn't matter to Koreans if Germany is the top exporter to Austria or whatever it doesn't relate to their country. The US happens to be both their second biggest importer and exporter. When your economy is based on exports as most Asian countries (including Korea) are they become VERY important and are going to get a heck of a lot more airtime then the 12th largest (the UK).

    When a professor cites an example he is trying to make things easier to understand, and as such he will use examples the audience is most comfortable with.

    When you add everything together it's pretty clear, unity really has very little to do with it.
  • http://
    I'm watching a tv show at the moment (De wereld draait door) to keep up with European news, and a Dutch financial expert, Willem Middelkoop is talking about the global financial crisis, making another example why there should be more European measurements. He explains (roughly translated) "In Europe we are putting out fires, every country is taking individual resolutions. We have one currency, the Euro, we have one union, you can't take independent measures. We should take European measures, it's crazy that this is taken care of individually. " He also explains another example of the Dutch/Belgium bank's press note that they were getting bought by the Dutch government (news that puts the stock in movement) was put out immediately. They forgot that the German banks were still operating, really stupid errors.
  • http://
    @Ratfink Europe != European Union; for now, let's say that the EU has an image problem. I haven't heard an American say they came from North America on initial conversation. But that's the great thing of one country. America is very diverse from East to West but they resemble unity. How come a European doesn't have that affection?

    On to Korea, actually, I don't really get in contact with the society that is close to the 30k US troops, but I do agree that they put a bigger US mark on Korea then I already witnessed.

    Consider this about corporate life, I read the Financial Times, I watch CNN; its all about the US. BBC reports about the UK every once and a while! Most of my professors refer to the US with corporate examples; how come they don't mention Europe? We are no under-performer on the global market! I think its a question of unity, something the US has, and the EU lacks.
  • Anonymous
    First of all Europe != European Union and if a person cannot find Greece on a map what luck do you think they will have finding Europe? By the same token however, when have you heard an American say they come from North America?

    But on to Korea. While the US may not be on the top of the list in exports and imports it certainly is within the top 5. But I suspect it has far more to do with the 28,000 US troops stationed within their border and the rather important role the US has plaid within the country since WW2.
  • Anonymous
    You did point out the European problem, with very good examples. But what you missed is that the European Union is NOT a country! It's full of diversity, languages, cultures, etc. A greek is a european, a swede is a european, but you can't say that a swede is a greek can you?
    The US is a country. I think that waving the E.U. flag isn't the solution, but as a french, I hope we will find a solution. And this kind of post is here to help, so thank you for giving us some external point of view. Bye

    ps: by the way, I do feel more european than french, but it's far from being representative ;)
  • http://
    @Jimmy, please do! I agree that comparing Europe with the US is like comparing Apples with Pears, but that was not the point of the article.

    You are from the UK right? What I am seeing in Asia is that European countries in Korea are not as apparent as the US. Do you agree that an union like the EU, one single currency and political strategy could change this?
  • Anonymous
    America is a country whereas Europe is a continent made up of countries that can be very different to one another culturally, linguistically etc. saying one is from Europe means nothing and is very vague and of little use. The union of countries in europe is different to that of states in the US. i could go on.
  • Anonymous
    Interesting thoughts Joop!
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