Why are American companies so successful?

Summary #

American companies are successful because they have original ideas. Companies from other countries have rehashed ideas. This is because the rest of the world adopts American ideas. People who adopt ideas cannot come up with original ideas.

Explanation #

American companies (especially tech companies) are successful around the world because they are most innovative. Their innovation comes from their ability to come up with original ideas. For example, the internet was an idea that originated in America. All the companies which built on the internet are also ideas that originated in America.

Original ideas come from the status quo. The status quo is the universe of old ideas. To come up with original ideas, one has to observe the status quo and challenge it. Americans have an advantage in both observing and challenging the status quo.

The world looks up to America. An idea that originates in America slowly spreads across the globe. Other countries always have a mix of local and American ideas. America is the only country with all American ideas. Since all other countries follow American ideas, America is the only country that has the status quo. Every other country has an imperfect version of the status quo. As a result of this, only Americans can observe the status quo. They are best equipped to challenge it and come up with original ideas.

Americans are the only people who can challenge the status quo. This is because people from the rest of the world look up to America. They respect American ideas and therefore are not able to challenge them. Americans don’t respect American ideas because they don’t look up to other Americans. They see each other as equals. So they find it easy to challenge the status quo. As a result, Americans are best equipped to come up with original ideas.

This dynamic is not seen in creative fields like music. Original ideas in creative fields are less derived from the status quo. Creative people in many countries around the world don’t look up to America’s creative ideas. They are able to respect local ideas. As a result they are able to come up with original ideas that are based on local ideas. This is why there is a thriving local music industry in countries like India and Pakistan, which have retained their flavor of music. People in these countries love their local music more than American music. But their music is not popular around the world as the world doesn’t look up to India or Pakistan.