Fear of failure

摘要

Europe is desperate to suc-ceed in business. Two years ago, the European Union's Lisbon summit set a goal of becoming the world's leading economy by 2010. But success, as any new-age executive coach might tell you, requires confronting the fear of failure. That is why Europe's approach to bankruptcy urgently needs reform. In Europe, as in the United States, many heavily indebted companies are shutting up shop just as the economy begins to recover. The cull will be worst in telecoms and technology but is also sweeping through other industries. Ironically, the upturn is often the moment when weak firms finally fail. But America's failures have a big advantage over Europe's weaklings: their country's more relaxed approach to bankruptcy.