So we've got an instantaneous global communications medium. Language is a big issue. The 1990 census reported that 86 percent of Americans speak only English. Every single person I met at my meeting was fluent in English, and most had larger vocabularies than I did. Because of the many cultures and languages in Europe, English has become the language of business internationally, although most business within the country is conducted in the native language.
Culture is a big issue, too.
While most Americans tend to think of themselves as living in the cultural and economic center of the world, Europeans are used to working together. While an American agency might balk at combining forces with another agency a few hundred miles away, it's not so uncommon within the group I spoke with in Europe. Infrastructure changes have also put many European countries in a unique position. While much of the US has been wired for years and an appreciably large portion of the US population has computers, this isn't necessarily true in Europe. Ditto for telecom infrastructure.