I have a little bit of experience with London, and I can second this. London actually gives me the willies after meeting the business culture there. If you ever want to make an argument for the actual existence of shape shifting reptiles (ala nutjob David Icke) then just hang around London's business scene for a while.
America is superficially conservative and deeply liberal. Europe is superficially liberal and deeply conservative.
I guess it depends on how you define conservative. I define it partly as "hierarchical, aristocratic, exploitative" while liberal is "self-made, innovative, meritocratic."
Those are not the pop definitions though, especially in America. They're closer to the classical definitions.
Predatory is the right word. It feels like everyone in London is an "independent consultant" trying to schmooze their way into things to play some mysterious sleazy angle.
The independent consultant thing is a bit of a joke in London. Even London's ex-mayors become independent global consultants:
I don't think you're working with applicable terms, really. I'd just say there are markets and business cultures where trust and the sense of fair play is prevalent, and those where that is not the case, and leave it at that.
Touchy subject, but I'd point at the "personal background" of the participants before I started using political terms. Some cultures/ethnicities, have, um, different ideas of fair play.
Point taken... and you have to take anything like what I wrote (or what anyone else in any of this thread writes) with some degree of salt. All human experiences are small samples, and cities are big places.
But my personal experience in London was... well... in the right light sometimes they shift back to their natural form... hisssssss!
America is superficially conservative and deeply liberal. Europe is superficially liberal and deeply conservative.