Le Big Mac: I've seen a lot of stories about the potential European backlash against American products as retaliation for our unilateralist foreign policy (and even written one myself) so I read with interest Daniel Gross's account of a study that provides pretty robust evidence that three quintessentially American brands--Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nike--are doing pretty well in Europe, thankyou very much.

You'd think that if Europeans were going to pick on anybody, they'd pick on McDonald's, which is unpopular for lots of reasons, not just because it's American. But European sales at all three companies are thriving compared to those of European rivals and compared to their own U.S. sales. In other words, Europeans--like Americans--tell researchers they are going to do something (boycott, buy environmentally friendly products, etc.) and then do nothing.

Of course, the study focuses exclusively on sales. American companies could still be paying a price for the Bush administration's unpopularity in Europe in other ways: recruitment could be down, or recruitment costs higher; planning permission could be more difficult to obtain; the regulatory environment might be more hostile; takeovers might be more difficult to push through. Anyone have any data?