I was very excited when Wal-mart failed in Germany thanks to natural market forces and their unwillingness to adapt to what the customer wanted
... and it was quite interesting watching Wal-mart being force-fed unions in China. (Despite the founder's good nature, some of his inheriting family are some of the most distasteful nasty arrogant people one could imagine)
Its also entertaining watching McD and KFC start to freefall in Japan because... wait for it.... they sell crap and the customer is figuring it out.
Keep in mind that these are barely "american" companies anymore -- they are multi-national corporations for whom the concept "country" is an annoyance.
As far as being American and getting news about other countries and what's going on in the world ... it is simply unavailable 99% of the time from American sources (network tv, local tv, newspapers, radio, etc)
I have to watch or listen to the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and/or specifically subscribe via internet to asian, indian, or other world sources.