Why are native Irish companies weak? A common story is that they’re weak because the multinationals are strong. The multinationals are the most productive businesses in the world, the story goes, so they can afford to pay top dollar for talent. Local companies can’t compete.  But if that were driving it, you’d expect to see the same thing in places like the Bay Area, where most of these multinationals are headquartered. But, on the contrary, the Bay Area is the startup capital of the world. In Sebastian Mallaby‘s telling, big local companies have been a great help to the startups of…