Why do Companies survive for more than 100

years?

Some companies exist only as a name, a brand, an office building, or a memory:

remnants of a glorious past. But after some research and reflection, we began
building up a list of companies that met van Wachem's criteria. In North America,
there were DuPont, the Hudson Bay Company, W. R. Grace, and Kodak-all older
than Shell. A handful of Japanese companies traced their origins to the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and were still thriving. They included
Mitsui, Sumitomo, and the department store Daimaru. Mitsubishi and Suzuki
were younger; they traced their origins merely to the nineteenth century, having
emerged from the business opportunities that opened up around the Meiji
Restoration (1868).

We found four key factors in common:

Long-lived companies were sensitive to their environment. Whether they had built
their fortunes on knowledge (such as DuPont's technological innovations) or on
natural resources (such as the Hudson Bay Company's access to the furs of
Canadian forests), they remained in harmony with the world around them.

Long-lived companies were cohesive, with a strong sense of identity. No matter how
widely diversified they were, their employees (and even their suppliers, at times)
felt they were all part of one entity. One company, Unilever, saw itself as a fleet
of ships, each ship independent, yet the whole fleet stronger than the sum of its
parts. This sense of belonging to an organization and being able to identify with
its achievements can easily be dismissed as a "soft" or abstract feature of change.

Long-lived companies were tolerant. At first, when we wrote our Shell report, we
called this point "decentralization." Long-lived companies, as we pointed out,
generally avoided exercising any centralized control over attempts to diversify the
company.

Long-lived companies were conservative in financing. They were frugal and did not
risk their capital gratuitously. They understood the meaning of money in an old-
fashioned way; they knew the usefulness of having spare cash in the kitty. Having
money in hand gave them flexibility and independence of action.

The result: in today's increasingly volatile business environment, without the priorities
of the living company, most managers will find that their companies do not have
the habits to accomplish what they hope to achieve. On the other hand, exploring
the ramifications of managing an entity that is alive, with the intent of handing it
over to one's successors in better health than when one received it, is deeply
gratifying.
List of Companies surviving for more than 100 years

NAME OF CORPORATION INCORPORATION DATE

TRUSTEES OF BERWICK ACADEMY 03/11/1791

THE TRUSTEES OF FRYEBURG ACADEMY 02/09/1792

TRUSTEES OF WASHINGTON ACADEMY 03/07/1792

BOWDOIN COLLEGE 06/24/1794

THE TRUSTEES OF THE LINCOLN ACADEMY 02/23/1801

THE MONMOUTH ACADEMY 02/22/1803

HEBRON ACADEMY INCORPORATED 02/10/1804

TRUSTEES OF BRIDGTON ACADEMY 03/08/1808

THORNTON ACADEMY 02/16/1811

PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF COLBY COLLEGE 02/27/1813

NORTH YARMOUTH ACADEMY 02/04/1814

MASTER, WARDENS AND MEMBERS OF THE

GRAND LODGE OF MAINE 06/16/1820

KENTS HILL SCHOOL 02/28/1821

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE GRAND ROYAL ARCH

CHAPTER OF MAINE 01/19/1822

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 02/05/1822

LINCOLN LODGE BUILDING CORPORATION 02/07/1822

TRUSTEES OF FOXCROFT ACADEMY 01/31/1823

ANSON ACADEMY ASSOCIATION 02/08/1823

BETHLEHEM LODGE 02/08/1823

CUMBERLAND LODGE 02/12/1824

PATTEN FREE LIBRARY 02/01/1827

SACO AND BIDDEFORD SAVINGS INSTITUTION 02/01/1827

THOMASTON FIREMAN'S ASSOCIATION 02/24/1827

BANGOR MECHANIC ASSOCIATION 02/12/1828

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 03/04/1831

GOULD ACADEMY 01/27/1836

BANGOR CHILDREN'S HOME 04/01/1836

BATH SAVINGS INSTITUTION 03/25/1837

LEE ACADEMY 03/17/1845

BASKAHEGAN DAM COMPANY 08/10/1846

RICKER COLLEGE 06/14/1847

FURBUSH-ROBERTS PRINTING CO., INC. 08/19/1848

WEST OXFORD AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 06/03/1851

BANGOR SAVINGS BANK 02/14/1852

NORTH YARMOUTH - CUMBERLAND MUTUAL FIRE

INSURANCE COMPANY 02/17/1853

BELFAST AND MOOSEHEAD LAKE RAILROAD COMPANY 03/31/1853

SAGADAHOC AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 04/14/1854

KEYSTONE LODGE NO. 80 A.F. & A.M. 02/24/1855

PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF BATES COLLEGE 03/16/1855

POOLE GROUP OF COMPANIES, INC. 02/09/1856

SEVENTY-FIVE STATE STREET 03/01/1856

SKOWHEGAN SAVINGS BANK 04/04/1856

MAINE CHARITABLE MECHANIC ASSOCIATION 03/24/1857

THE PROPRIETORS OF CUSTOM HOUSE WHARF 04/06/1857

12 REASONS WHY NEW BUSINESSES FAIL

No Business Plan

Under Funded

Lack of Operating Goals and Objectives

Failure to Measure Goals and Objectives

Failure to Pay Attention to Cash Flow

Failure to Understand the Industry and the Target Customer

No Means of Differentiation – Just Another “Me Too” Business

Poor or No Marketing Programs in Which to Attract New Customers

Underestimating the Competition

Not Cost Competitive

Lack of Attention to Accounts Receivables and Inventory

Poor People Management Skills

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The 50 most innovative companies