“The times they are a changing”,
defining “long-lived” companies
Naoto Iwasaki
Gerry Gannon

1．Time and tide stay for no man
1968 (43rd in Showa era) was the 100th anniversary of the Meiji era. 2025 willbe 158th year of the Meiji era and as time marches forward so things change as
Bob Dylan’s (1964) ode to change describes, “The times they are changing.”

Figure-1

Table of main era names and dates

Dominical year
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019

Meiji era
158
157
156
155
154
153
152

Taisho era
114
113
112
111
110
109
108

Showa era
100
99
98
97
96
95
94

Heisei era
37
36
35
34
33
32
31

Reiwa era
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Remarks

2001
2000

134
133

90
89

76
75

13
12

21st century
New millenium

1990
1989

123
122

79
78

65
64

2nd
1st

Heisei era

1968

100

57

43

1927
1926

60
59

16
13

2nd
1st

1912

45

1st

1868

1st

Reiwa eras

Meiji era 100th Cereblation

Showa era
Taisho era
Meiji era─ 77 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

It seems just like yesterday we welcomed in the new millennium reminding usof the great panic over the year 2000 date problem. Some twenty years have since
rushed by since this milestone. We are reminded that as time marches forward“Time and tide stay for no man”. It has been some 10 years now since the Great
East Japan Earthquake, which is believed to be the largest natural disaster in Japan
since the end of WW11. The meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant (2011) and the subsequent media pictures and videos that swept the world,
recording the deadly tsunami and its aftermath are etched on people’s memory.
Similarly, the memory of dim JR and subway stations in Tokyo and around Japan
during daytime due to power restrictions because of the subsequent power cuts is
also very fresh and will not be forgotten soon.
The Covid-19 pandemic was almost exactly one century after the “Spanish flu”
pandemic. Covid-19 was responsible for infecting over 500 million people andsome 50 million have died1) thus far. 100 years ago, the deaths alone were over 40
million. When one considers the ratio of deaths to world population at the time, it
must have been a bewildering terrible catastrophe. 100 years ago, there was neither
TV nor internet to keep people informed and with very little information being
filtered down to the common people, just how were they able to go about their
daily lives during such fear and tragedy?
If that was not enough, shortly after the Spanish flu pandemic, in 1926 a major
earthquake struck the Kanto region2). During this reconstruction, the Showa era,
which lasted for 64 years, began. It was the beginning of a series of pandemics,
earthquakes, economic depressions and sadly wars. However, after the acceptanceof the Potsdam Declaration in August 1945, the world entered an economicallyrich and on the whole socially stable period.
During the postwar period, many companies globally and many Japanesecompanies such as Honda and Sony were born. Throughout this period of rapid

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“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

economic growth in the 1960s, many international companies began to emerge inwhat soon became a global market.3) In the 1980s and 1990s, Japan played a role
as a leader in the global economy, supported by companies such as Toyota, Nissan,
National Panasonic, and NEC. It was the Showa era that embodied fully thiseconomic miraculous revival of the Japanese and global economy.
While start-ups appeared one after another, many long-surviving companies
called “long-lived companies (“Shinise” in Japanese) that were bastions of Japaneseculture and traditions prospered as well. Many of these long-lived companies haveinherited and developed their businesses across multiple periods from Edo era to
Meiji era, Taisho era, Showa era, Heisei era and Reiwa era.
We are 4 years into the Reiwa era, before that the Heisei era was 31 years andbefore that the Showa era lasted 64 years. In human years one would have to beborn at the beginning of the Showa era to meet our definition of the “long-lived
companies”, which very few humans do. So, the 100 year “long-lived company”
exceed by a large margin of 35 years the typical executive’s retirement age of 65.
Thus, very few humans can match the “long-lived company” definition”. The
nostalgia with which some people still show toward these long-lived companies
for Showa era has led to the term “Galapagos people” and is quite different to the
feeling of people born in Heisei or Reiwa era.

2．What is a long-lived company?
In this paper, we will consider what a long-lived company is and what its
characteristics are.

(1) Definition of long-lived companies
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Japanese government declared a second
state of emergency4) and as a result many restaurants were forced to reduce their

─ 79 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

opening hours and some businesses forced to close.5) Many small and mediumsized businesses were not paid any compensation during the Covid-19 pandemic
by the Japanese government and were forced to choose between “bankruptcy orbusiness closure”. At the same time, the demise of “more than 200 cases of coronabankruptcy of a long-lived companies” was reported.
“According to Teikoku Databank Co., there were 202 corporate bankruptcies
nationwide from January to December 2020. In some cases, companies decided toclose voluntarily before going bankrupt, and as a result many more long-lived
companies have disappeared from the market.” 6)
The pandemic has impacted economic activities not only in Japan, but also inmany countries around the world indeed, many companies are still enduring an
ongoing financial crisis brought about by Covid-19 and additionally, thesubsequent global logistics problem which has occurred as a direct result.
However, it is also true that there are many companies like Nintendo and Sony thatare at their most profitable in their history. Companies which are unable to pivot
their business model and have a conventional business model have not been able toprosper as much, this is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Japanese government when compared to the German government, has chosen
to adopt a different approach, the German government along with many
governments provided compensation and economic relief for companies suffering
during the pandemic. This was not the case in Japan where the Japanese
government’s response was described as blunt and completely unreliable.7)
In relation to long-lived companies, research from Teikoku Databank Co.,
which has been working on surveys of long-lived companies for a decade, defines
long-lived companies as “more than 50 years’ business history”. By this definition
all companies founded before 1970 can be considered as a “long-lived
company.” 8) On the other hand, Tokyo Shoko Research Co. suggests that “a─ 80 ─

“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

company with more than 100 years’ history should be considered as a long-lived
company. In which case “there are 33,069 long-lived companies in Japan that havebeen in business for more than 100 years as of in 2017. This was an increase of 5,628 companies (20.5%) from the previous survey (conducted in August 2012). The
oldest long-lived company was founded in 578 by Kongo-gumi Co. (Osaka
Prefecture), whose main business is the building of shrines and temples. ...... .

Analyzing this data according to industry type reveals the following breakdown:sake manufacturing (850 companies), rental office business (694 companies), ionn,
hotels, and liquor retailing (693 companies each) occupied the top slot of sectors forlong-lived companies.9)”
A question that then arises is which of the two definitions of long-lived
companies is accurate? Teikoku Databank Co. or Tokyo Shoko Research Co.?
Since both survey results are categorized appropriately to their definitions, bothare correct. However, the question arises which definition is the “right” one toadopt? In fact, as this paper will show, both definitions can be appropriate.
We will now examine what kind of enterprises can be considered as “longlived orthodox companies”?

Figure-2

Number of long-lived companies (2009 Survey by Teikoku Databank)
Numbers of companies

Composition ratio

Total numbers ofcompanies

1,188,474

100.00%Over 100 years

19,518

1.64%

Over 200 years

938

0.08%

Over 300 years

435

0.04%

Source: “Conditions the companies which survive for over 100 years”, Teikoku-bankco. ltd, Asahi-shinsho, 2009)─ 81 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

(2) Three sacred treasures of long-lived companies
In 1996, after several years of research on long-lived companies and repeatedcase studies, we conducted a questionnaire survey on a long-lived company with ahistory of more than 100 years.10) The image of the long-lived company which
emerged at that time was the so-called “three sacred treasures of long-lived
companies” the “succession of family members”, the “business-model status quo”
and the “sharing of inheritance”. In a second survey, conducted some 14 years laterin 2008, these “three sacred treasures” still dominated the long-lived companies11).

Figure-3

Average value of long-lived companies
Survey in 1996

Survey in 2008

age

198

143

number of succession

7

5

capital66 million yen

62 million yen

number of employees

116

126

total amount of sales

50 billion yen

45 billion yen

Figure-4

Three sacred treasures of long-lived companies

successionoffamily members

Three Sacred
TreasuresofLLC
business-model
status quo

─ 82 ─

sharingofinheritance“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

According to the survey conducted in 2008, 81% of companies answered,“exhaustive dominance” in relation to “succession of family members”, whilst 8%
answered “majority control”, and only about 11% answered “less than six out often” and “non-clan domination”. In other words, the image of “succession offamily members” reflected the actual condition of the long-lived enterprises. A
survey in 1996 showed similar results12) (Figure-5).
In relation to the “business-model status quo”, 28% of the companies
responded that the “business has not changed”, and 36% of companies responded
that “the main business was the same”, 22% of the companies responded that“some have changed”, whilst more than 85% of the companies who did respondreported that this was not a significant change. However, the ratio of enterprises
which “changed a little” and “completely changed” tended to increase slightly
compared with the survey conducted in 1996, than compared to the 2008 survey. It
may have been influenced by changes in the business environment such as the IT
revolution in the second half of the 20th century, globalization, and the declining
birthrate and aging population as indicated in (Figure-6).
Regarding the “sharing of inheritance”, 36% of the companies responded “no”,
but more than 60% of long-lived companies reported that they inherited family
Figure-5 Succession of family members
Survey in 1996
Survey in 2008
Less than six out of ten
7%

No family
3%Less than six out of ten
1%

No family
10%

Six out of ten
8%
Six out of ten
21%

Exhaustive domination
81%

Exhaustive domination69%

─ 83 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

Figure-6 Business-model status quo
Survey in 1996
Survey in 2008
Completely changed
10%

Partiallychanged18%

Completelychanged14%

Not changed30%

Not changed
28%

Partially changed
22%

Main business is same
42%

Main business is same
36%

Figure-7 Sharing of inheritance
Survey in 1996
Survey in 2008

No
27%

Written
34%

No
36%

Word of mouth
39%

Written47%

Word of mouth
17%

policy, of which 47% had a written family policy.
It is clear from these investigations that many of the long-lived companies
founded in the Meiji era and Taisho era have three things in common which
contribute to their longevity and success. In the next section, we will consider thesecrettomaintaining

longevityofcompanies,

namely“sustainability

management”, while reflecting on the research of long-lived companies that wehave been able to accumulate thus far.

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“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

3．Essence of sustainability management
For companies to thrive and prosper in the longer term, it is necessary not only
to temporarily demonstrate competitive advantage, but also to maintain andstrengthen this competitive advantage over the long term. In this paper, we willrefer to the the management of such long-lived companies as “sustainability
management.”
To build sustainable competitiveness, the management resources possessed by
the entity, and the utilization of these resources is paramount. What kind ofmanagement resources and indeed, just how to create value is a critical first step
regarding the strategic action of companies? It is further important to develop amethod of resource utilization that the competitor cannot imitate. In this case, if it
can be linked well with historical uniqueness, that is, the company’s own historicalassets, it becomes more difficult for other companies to imitate. In addition, longlived companies that have experienced a variety of changes over a longer period
and have been able to overcome them, will have a relatively large number of

Figure-8

Essence of management types for long-lived companies

Status quo
Essence ofManagement for LLC

Challenging

Involving─ 85 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

choices and combinations of options and knowledge from a historical perspective,
a long “learned memory” if you will. Therefore, it becomes possible to advancethings more advantageously than new enterprises and adapt to new changes byreferring to the entities history when faced with such challenges. In other words, it
can be considered that management which can create sustainability (sustainable
competitiveness), and which has the ability to adapt and change built-in to theenterprises DNA, as it must have to be able to survive for so long will possess alonger-term inherent advantage as compared to its competitors.
From numerous surveys of the strategic behavior of long-lived companies andnumerous case studies, we have extracted three factors as the essence ofsustainability management: “Challenging”, “involving” and “Status quo”13) Let’s
consider “long-lived companies in coming era” based on the management behaviorof long-lived companies around these three facets.14)(1) Challenging
One of the first essences of management behavior for long-lived companies tobuild sustainable competitiveness is “challenging”.
“Challenging” refers to the challenge to the change of the market, competition,technology, management system and DNA of the company. At first glance, a longlived company possessing the “three sacred treasures” is a company that has
survived by keeping tradition, inherited history and being able to adapt to change.
However, the long-lived company changes its strategy in response to changes inthe business environment, thus adjusting its value offering by changing its product,
service or business model as required.
For example, Shiseido Co. which was founded in the early Meiji era as apharmaceutical manufacturer, is now a global leader in the cosmetics industry
today. When the business transitioned from medical to cosmetics, soon after its

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“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

Figure-9

Transition of the Flower Camellia Mark

Hawk
trademark in 1888
Source: Oidelminvol. 6 pp. 14-15

founding, the trademark was changed from the hawk mark, which represented thestrength of the efficacy to the flower camellia mark. In order to convert to a
corporate image that exudes “Rich, Elegant, Ginza-like elegance”, the basic
cosmetic “Oidelmin” became a hit product. Subsequently, when the cosmetics
industry was confused by price dumping after the Great Kanto Earthquake, thechain store system was introduced for the first time in Japan, involving the conceptof agents. In 1987 when Mr. Yoshiharu Fukuhara, president of the house (current
honorary chairman), took office, he advocated “Creation of Corporate Culture” forthe establishment of global brand as a cosmetics company, and he changed thebusiness structure by separating the toiletry business from the main company. As aresult, by the end of the 1990s, Shiseido succeeded by enhancing its brandsignificantly in the global market, and it joined the global ranks of the market
leaders onto the global stage as a high-quality brand.
The tradition and organizational experience of strengthening the brand can be
described as transitioning to “professional management”. It has also been passed
down to CEO Mr. Masahiko Uotani. Mr. Uotani, who left Coca-Cola Japan Co. tojoin Shiseido in 2013. Mr. Uotani is now a senior executive who has no family

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成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

relationship with the founding family. However, Shiseido does have a collective
history and knowledge from the lessons and experiences accumulated over timesince its founding as to how to adapt to change. To reorganize a business while
significantly reducing sales revenue during a pandemic, Mr. Uotani developed a“selection and concentration” approach and developed high-priced luxury
cosmetics. Thus “Personal Beauty Willness Company” was launched. And it was
decided to cut out the drugstore business for the mass market and the skin careproducts of the low-price range. It is reflected in the re-performance of President
Yoshio Fukuhara.
A similar approach was developed at Toraya Co., a Japanese confectionery
specialty store which has been in existence for nearly 500 years. The company has
over the centuries been repeatedly challenged to adapt to societal, social andmarket changes. During the first year of the Meiji era, the head office was moved
from Kyoto (its birthplace) to Tokyo, coinciding with the movement to Tokyo of theEmperor’s family. At the time, this was considered a brave decision. In addition toits major influential customers such as imperial courts, court houses, imperial
palaces and family members, political and business worlds and military
departments also became headquartered in Tokyo, reflecting the change in the seatof power of the emperor, Toraya was also working on the development of its
general customer base through advertising.
Immediately after WW11, raw materials for Japanese confectionery were very
scarce and Toraya could not get them even for such a well-connected long-lived
company. Therefore, the company had to survive this storm by developing coffee
shops. After the Tokyo Olympic Game in 1964, Toraya opened its shops indepartment stores. As a result, it experienced nationwide growth. Although Toraya
whose main business until this time had been Japanese confectionery, it pivoted toincrease its customer base by the production of faded black (“Yokan” in Japanese)─ 88 ─

“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

and baked goods. Shortly after this because of increasing demand, Toraya’s
Gotenba factory was completed, and its production system modernized15). This is
how Toraya was able to establish its triangle factory system, comprising of Kyoto,
Tokyo and Gotenba.
Mr. Mitsuhiro Kurokawa, the 17th president of the company, with his eye on
the future expanded the business with a new concept, the “TORAYA CAFÉ”.
Building on the experience of its store in Paris, which opened in the 1970s, itcreated “another candy made by Toraya” slogan, which combined ingredients
indispensable to Japanese sweets, such as bean paste and agar with ingredients ofWestern confectionery, such as chocolate and liqueur. The fusion of west and east
gained a significant number of new customers, particularly amongst the younger
generation and enabled the development of a new customer base and thus
expanded the Toraya brand.
Toraya was able to expand its customer base, to further market development
and to strengthen its base despite the prolonged recession that has caused the gift
market such as the summer gift-giving (“Chugen” in Japanese) and the year-end andnew year’s gifts (“Seibo” in Japanese) to shrink significantly. The advent of the socalled “internet society” has prevented it from being able to provide its fullservice quality in high-end specialty stores. The post pandemic world businesschallenge for Toraya which will certainly be shaped by whatever the “New normal
daily life” becomes post pandemic, and it will fall to the 18th head of Toraya andwill be the beginning of new challenges for all “long-lived companies in comingera” in the post corona era.
As illustrated by two examples of long-lived companies in differing fields, tocreate new value in a rapidly changing business environment, it is essential tobuild into the DNA of such companies to promote business structure conversion
and innovation, and further a mechanism for creating continued innovation. This─ 89 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

leads us to understand a key success factor which is going to be critical for longlived companies’ enabling them to survive and prosper in the future. Clearly it isimportant to provide new value to the market for enterprises to grow and develop
while being exposed not only to existing competitors, but also new market
entrants, both from existing competitors and new competitor entrants fromdifferent industries. To overcome competition and develop markets further, it isalso essential for long-lived entities to construct an organizational structure thathas a built-in mechanism to incorporate the collective history and past wisdom into
the DNA of existing business structures. In short, challenging is the essence of“sustainability management.”
However, innovation and transformation generally focus on what should bechanged and not on what should be retained and developed and what should be
retained and not changed. This challenge is a key dilemma for long-lived
companies. Because the goodwill that the long-lived company has built is at thecore of what should not be changed. The question therefore arises as to how toinnovate and reinvent, without alienating the current loyal customer based andmaintaining brand loyalty and integrity whilst shifting it.
On reflection, it is true to say that if long-lived companies were able tomaintain customer loyalty as they innovate and transition to a new form, thenindeed they were able to master this delicate process of inventing themselves
whilst not alienating their existing loyal customers.

(2) Involving
The second fundamental factor in achieving sustainability management forbuilding sustainable competitiveness is the factor we have termed “involving”.
The survival of long-lived company is not only maintained via the relationshipwith customers and markets, but also in its relationships with stakeholders such as

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“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

wider business relationships (with suppliers, regulators, and financiers) and thebusinesses staff members themselves. Interaction with all key stakeholder groups
is critical for the development and survival of any company, not only for longlived companies. However, the relationship of long-lived companies that continues
its relationships generation to generation is not limited to mere dependencies andcomplementary relationships. Long-lived companies need to foster long-term
commitment between all its stakeholders, particularly its staff members. In otherwords, it is expected that by mutually transferring the knowledge and experiencesof others through relationships it creates over a long period of time, not only will
they learn and grow, but their counterparts will also learn and nurture bytransferring knowledge and experience. An example of this type of mutually
beneficial stakeholder relationship can be seen in the many “Ronald McDonald”
children hospital houses founded by McDonalds around the world. So, appealing
to a broader range of stakeholders. Thus, this broader approach working withstakeholders adds value to the brand and builds brand support throughout thecommunity and thus achieves a mutual win win, both the company and for specificstakeholders.
Mutually beneficial relationships with main customer segments and business
partners of long-lived companies not only contributes to the survival of the longlived company, but also becomes the source of the competitive advantage. Since
the cost of developing fundamental new technology is too expensive for one
company to be able to afford on its own. Witness the billions of investors’ moneythat Tesla has invested just to change from the Internal Combustion Engine tobattery power! However, the more complicated the method of accumulating knowhow, the more difficult it is to imitate your competitors. Thus, increasing thedifficulty of imitation strengthens the entities competitiveness in the longer term.
At the same time, long-term relationships based on mutual trust and benefit are─ 91 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

also very effective in reducing time and physical transaction costs. It is importantto recognize that if the market cannot be developed from its existing customer baseand if the company is not able to replace its aging customers with new younger
customers, then the company will only shrink and eventually fail. It is critical
therefore that for the long-term survival of the company that it develops bonds
with the communities that is serves and nurtures the market while aiming at
coexistence, co-benefit, and co-prosperity with its stakeholders.
For example, Shiseido has been expanding its business in the development ofrelationships.16) Just as human relations with Dr. Nagayoshi Nagai were critical forthe birth of the first cosmetics for Shiseido and the relations between customers
and researchers was important for all new product development. However,mutually beneficial human relationships cannot be constructed overnight, theytake time to develop. Know-how in creating human relations with excellent
researchers that has continued through the decades and is a critical management
asset.
The chain store system which grew significantly after WW11 was also a new
avenue, enabling the building of relationships with distributors and customers.
When low-cost products and poor products were rampant and the entire industry
was involved in an easy low-selling battle, this system was an avenue for sellinghigh-quality products at an advantageous price point. As a result, the communityof coexistence and co-prosperity was built with the cosmetics distribution
company, and a relationship based on trust established with customers.
Toraya has also maintained longevity by being involved at every stage of thelogistics process. The production of white azuki beans used for original Japanese
sweets and agar used for faded black cake has been entrusted only to selectdesignated farms and designated factories, and Toraya had provided financial andtechnical support to these farms and factories to ensure product quality and their─ 92 ─

“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

development and survival. In order to secure the unique taste and quality of thecompany, the growth and survival of the raw material suppliers is a criticalelement to its supply chain. And new raw materials and the ideas of business
partners may create new products. It is also an indispensable relationship to
support the growth of business partners.
In addition, in order not only to maintain and expand the Japanese
confectionery market, but also to convey the culture and value of Japanese sweets
to the market, Toraya is actively working on the development of the market byholding exhibitions and Japanese confectionery seminars introducing traditional
Japanese culture events. It is an extremely important marketing strategy in the life
cycle of Toraya’s products to develop relationships between children, between
children to grandchildren and a real affinity for all these stakeholders to Japanese
sweets.
In conjunction with the management philosophy of “served delicious Japanese
sweets”, the company clarifies the relationship between employees and thecompany with the vision of “creating a free democratic company in which
established individuals can freely express their opinions and everyone canparticipate in the construction of the future”. Based on the realization ofGraph of population decline in Japan

Figure-10
14,00012,000
total

10,000Estimates population

8,000

15-64 YRS

6,000
Over 65 YRS

4,000

0-14 YRS

2064

2061

2058

2055

2052

2049

2046

2043

2040

2037

2034

2031

2028

2025

2022

2019

2016

2013

2010

2007

2004

2001

1998

1995

1992

1989

1986

1983

1980

1977

1974

1971

1968

1965

1962

1959

1956

1953

10

1950

0

1947

2,000

ou

th
n
sa
d

Source: National Institute of Population and Social Security Research─ 93 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

management that links the prosperity of the enterprise with the growth of theindividual, it is clarified that the employee is not the property of the company but
an important stakeholder and partner who coexists and co-prospers. The
relationship with the employee and the business partner is the most important
relationship of all.
In this way, both long-lived companies, Shiseido and Toraya, have built
sustainable competitive advantages by building and maintaining relationships thatcreate mutual benefits between stakeholders. By the process of mutual learning
through mutually beneficial relationships, the company itself can grow the market
and customers, business partners, and employees can also grow and prosper.
“Involving” is the second essence of strategic management which we can see if
derived from long-lived companies and can be described as the need for thecreation of win-win relationships with all stakeholders.

(3) Status quo
The third essence of long-lived companies’ management is the concept of“status quo.”
To adapt to the changing business environment, “challenging”, that does notcreate completely new business or cultural value by denying or liquidating all thepast businesses achievements and successes. Challenging is to realize what needs
to be changed by accurately understanding the cultural background and historicalcontext and protecting certain base products whilst developing new products andmarkets for the future. A successful long-lived company understands what needs
to stay the same and importantly what needs to change and thus it needs tocontinually reflect and challenge what needs to be part of the status quo and what
does not.
“Status quo” sometimes can creates a conservative organizational cultural

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“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

behavior (this is particularly true of the military). It is dangerous if such a conservative“no change” culture becomes embedded within a long-lived company. As forexample occurred at Sony with management’s adherence to its once famed
Trinitron technology, rather than adopting the newer flat screen technology which
Samsung did. There must be a balance as long-lived companies which refuse tochange and live in the past will ultimately die. “status quo” does not mean that you
are mischievously attached to something. The sustainable competitiveness of longlived companies is constructed by identifying what changes and what does not andsticking to the essence of one’s businesses whilst keeping an eye on the future. In
other words, it is the essence of the commitment to grant some meaning and value
to all the bases of business activities, related businesses and markets. If we losethat kind of commitment, the identity as a long-lived company disappears. The
three sacred treasures of the long-lived company such as business, succession of
the name of the shop, family prospect, and founder family rule embody such statusquo. The truest commitment is not to protect the three sacred treasures.
Status quo is to maintain the business base which flows from one end of thebusiness to the other, and it is the one that is basis of the products and the services
the company provides. However, it is not the product or service itself that itprovides. It is deeply related to the context and processes that create these
relationships. As a long-lived company, the commitment to continuity andsustainable competitiveness of the business domains creates original products andservices, and it has become the existential value of long-lived enterprises.
To strengthen status quo, it is necessary to understand and appreciate the corebase of the business which gives meaning to the business structure and strategic
action of the enterprise by clarifying the core competencies which is the source ofthe strength of the company business model and realizes the appropriate allocationof the management resources of the company’s core origins. The slogans and─ 95 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

visions of long-lived companies show status quo they have inherited over a long
history. Thus status quo can establish the company’s own strategic consistency andoriginal business concept.
For a company to grow and develop, it is important to identify clearly whatshould be retained and what should be changed. What is your identity and where
do you want to establish differences with other companies? Without finding asolution to these questions, it is not possible to expand the business or develop an
entities existing base. If we do not know what we will not change, we will not beable to find how to maintain the “status quo”, and what and why we will change
and the objectives of our change will not become clear and will be muddled. In thatsense, it can be said that “status quo” is the most important essence for the mostlong-lived companies.
When Mr. Yoshiharu Fukuhara, current Chairman of Shiseido was president,
Shiseido focused on strengthening its brand power by making the toiletry businessa subsidiary and separating it from its headquarters. Its aim, to become a global
company with the cosmetic business at its core, through a strategy of “creating a
corporate culture” that utilizes the traditions and culture accumulated over many
years of management resource history17). As a result of this strategy, Shiseido wasable to position itself as one of the top global brands in the cosmetic industry. As
mentioned above, the current President Mr. Uotani launched a “Personal Beauty
Willness Company”. It was decided to reduce the products in drugstores for themass market and low-priced skin care (its status quo) to the Shiseido brand to attract
more affluent end of consumers.
Similarly, Toraya has established a business domain called “High-end
Japanese Confectionery Specialty Store”. We have been particular about the brandbacked by the history and tradition of 5 centuries and being a purveyor for
Emperor family.

─ 96 ─

“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies“Toraya Bunko” (Toraya library) and “Toraya Kobo” (Toraya craft center) serves
to nurture the market by telling stories about the seasons, rituals, and so-called
Japanese sweets through research on not only the company’s history and Japanese
sweets, but also Japanese traditions and cultures over a thousand years.18) It is a
tradition of status quo and involving in promoting and developing history andtradition relating to the company and its products. On the other hand, since Toraya
is very particular about taste and quality, it has built modern factories and worked
on making faded black a “best in class” automated production facility. And it uses
as its base the experience it gained at the Paris store to “TORAYA CAFÉ”. Thus,
Toraya has developed a deep understanding of what needs to change and what
does not. Thus, the essence of long-lived company’s management converges into
the three elements presented here. By integrating these three elements, the “statusquo” to achieve historical consistency, “challenging” that changes little by little
considering the long-time axis, and the “involving” that forms the company’s
long-term strengths through relationships with other companies, it can sustain its
existing customers and maintain its longevity.

4．Typology of long-lived companies
One might criticize our discussion of “long-lived” from the perspective of ourhaving not succeeded in penning a clear definition of what a “long-lived” company
is, i.e., how many years are necessary for a company to be called a “long-lived
company”? So let us consider an alternative indicator which could be used toindicate when a company could be referred to as a “long-lived company”. In
addition to the time axis of long-term survival, we could consider using the issue
of inheritance, the number of people who have inherited the company.19) Thismeasure is “succession by the family” could be one of the considerations on
establishing whether a company meets the criteria to be referred to as a “long-─ 97 ─

成城・経済研究

Figure-11
45.0%

第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

Relationship of former president to current president (2019)

Founder

Relatives

41.6%
40.0%

Career ladder

31.1% 31.6%

30.0%

others

39.6%
34.9%

35.0%

Head hunting

33.4%

25.0%
20.0%
15.9%

15.0%
10.0%
5.0%

7.4% 7.4%

16.8%

18.4%

8.5%

4.8%
4.0% 4.5%

0.0%

2017

2018

2019

lived company”.
According to our survey, the reign of top management was in the region of 25
to 30 years, and this was a consistent measure between the past two surveys which
we have conducted. Thus, if a company is 50 years old and there is an ownershiptransition, and it is inherited then after another 25 years it becomes a 75 year oldcompany. Similarly, if a company is 45 years old when the leadership inheritancepasses then after a further 30 years it becomes 75 years. So, it might be valid toconsider that once the the tenure of management of the 2nd generation hits the 25 to
30 years mark that the company could be referred to as a “long-lived” company20).
However, when considering the aging of small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) due to the longevity of the enterprise and the possible lack of successors,

we can expect this trend to continue as it has for the last 10 years.21) The research
we have conducted on long-lived companies indicates that about 80% of the longlived companies surveyed were completely or 50% controlled by the founding
family members. It is interesting to note that this has changed significantly in─ 98 ─

“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

Figure-12

Changes in business succession M&A (2019)

700

616

600

546

500
400
300

233

235

2013

2014

263

299

321

200
100
0

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Sours: “2020 Edition of The White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises”

recent years. What we have found is that successive top management of such arebecoming older and older. Like dictators of old, they seem to be staying at the top
longer.22)
As shown in Figure-12, the ratio of family succession has decreased by about
7% compared with the most recent 2017 survey of the relationship between thecurrent president and the previous president in small and medium enterprises. In
contrast, the proportion of internal promotions and external invitations has
increased significantly. In addition, the transition of business succession system
M&A has increased nearly threefold between 2013 and 2019. Since there is no
survey data relating to only long-lived companies, this cannot be applied to longlived companies as it is, but we can propose that the succession of companies by
third parties is increasing on small and medium enterprises as a whole23). The useof M&A, which has been conducted mainly by large companies, has been made at
a comparatively low cost, and its use is increasing as a mean of business
continuity. In addition, the impact of the “Comprehensive Package for Third-Party
Succession Support” launched by Japanese Government in December 2019 is not─ 99 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

small. To realize the third-party succession of about 600,000 companies that may
go out of business due to the absence of successors by 2025, the public and private
sectors will work together to provide support in budget and tax system.24)
Below, we investigate the typology of a long-lived company, considering thesevarious points.

(1) Changing inheritance patterns
In an age when the three sacred treasures which we have elaborated on are
identified as the dominant characteristic of the long-lived company, theindispensable axis in classifying a long-lived company was the number of years it
survived as compared to its succession number. For the traditional long-lived
company, we had imagined the tradition of the organization succeeded by the firstson of the founding family, and the business itself changing little since thebusiness’s inception. Even if not specifically a first-male child inheritance, it isinherited by a person who is regarded as a relative or a blood relative, and even if it
is not completely the same product or service, it has been assumed that many of thebusiness forms are roughly like those when the business was established.
However, over the past 50 years, the social infrastructure of our industrial
society has been developed and technological breakthroughs have greatly changed
the industrial structure globally.25) Companies born shortly after WW11 andcompanies that were once small have, since grown into large enterprises over theintervening 30 years, and they are playing a central role in today’s current
economic society. The major representatives of these companies can be seen in theautomobile and electronics industries.
In 2020, companies that were founded 70 years ago now fulfill the definition as“long-lived”. However, today there are few long-lived enterprises which still retain
members of the founding family in the top management of the large enterprise. In─ 100 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

addition, there are few large enterprises which are still majority owned by theindividual and the family. When one considers the issue of inheritance tax, perhaps
this is to be expected, e.g. if the first child inherits a stock with a capital of only
500 million yen alone, the inheritance tax to be paid amounts to about 280 million
yen26). To pay it individually, if the interest rate is included even with a 10-year
deferred payment, it will amount to approximately 28.28 million yen per year, a
not insignificant sum.27) In short, under the current Japanese tax system,“succession of family members” is quite challenging.
Toyota Motor Co., which was established in 1937, is more than 100 years old
and it certainly meets the definition of a long-lived enterprise. Mr. Akio Toyoda,
who is from the founding family, is the current President, but for the previous 15
years, the third president has been an internal promotion person other thanfounding family.28) In addition, the founding family only has a comparatively
small share of Toyota’s total shares.29) Though the influence of the Toyoda family
is clear, it does not have the dominant control it once had. In contrast Honda has
never had a family member in top management positions since its founding by Mr.
Soichiro Honda, and the Honda family currently has little influence of Honda’s
operations.
When examining the electronics industry, Panasonic, which was founded in
1918 by Mr. Konosuke Matsushita, and can certainly therefore be included as a
100-year enterprise. The top management of the founding family has not appearedin recent years in the company.30) In 2008, Mr. Fumio Otsubo (who does not
originate from the founding family) rose to presidency and this was an internal

promotion company. Indeed, he instituted a change in the company name from
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. into Panasonic Co. Also, Sony which has growninto a global company under the slogan of catching up with its enemy Matsushita
and overtaking it, may also be called a long-lived company because it has been

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成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

more than 70 years since it was founded by Dr. Akio Morita and Mr. Masaru Ibukain 1946. In April 2021, about 20 years after the resignation of Mr. Nobuyuki Idei
who was the company’s first new graduate office worker, a major reorganization
was carried out and essentially the electronics business core of the company wasabandoned. It is Sony Group Co. which now has the head office function for theentire group.
Even in such long-lived companies, the incidence of “inheritance of the family
member” is disappearing. Moreover, the tendency was not limited only to the large
enterprises. As shown in the Small and Medium Enterprise white paper in Japan31),
the number of business successions M&A has increased in SMEs in recent years.
Regardless of the size or size of the acquisition company, M&A has come to be
utilized as a method of survival and growth of SMEs.32) According to the Smalland Medium Enterprise white paper, M&A in business succession system is notclear in the ratio of long-lived companies, but it is certain that there are not manycases of long-lived companies continuing in business by the M&A route.
Mr. Kyosuke Eto of the Japan M&A Center opined as follows on M&A of
long-lived enterprise. “The increase in the number of discontinued companies willlead to the loss of Japanese tradition, but in 2018, many evolved succession-type
M&A were implemented to leave the traditional skills, tastes and culture of longlived companies to future generations. It can be said that M&A is a very effectivemeans to realize the survival and development of long-lived enterprises, and it canbe said that M&A by large beverage group in Japan, Asahi Group HD
implemented in 2014 was the trigger. It is one of the long-lived restaurants, whose
origin goes back to the Edo era. In the future, the number of companies that are in adifficult situation without successors will continue to increase, and to keep thembehind and leave traditions, cultures, technologies, and flavors to future
generations. There will be more M&A.33)”

─ 102 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

Another key concept in considering long-lived companies is the “businessmodel status quo” examining Toyota Motor Co., as an example TMC separated
from its original founding automatic loom business many years ago34). The
manufacture and sale of automobiles was not Toyota’s main business, but now it
has arguably reached the No. 1 spot in automobile industry35). On the other hand,
Honda which as a motorcycle manufacturer was last the manufacturer to enter thedomestic automobile market. At present, the company has positioned “mobility” as
its main business domain, thus this includes not just cars and motorcycles but
lawnmowers and even the development of small jets which was the dream of thefounder. However, since all of them were incorporated into the founder’s businessplan, we may consider that the business has been inherited because it has been
inherited in a range of related businesses. Similarly, we may consider that two
primary electronics manufacturers, Panasonic and Sony have manufactured andsold various products in the technological progress or have developed the service
business in related fields.
However, the dominance of the main business has shrunk greatly over time andmay ultimately disappear. Especially given the technological progress in the 70
years postwar. A typical example is the photo film market. The photo film market,
which had been expanding in the market even in the latter half of the 1990s, has all
but disappeared very swiftly due to the advent of digital cameras. Kodak Co.
which was the world’s largest photo film maker, and Polaroid Co. of U.S.A. haveleft the market and Konishiroku who was a famous film maker in Japan, has also
disappeared.36)
On the other hand, Fuji Photo Film Co. (present name is Fujifilm Group HD)
which had been in a fierce battle with these companies in the world photo film
market for many years has survived as a global large enterprise. Although
admittedly its business domain is now completely different from the film business.

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成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

At present, this company which changed it name into Fujifilm Co., is a worldwide chemical manufacturer boasting research and development power in a wide
range of associated fields and is in addition an electronic equipment manufacturer.
Fujifilm HD, which was established in 1934 from the photo film business ofDainippon Celluloid Co. boasts a history of 87 years, and therefore may also be
considered as a long-lived enterprise.
When considered in this this way, “business-model status quo” should bereferred to as a “long-lived company” in general, regardless of whether businessmodel status quo is developed in the market by the same distribution route or thesame business which was inherited. So, we can therefore classify the long-lived
companies based on “succession of family members of the family” and “businessmodel status quo”.

(2) Four classifications of long-lived companies
Figure-13 shows to classify long-lived companies on two axes: “succession offamily members” and “business-model status quo”.
The upper part of the vertical axis (+) indicates the degree of “succession offamily members” which the organization has inherited from the founder family
where the “kin” relationship can be said to be strong, and the current leader of theorganization is not blood related (to the founding family), that is, the degree of“succession of family members” is low (quadrant II and quadrant III). In many
previous studies on long-lived companies that we have conducted such companies
have been treated as long-lived companies. However, this type of company should
not be excluded from the research subject as not a long-lived company.37)
On the other hand, in “business-model status quo” on the horizontal axis, thisindicates that the core business is the same as at the time of founding and that thedegree of “business-model status quo” is stronger as on the right side (+), and that─ 104 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

Figure-13

Typography of long-lived companies

Succession of family members

Business renovation

Traditional type

Succession by the founder family
Diﬀerent business model fromfounding businessSuccession by the founder family
Succession of founding business－ex. Traya
Yamamotonori

Ⅳ

Ⅰ

Ⅲ

Ⅱ

Large traditional

ex. Zabier

Rivatape

ex. Funasaka
Kameyamannnenndo
Kicchouan

ex. Former zaibatsu companies

No kinship with the founding family
Diﬀerent business model fromfounding businessex. Shiseido
ToyotaBusiness-model status quo

ex. Kihara
Kunitomo

No kinship with the founding family
Succession of founding business－

Inherited brand namethe core business is different from that when it was founded at the other end(quadrant I and IV). Unlike “inheritance of house”, even if the core business isdifferent in the long-lived research conducted thus far, it is clear it should betreated as a long-lived company. This is because, in the process of technologicalinnovation and change, not only the functions of products and services, but also
production processes and consumer preferences are common and therefore it isreasonable that these should be recognized as long-lived companies.38)
In accordance with Figure-13, each long-lived company will be examined.
Quadrant I included companies which have been inherited by the founding family
and are still within their orbit of control, with the business launched by the founder
and the current core business industry being almost the same. These enterprises arerecognized as typical long-lived companies, and many of them are small andmedium-sized companies. These include Toraya, that has been used as an example

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成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

in this paper, and many companies whose headquarters and stores around
Nihonbashi39). They have been operating a family business since at least the Edoera. These can be referred to as “traditional long-lived companies”.
In contrast, the long-lived enterprise group is a group of enterprises called“large traditional type of companies” classified into quadrant III. The company
name may have changed since its founding, and the owner and top management
who control the decision making have almost no relation to the founding family,
and the present core business is often different from the original founding
business. Companies separated from the former zaibatsu-affiliated enterprises
invested and established by the conglomerate family at that time after the Meiji
era, and large enterprises that have been doing some business since before the
Meiji era and have expanded their business by accumulated wealth, are classified
in this category. For example, Kirin HD, whose main business has been beer
manufacturing, is one of them. In addition, Toyota, Nissan, Panasonic, Sony andthe most famous department stores in Japan such as Mitsukoshi & Isetan40) and
Takashimaya41) are included in this category.
Quadrant II includes “inherited brand name type of companies” in which thedominant owners are not family of founders or kin related but develop the related
to the core business inherited from the founding period and inherit the name of thecompany and original brands. The current owner or top management is a group ofcompanies who have transferred ownership from employees of the company in thepast at the request of the previous owner, or by transferring ownership to othercompanies by the previous owners. There are many companies which fall under
this definition of a powerful enterprise group by M&A for business succession andthis is a trend which has been increasing in recent years. Examples of the former
include Xaviera Co., a famous confectionary in Oita prefecture42), Livatape Co., apharmaceutical manufacturer43) in Kumamoto prefecture, Nadaman, a high-end

─ 106 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

Japanese cuisine business44), Kameya Mannen-do Co., as a Tokyo souvenir45),
Funasaka Sake Brewery in Hida Takayama in Gifu Prefecture46) and so on.
Quadrant IV is the group of companies that developed so-called new
businesses, such as the owner or top management being the blood or relatives ofthe founder, inheriting the company name, but not directly related to the corebusiness inherited from the founding period, or the target customer being greatly
different. Such companies are long-lived companies which have pioneered new
businesses and markets different from those of their founders because the demand
for the original products/services of the business that the founding family had
developed has changed or disappeared due to the change of the social situation,even though it has been inherited by the family and has steadily expanded thebusiness. We will call these “long-lived companies with business innovation”.
For example, Kunitomo Gunpowder Shop Co.47), founded in 1901 bydescendants of the Kunitomo Gunsmith Group, which were the first manufacturersof guns in Japan, the business commenced by way of reverse engineering,dismantling, and researching guns introduced to Tanega-shima island Kagoshima
prefecture. It is still engaged in importing guns, but its main business is planningfield construction and the design and operation of large fireworks displays. Then
there is Kihara Manufacturing Co.,48) whose main business currently is the dryingof foods, but previously its main business domain was in the drying of leaf
tobacco. Clearly given the reduction in the prevalence of smoking tobacco, driven
by health concerns and the smoke-free movement, the cigarette drying market has
fallen dramatically. Therefore, the current young president, the first son of theformer president developed a new product utilizing drying technology, and newcustomers other than JT Co. were served. As a result of this, the company has
grown and prospered and joined the membership of the long-lived company club.

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成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

5．How old can the companies be called long-lived companies?
During recent times, the pace of social change is accelerating, dramatically49)

so . In that in recent years, ten years was considered an “epoch” this has now
changed to one year is an “epoch”, and “dog year” has changed to “mosquitoyear”. Long lived companies must adapt and deal with these societal changes.
Before closing this paper, let us consider the initial research question. In otherwords, how old does a company have to be to be considered as “long-lived”?

(1) 100 years, 50 years, 30 years
When the Spanish flu pandemic occurred in 1920, the world’s population wasapproximately 1.8 billion. 100 years later the world’s population is estimated at 7.7
billion in 202050) and the number of independent countries has increased from 50
100 years ago to over 195 today. The hegemony of the world around 1920 wastransferred from “Pax-Britannica” to “Pax-Americana”.51) However, it isundeniable that the economic and political power of the USA today has decreased
significantly compared to immediately after WW11.52)
At the same time, a socialist and communist state was born with the Russian
Revolution (1917) aiming at a utopian society by the proletariat. However, in thelast decade of the 20th century, most socialist states have disappeared andconverted in at least some form to free market capitalism. Among them, China has
grown into an economic powerhouse through adopting market opening policies
while advocating a new brand of “communism”. This had led to China
strengthening its power economically and politically, and recently has been
competing for supremacy with the United States. Surprisingly, this occurred
during a short period of time during the first decades of the 21st century.
It took nearly 30 years from 1907 when the telephone business commenced in─ 108 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

Japan, to the number of telephone subscribers in Japan to reach 1 million units. In
1955, two decades later, the number of residential telephone subscribers had
increased significantly. Whilst by 1981, 26 years later, the number of units finallyreached 40 million units and approached a saturation level that “every family has
one phone”. In comparison, the mobile phone service that NTT Docomo started
with 2G (second generation mobile phone) in 1993 exceeded 10 million contracts in
1996, some three years later, and more than 50 million in 2001 when 3G (third
generation mobile phone) started. As of 2019, the penetration rate of the mobile

phone is 139.2%. In about 25 years, telephones have changed from “everyone has
one unit” to “everyone has 1.5 units”, whilst the previously common telephone callbox is rapidly disappearing from the landscape.
According to Prof. Harari Y. N., it was this that prompted the change of social
structure at the fastest pace since Homo sapiens appeared53). Certainly, during thistime, new industries have born, and others disappeared. Previously there weremany industries and enterprises that were known as the “darlings” of their time,
however now many of these businesses have passed into oblivion. As societies
developed so modern, knowledge, wisdom, skills, and technologies related toclothing, food, and housing progressed, and collaboration and organization began
to advance.54) There are still the “traditional businesses of inns, restaurants, foodand clothing manufacturing, and religious industries, and in these sectors, we findmany “traditional types of long-lived companies”.
Kongo-gumi, which is said to be the oldest company in the world was foundedin AD 578. It was 1200 years between the founding of Kongo-gumi until the firstindustrial revolution. The speed of scientific progress has increased dramaticallyduring the period from 1920 to 2020 and the rapid acceleration in change can beseen to be continuing when one considered the changes between the last 30 yearsof the 20th century and the first 20 years of the 21st century.

─ 109 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

In living memory, we can recall that communication was conducted by letterand urgent communication via telegram. Public baths for the masses were common
not just in Japan, but in the UK and USA. Radios were common (particularly thanks
to Sony and its transistor radio) but few were lucky enough to own a TV, much less acolor TV, which was considered a distinct high-priced luxury on its introduction.
Music was listened to on record players and then on radio-cassette players55) prior
to the development of the Sony Walkman. However, within 10 years the digitalcompact disc (CD) was born, and personal computers (PC) appeared at the sametime. Within two decades we were then able to purchase mobile phones and laptop
PCs or notebooks which we could connect to the internet for exchanging e-mails
etc. PCs became a consumer item to be replaced every time the processing speed,
storage capacity and communication speed were improved.
As the market developed so consumers switched from Walkman to Apple
iPods and switched from mobile phones to smartphones, iPods eventually became
obsolete and notebook type PCs also changed to lightweight tablets. Whenbroadband became normal and transitioned from 3G to 4G, e-books like Kindle
were used not only for newspapers and magazines, but also for reading, being
lighter and slightly cheaper. More importantly it was possible to get the readers
specialized works, a literary work, or a detective story. It is possible to get any
work instantly, no matter where ordered.56) Now it is possible to even “read” whiledriving with audiobooks.57)
In the past 40 years, electronic recording media has also changed from cassettetapes to 5-inch floppy disks (FD) to 3.5-inch FD, CDs, mini-disks (MD), memory
sticks and hard disks (HD) and now SSD, solid state HDs, etc., and now data can beaccessed anytime, anywhere through cloud computing. It is said that young people
born in the 21st century do not need television, radio, and PC, if he or she has asmartphone. Certainly, they know how to live in the internet society by utilizing─ 110 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

the smartphone much better than those born in Showa era. However, even thoseover 65 years, senior people are able to benefit from these changes with Aps
designed specifically for the “silver haired” society, enabling them to make fulluse of their smartphones.
Whilst the inevitable cycle of life for humans is undeniable as we pass though
the spring, summer, autumn and final winter of our lives. The same cycle of life is
not necessarily true for companies or at least it can certainly be prolonged even 10fold compared to human life spans.
A long-lived company which has been making Japanese sweets for five
centuries and enjoyed prosperity through continued generations of family
management, and major global long-lived companies which pivoted from being in
the business to the cosmetics business have experienced multiple challenges byliving though waves of change on multiple occasions. In that respect, theseenterprises have overcome the turbulence of multiple cycles of change as well as
Honda and Sony, which were mere startups in the period after WW11.
Semiconductor manufacturers who were startups on the 1970s, SNS companies in
the latter half of the 20th century and long-lived companies have shared the sameera. In that sense, the company which is said to be a long-lived company
experiences more cycles of change over a longer period compared with othercompanies, and there is an adaptability within a long-lived company that enables it
to adapt and change.

(2) Age of long-lived companies
Let’s return the story to “Age of the long-lived company”.
Establishing which age definition of “long-lived” companies is challenging,should it be the one that Teikoku Databank Co. counts as long-lived company, thatbeing one which has a “business history more than 50 years”, whilst Tokyo Shoko

─ 111 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

Research Co. considers a company which is “more than 100 years since its
founding” as a long-lived company. Thus, with these various definitions it
becomes relevant how many years a long-lived company has lived or does it?
The conclusion of this paper is that “long-lived” companies should not be
decided only by their age, because, time is relative, and “?? years ago” is also a
relative concept. Again, at the time of the survey conducted by us 30 years ago,“100 years ago” was in the Meiji era, and “50 years ago” was in the early Showaera, and “30 years ago” was in line with the period of high economic stable growth.
In that sense, 100 years was a period of several years where there were periods ofcomparative stability as compared to significant change in the last 30 years. In
addition, in the period when “ten years is an epoch” and “it is Dog Year” a periodof years 50 years as a definition for “long-lived” could also be very convincing in
its own way. The term, “50 is the new 30” and “70 is the new 50” has been coined
to describe the changing health of humans, indicating that years as a measure ofage for humans may have its limitations. For example, a web site “realage.com,
explores peoples real biological age and indeed one of the authors of this paper has
had his doctor run software on his health and declare that biologically speaking he
is 12 years younger than his age in years. Thus number of years may not be a goodmeasure for a company to be described as “long-lived”. Particularly if one
considers companies which were 100 years old by 1900 versus the changes thatcompanies that were 100 years old by the year 2000 and had to live through WW1,
WW11, rapid post WW11 growth period → Oil Shocks → Stable growth periods→ the Japanese bubble economy → bubble economy bursting → the famed Heisei
recession → Reiwa era”. Though it is natural for us to migrate towards “years ago”
this is perhaps a relative concept defining individual age, era name, historicalbackground, and it may not be productive.
Another factor is that the criteria for determining the age of long-lived

─ 112 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

companies is greatly influenced by the circumstances of industry sectors and thetechnology at the time able to support them. Kongo-gumi, which is the oldest
company in the world, (as elaborated on earlier in this paper a temple and shrine
construction company) operates in an industry whose technology which has notchanged that much from ancient times to the present. Since the temple and shrine
construction business is indispensable and its birth was comparatively early, it ispossible to compare the time it has been in business and classify it as a long-lived
company. However, it is not possible to judge if it is a long-lived company when
one considers revolutions of change within the industry itself. For example, themove from the ICE to electrical power for the car industry or records to CDs in themusic business. In addition, if the enterprise does not survive now, it is not a longlived company. Kodak Co. and Polaroid Co. are not long-lived companies now,
though both were long-lived ones once and had long history of success, and both
had in the past conquered global markets and could even be global brand such as
Pan Am, which is no more (Pan Am went bankrupt) or BOAC which is no more,(BOAC was merged with BEA to form British Airways).

On the other hand, in the past 50 years when industrialized society has given
way to an information and internet society, a company which develops new
business models based on only recently developed technologies has been born, forexample Tesla or Amazon or Facebook. Even if it is classified into the same
industry type as that previously observed, the appearance of a new kind of industry
and enterprise which should be referred to as a different business industry changes
our “long-lived” company definition. For example, few people would refer to
Microsoft Co., which was founded in 1975, and Apple Co., which manufactures
PCs, as “long-lived companies”. Yet these enterprises, although still only 45 years
old, have experienced incredible change in their industry. Even though there weremany companies that worked on software development before they were born,─ 113 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

they can be considered are long-lived companies in their industry, despite theircomparative youth of 45. Thus, the age of the long-lived company is a relative
concept related to business, technical and industry specific characteristics.
In addition, the reason why the age of the long-lived company should not be
determined by age alone is shown by the four classifications of the long-lived
companies proposed in this paper. Certainly, even if a long-term surviving
company is defined as a long-lived company for 100 years, 50 years, or 30 years, it
is not meaningful to treat only “traditional long-lived companies” which fall into
different sectors of the 4 categories elaborated on as long-lived companies as
before. By the same token, despite these four categories, is it possible to refuse toconsider a large company that has survived for more than 100 years as a longlived companies.58) If the company which secured its continuation by a legitimate
acquisition is considered not a long-lived company, then kin and blood
relationships become the only appropriate definition. Then, it becomes difficult tofind the meaning in the research of the long-term survival company management.
For example, Cadbury the famous global confectionery company was establishedin Birmingham England in 1824, but was bought out by Mondelez International(Kraft Foods) in 2010. Is it that because it has been bought out that we should reset

the age clock and no longer refer to it as a “long-lived company”?
Research focusing on long-term surviving corporate entities is both ofacademic and very real practical value. How do companies prevail in the global
winds of change, which incidentally are likely to become more varied andstronger? Thus, it is increasingly important to explore the management
characteristics and strategic essence of companies that survive and thrive overdecades and centuries to building a sustainable brand and company.
It is appropriate to now close the article, perhaps we have not been able to offer
a specific definition of what a “long-lived company” is however, we have explored─ 114 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

the concepts of possible definitions in depth and proposed models for further
consideration and research. To go full circle, we think now we are clearer on what
Bob Dylan’s (1964) ode to change describes, “The times they are a changing.” Andperhaps we would be bold enough to suggest he adds another line: “and they willcontinue to do so for some time to come!”.

＜Annotation＞
1) See https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
2) The Great Kanto Earthquake occurred on September 1, 1923. 1.9 million people wereaffected and 105,000 were killed or missing.
3) Venture businesses such as Secom and Ushio Electric in the 1960s, Keyence,
Nihondensan and DHC in the 1970s, HIS, Fankle, SoftBank and Uniqlo in the 1980s
have been established.
4) The second state of emergency was adopted by the government due to the increase ininfected people, which is said to have increased rapidly due to the turmoil of young
people at the end of 2020. More than 3,000 people were infected on December 30,
and it was issued on January 7 and lifted on March 21.
5) It is said that a flat day = 60, 000 yen and a maximum of 1.8 million yen arecompensated per restaurant according to the time shortening. It is said that nearly
70% of small stores turned into surpluses with compensation. Of course, it does not
fit at all in a large-scale restaurant, and the global dining company filed a lawsuit
against the country.
6) Nihon Keizai Shinbun, January 25, 2021, morning edition.
7) The German Merkel administration fully compensates for the loss of small andmedium-sized enterprises, and German restaurants are extremely cooperative withthe closure. However, the number of infected persons did not decrease in February,
2011, and the lockdown continued until the end of March.
8) Teikoku Databank has made a long-lived enterprise a company for more than 30
years in some surveys.
9) Excerpted from the “Long-lived Companies” survey nationwide of commerce andindustry research. http://www.tsrnet.co.jp/news/analysis/20161202_01.html
10) Prof Makoto Kanda, a professor from Meiji-gakuin University who has been our coresearcher for 40 years and has been conducting joint research on long-lived
companies since the early 1990s until today. Co-authored “Lessons from long-lived
companies”, JMA, 1997, is a book that should be called the start.
11) Refer to the Small and Medium Enterprise Research Organization, “Research on
Business Continuity of Small and Medium Enterprises”, 2010, because it is detailed.
Naoto Iwasaki and Makoto Kanda oversaw questionnaire survey and case study in the
project.
12) For the survey results conducted in 1996, please refer to “Lesson from long-lived
companies” written by Kanda and Iwasaki (1997). Since some of the question items

─ 115 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

and surveyed companies are also different, it is not available to compare all of them.
Kanda Makoto and Iwasaki Naoto, “Management Strategy and Sustainable
Competitiveness,” Economic Research (Meiji-gakuin University), No. 105, 1996, pp.
59-85. Iwasaki, N. & M. Kanda, “Sustainability of the Japanese Old EstablishedCompanies”, Seijo University Economic Research, No. 132, 1996, pp. 1-32.
14) In addition to the questionnaire survey twice, the interview survey has been carriedout for more than 100 long-lived companies.
15) Gotenba in Shizuoka pre. Japan is placed a halfway mark from Tokyo to Kyoto.
16) Long-lived Company Management Study Group, “Toward Consistency
Management: Shiseido’s New Growth Strategy”, Oidelmin vol. 6, Shiseido
Corporate Museum, 1998. Iwasaki was a research project member of the researchgroup.
17) Fukuhara Yoshiharu, “Management of Cultural Capital: What Companies andManagers Must Think about in the Coming Era,” Cultural Capital Study Group,
Diamond Co., Ltd., see 1999.
18) Toraya Bunko was established in 1973. There, historical materials of this company
are collected and stored, various confectionery materials are collected, and Japanese
confectionery information is transmitted through the holding of exhibitions andpublication of magazines. In October 2007, “Toraya Kobo” was opened. It is locatedadjacent to Higashiyama former Kishi-tei (former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi’s
residence committee) in the mountains, a little far from the Gotenba Factory, which
has been making products mainly faded black at the foot of Mt. Fuji since 1978.
There, everybody can see sweets making.
19) The number of inherited and inherited persons is also considered to be a time axis in asense.
20) Compared to small and medium-sized enterprises, the tenure of the president of alisted company is generally relatively short at 6 to 7 years.
21) Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, “2020 Edition of The White Paper on Smalland Medium Enterprises”, 2020, pp. 1-132.
22) op. cit pp. 132-133.
23) op. cit pp. 140-142.
24) Toei Kiuchi’s Global Economy & Policy Insight,
https://www.nri.com/en/knowledge/blog/lst/2020/fis/kiuchi/110
25) See Iwasaki Naoto, Essence of Corporate Design Redesign, Seijo Economic Research
No. 232, pp. 61-99, 2021.
26) The calculation formula is “500×%−50%−42 million =208 million”.
27) The calculation formula is “280 million÷10 years＋280 million×3.6%＝
28,288,000 yen”. It is the result of asking a friend of the tax accountant to calculate.
28) The list of presidents of Toyota Motor Corporation(1) Tosaburo Toyoda
1937 to 1941
(2) Kiichiro Toyoda
1941 to 1950
(3) Ishida Rezo
1950 to 1961
(4) Nakagawa
1961 to 1967
(5) Eiji Toyoda
1967 to 1982
(6) Shoichiro Toyoda
1982 to 1992
13)

─ 116 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

29)

30)

31)
32)
33)
34)
35)
36)
37)

38)
39)
40)

41)
42)

43)

(7) Tatsuro Toyoda
1992 to 1995
(8) Osamu Okuda
1995 to 1999
(9) ChouFujifu
1999 to 2005(10) Tosaki Watanabe
2005 to 2009(11) Akio Toyoda
2009〜
No clearly indicated materials were found on the extent to which the Toyota familyowned stocks. However, among the major shareholders excluding financial-relatedcompanies, the shareholding rate of Toyota Industries was 6.9% as of 2020.
President Nakamura Kunio, who became president of Matsushita Electric IndustrialCo., Ltd. in 2000, promoted the plasma television business and failed, leading to a
management crisis, and after retiring as chairman, President Otsubo took office.
President Nakamura, who is said to be the leader of management reform, retired aschairman of the company in 2012.
Only the founder and the second generation of the 9th president until 2021 are fromthe founding family.
Refer to the February 15, 2021, issue of Nikkei Business for details on the reasons formaking small and medium-sized enterprises hesitant about M&A.
Eto Kyosuke, ‘Review of M&A of food industry in 2018’, Gyoukai-saihen M&A,
2019
Toyota Motor Corporation was separated into Toyota Motor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
and Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. From 1950 to1982.
Toyota Motor Corporation overstep GM Co., Ltd., which was the world’s top in sales
volume in 2007, and ranked No. 1 in the world in automobile production.
Konishiroku was absorbed by Minolta and is now Konica Minolta.
In Japan, not only long-living companies, but also emperor and shogun families havebeen succeeded by adopted children and daughters when inheritance by relatives is
cut off. The further, to survive the existing enterprise in the shortage of successors in
the declining birthrate and aging society, the validity of requesting “succession offamily members” is disappearing.
As the technical system progresses greatly, and the corporate governance systemchanges, many companies cannot be said to be “business succession”.
Nihon-bashi is near Tokyo-station and was a main road from Edo era. It is so old thatmany long-lived companies have done their business yet.
Mitsukoshi Isetan HD is a holding company under the umbrella of former Mitsukoshi
Co. and former Isetan Co. Mitsukoshi originated in Echigo-ya, a kimono shop openedby the Mitsui family in 1673. On the other hand, Isetan originated from Iseya Tanjikimono shop founded in 1986. In 2008, a joint holding company was established byboth companies, and the management was integrated under it.
A department store founded in Osaka in 1831.
Xavier Honpo Co., Ltd. is a long-lived confectionery manufacturer in Oita prefecture
Kyushu, established immediately after the founding house went out of business, anemployee in charge of sales was asked by the founding family and worked on thereconstruction in 2001.
Livatape Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a long-lived pharmaceutical manufacturer inKumamoto prefecture Kyushu, founded in 1878. In 1967, related business companies

─ 117 ─

成城・経済研究

44)
45)

46)
47)
48)
49)

50)
51)

52)

第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

rebuilt jointly and entrusted management to the officers of the company.
Nadaman is a long-lived restaurant founded in 1830. In 2014, it joined Asahi
Breweries HD and became a subsidiary in 2016.
Kameya Manen-do Co., Ltd. is a long-lived confectionery specialty store founded in
1938. In 2021, Chatrese HD acquired all stocks and became a wholly owned
subsidiary. It was famous for western confectionery Nabona.
Refer to Funasaka Sake Brewery, which is detailed in Naoto Iwasaki, “Long-lived
Innovators”, Seijo University Graduate School Economic Research, 2019.
Refer to the Kunitomo Gunpowder Store, as it is detailed in the above-mentioned
book “Research on Business Continuity of Small and Medium Enterprises”.
Refer to Kihara Manufacturing Co., which is detailed in Iwasaki Naoto, “Long-lived
Innovators”, Seijo University Graduate School Economic Research, 2019.
Since it is said that seven times the age of a dog corresponds to the age of a humanbeing, it is called “dog year” because the old year corresponds to the present sevenyears. “Mosquito year” is a selfish word of the author. In general, it is said that thelife span of mosquitoes is about 10 days in females.
The world population in BC. 1000 was 310 million and 500 million in 1500. In 2000,
it increased to 6 billion people. The population growth continues now.
Britain held the world’s economic and political hegemony until World War I, and theUnited States took the hegemony that followed. Each age is expressed like this.
Iwasaki. N. (2021), see the above book.
GDP share of major countries in 1960 is as follows: At the time, the United Statesaccounted for 43% of the world’s total, but according to the IMF, it will be only 24.
6% by 2020. On the other hand, China occupies 16.4%.
CHN

DEU

FRA

GBR

ITA

JPN

RUS

USA

8%
11%
43%

6%
8%

13%

5%
6%

Source: University of Groningen, Maddison Project Database 2018

53)
54)
55)
56)
57)

Harari, Yuval Noah “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”, Vintage, 2015
(translated by Shibata Hiroyuki, Kawate Shobo Shinsha,2017/3/27)
ibid
It is a device in which the radio and the cassette deck are united, and it was called“Rajicase” (cassette radio) in Japanese.
However, since not all books are digitized at this stage, it is time to wait about 24
hours to get a real book.
Audible is a voice book provided by Amazon.

─ 118 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies58) Organizational problems such as the stiffening of the organization, the climate of risk
aversion, the infighting by top management, rampant politics in the organization, andthe increase of unnecessary posts are pointed out as the signs of decay. In such anorganization, it is said that it is not possible to adapt to the change of the businessenvironment, and the growth and evolution of the enterprise cannot be expected.
＜Main reference＞
Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, 2020 White Paper on Small and Medium
Enterprises, Nikkei Printing, 2019 (in Japanese)
Fukuhara Yoshiharu, Cultural Capital Research Group, “Management of Cultural Capital:
What Companies and Managers Must Think about in the Coming Era,” Diamond
Corporation, 1999 (in Japanese)
Harari Y. N, “SAPIENCE: A Brief History of Humankind,” 2011, (Translated by
Hiroyuki Shibata, The Complete History of Sapiens, Kawaide Shobo Shinsha, 2017)
Iwasaki Naoto, Kanda Makoto, ‘Sustainability of the Japanese Old EstablishedCompanies’, Seijo University Economic Research No. 132, pp. 1-32, Seijo
University, 1996 (in Japanese)
Iwasaki Naoto, “Essence of Corporate Design Redesign”, Seijo University Economic
Research No. 232, pp. 61-99, Seijo University, 2021 (in Japanese)
Iwasaki Naoto, “CS Management Tips to Learn from History: Conveying the Times andCreating Culture,” Management Vitality Support Magazine Do January 2001, pp. 810, Dai-ichi Life-insurance Co., Ltd., 2001 (in Japanese)
Iwasaki Naoto, ‘The Wisdom of Long-lived Companies Opening the Way’, Forbes Japan
November 2007, pp. 55-62, Gyosei Co., Ltd., 2007 (in Japanese)
Iwasaki Naoto, Makoto Kanda, ‘Aiming to Create Human Resources to Create Value for
Quality’, Human Resource Education Vol. 8 No. 7, pp. 52-65, Japan Institute of
Instinct Management (JMAM), 1996 (in Japanese)
Iwasaki Naoto, Kanda Makoto, ‘Learning from Long-lived Management (Part 1)’, JMA
Management Review Vol. 2. No. 2, pp. 34-37, Japan Institute of Instinct Management
Center (JMAM), 1996 (in Japanese)
Iwasaki Naoto, ‘Flexible Management that Lives in the Flexible Age of Learning from
Long-lived companies’, Monthly Venture Link Volume 149 Vol. 11, pp. 6-24,
Venture Link Co., Ltd., 1996
Kanda Makoto, Iwasaki Naoto, “Lessons from Long-lived Companies”, JMAM, 1996 (inJapanese)
Kanda Makoto, Iwasaki Naoto, ‘Management Strategy and Sustainable Competitiveness’,─ 119 ─

成城・経済研究第 236 号（2022 年 3 月）

Economic Research (Meiji Gakuin University) No. 105, pp. 59-85, Meiji Gakuin
University, 1996 (in Japanese)
Kanda Makoto, Shimizu Satoshi, Kitade Yoshihisa, Iwasaki Naoto, Nishino Masahiro,
Kurokawa Mitsuhiro, “Secrets of Corporate Longevity [Learning from Long-lived
Companies”,Hakuto-shobo, 2000 (in Japanese)
Kanda Makoto, Iwasaki Naoto, Shiseido, ‘Shiseido, Aiming to Create Cultural Value with
Beauty’, Human Resource Education Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 60-71, Japan Instinct Rate
Association Management Center (JMAM), 1997 (in Japanese)
Kanda Makoto, Iwasaki Naoto, ‘Learning from Long-lived Management (Part 2)’, JMA
Management Review Vol. 2. No. 3, pp. 34-38, Japan Institute of Instinct Management
Center (JMAM), 1996 (in Japanese)
Kanda Makoto, Iwasaki Naoto, ‘Learning from a Long-lived Company 6 Times: Toraya:
Tradition Is a Series of Innovations’, July 2000 Issue of Confectionery Bread, pp. 154-156, Confectionery Experiment Company, 2000 (in Japanese)
Kanda Makoto, Iwasaki Naoto, ‘Learning from Long-lived Companies 7 Times: Toraya:
Tradition Is a Series of Innovations’, August 2000 Issue of Confectionery Bread, pp.
156-158, Confectionery Experiment Company, 2000 (in Japanese)
Kongo Toshitaka, “16 Teachings Passed down to the World’s Oldest Company in 1400”,
Diamond Corporation, 2013 (in Japanese)
Kurokawa Mitsuhiro, Saito Mineaki, “Long-lived Style Toraya and Hermès”, Shinchosha,
2016 (in Japanese)
Long-lived Management Study Group, “Research on Business Continuity of Small andMedium Enterprises”, Small and Medium Enterprise Research Organization,2010 (inJapanese)
Long-lived Management Study Group, ‘The Secret of Longevity Management over the“Contradiction” between Tradition and Innovation’, Commercial Industry Vol. 49,
No. 5, pp. 64-67, Commerce Industry Co., Ltd., 1996 (in Japanese)
Long-lived Management Study Group, ‘Toward Consistency Management: Shiseido’s
New Growth Strategy’, Shiseido Corporate Museum, 1998 (in Japanese)
Long-lived Management Study Group, ‘The Fundamental Spirit of “Holding, Involving,and Challenging” supporting the Longevity of Western Companies’, Commercial
Industry Vol. 52, No. 5, pp. 80-83, Industry, 1999 (in Japanese)
Shiseido, “Shiseido 100 Years History”, Shiseido Co, Ltd., 1972 (in Japanese)
Nagai Tamotsu, Takai Shoichiro, “Fukuyu Shindan”, Shiseido Co., 1966 (in Japanese)─ 120 ─“The times they are a changing”, defining “long-lived” companies

This article is the third of four articles by Dr Gannon and Professor Iwasaki and builds
on the original ideas by Professor Iwasaki in “Old-established companies in the new era”,
in Seijo Economics No.233, July, 2021.

─ 121 ─