There exists today a common view that the majority of family businesses do not survive beyond the third generation. But there are family firms thriving worldwide whose legacies date back for centuries. Some families are in the same business, working at the same location where they originated generations before–their products are modern classics. Others have evolved through the years, changing their venue, products and services with the times. Some remain relatively small in scope, others have seen major growth through mergers and diversification. Operating locally, or as players in the global marketplace, these businesses are the stuff of history. Real-life time machines, they have brought the past into the present, and they are building the future.
Professor William T. O’Hara, author of Centuries of Success and President Emeritus of Bryant College in Rhode Island, along with his associate Peter Mandel have recently combined and updated their two previously published lists: “America’s Oldest Family Companies” and “The World’s Oldest Foreign Family Companies.” The resulting list compiles the 100 oldest continuously family-owned firms, dating back as far as the year 578.
Their research adds a undertone to history as we generally learn it. Our view is usually focused on the big events, the golden age of Greece, the rise and fall of the Roman empire, the Middle Ages in Europe, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution. But a subtle thread runs through it all–family businesses begun centuries ago, family-held for as many as 46 generations. These companies have outlasted nations and governments, kings and queens and mighty corporations.
The list identifies businesses that are at least 225 years old. They are working today in France, Italy, Ireland, Germany, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Japan, Austria, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, in the Netherlands and in the United States.
There are builders, innkeepers, paper manufacturers, goldsmiths, vintners, shipbuilders and designers of ceramics. There are glassmakers, perfumers, bankers, bell makers, confectioners, jewelers, textile manufactures, farmers and weavers. There are distilleries, iron mongers, funeral directors, publishers and breweries. One company has been making cymbals for centuries. One makes some of the best hoists in the world. The oldest of them all is Kongo Gumi which began building Buddhist Temples in Japan more than 1,400 years ago.
Among these 100 are a few whose names resonate in our modern sensibilities as familiar as those of old friends: Waterford Wedgwood makers of crystal, china, ceramics and cookware. Kikkoman, whose soy sauce products are seen on thousands of supermarket shelves. Faber-Castell whose quality pens and pencils are indispensible for artists worldwide. And although their family name may not be a household word, their product certainly is–Farina Gegenüber, creators of Eau de Cologne.
The list is evidence that family firms have the capacity to live and grow for centuries. Through enterprise and innovation their longevity has virtually created our modern world. Given their global reach and influence their continuation may even be considered universally essential.