A premise of this book is that a fundamental objective of any organization, though often unstated, is survival.

Several of the oldest known continuously-operating companies in the world are Japanese. Seven were founded prior to the year 1,000. The size of companies in the database of Japanese firms over 100 years old clearly proves that firms do not have to grow large to survive. In fact most shinise are small- to medium-sized, private (often family-owned)

Factor 3: Close relationships with business partners

There is, however, one common practice the old companies share: a conservative approach to managing finances. These firms are very reluctant to go into debt as a way of funding their business.

Factor 1: Strong corporate mission and culture

Factor 2: Unique core strengths and change management

It is difficult to overstate the importance of “institutional memory” built up over time that resides in long-term employees. Century Club companies also tend to develop leaders from within, using a deliberate process for leadership succession.

Relationships are at the core of how the Century Club companies operate. These firms regard the maintenance of long-term relationships with customers and the development of their suppliers from generation to generation as crucial to their own success. These companies truly believe they cannot maintain their success over decades and even centuries

Century Club companies have thrived for over 100 years by successfully practicing a way of doing business that creates shared value and enables their own survival long before such ideas came to be described as the next evolution of American capitalism.