In the past few years, we have seen many corporate behemothscompanies too big to failfailing spectacularly.
Seiganto-ji, built in 593 CE was the first Buddhist temple to be built in Japan.
Image credit:Nattee Chalermtiragool/Shutterstock.com
Most businesses last less than two decades, according to one recent study.
The average lifespan is expected to shrink even further to just 12 years by 2027, the study predicts.
In Europe and in the far east, the market is much more stable.
Worldwide there are over 5,500 companies that are over 200 years old.
But their distribution is heavily weighted to just a few.
There are more than 21,000 companies in Japan alone that are over a hundred years old.
Eight businesses are over one thousand years old.
When Kongo arrived in Japan in 578 CE he saw an incredible opportunity.
Japan had recently started embracing Buddhism, and Prince Shotoku was actively encouraging its adoption across the state.
But the Japanese had no experience building Buddhist temples, which is where Kongo came in.
Several workers of Kongo Gumi in early 20th century.
Throughout its long history, Kongo Gumi weathered many socio-political changes that threatened its existence.
After the war, Kongo Gumi found work again restoring the temples that had been destroyed in the conflict.
It still exist but as a subsidiary of Takamatsu.
Kongo Gumis longevity is remarkable and worthy of study.
The Horyu-Ji, a temple in Irakuga, Nara Perfecture, was built by Kongo Gumi.
Image credit:RPBaiao / Shutterstock.com
The main building of Horyu-Ji.
A lot of companies fail because they put profit above everything else,believes Professor Richard Fosterof Yale University.
Kongo Gumis success also lied in its leadership, and herein the company showed unusual flexibility.
If the eldest son was judged incapable of leading the company, the leadership went to the younger brother.
If there was no suitable male heir, a son-in-law was chosen instead.
The companys 39th president, Toshitaka Kongo, was one such son-in-law.
Osaka Castle in Osaka.
Image credit:Sean Pavone/Shutterstock.com
Kongo Gumi is not a large company.
The fallacy of too big to fail has been exposed far too often in the past few decades.
The English economist E. F. Schumacher in his 1973-bookSmall is Beautifulwrites that large enterprises are horribly inefficient.
What characterizes modern industry is its enormous consumption to produce so little …
It is inefficient to a degree that goes beyond imagination!,Schumacher writes.
If the economy stops changing then productivity would go away, he explained.
