The world's oldest family businesses are very successful in terms of longevity and resilience, but most are still competing effectively today despite rapid change

From the analysis of their websites discuss the reasons for their long-lived success.

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, University of Edinburgh (Business School ), language: English, abstract: The reasons of the successful longevity of many family businesses compared to the short life span of others are not far different from the reasons that glue together family members in a tied long-term relationship. In fact, especially after some generations, when the numbers of members would grow, blood linkages are not enough to guarantee the continuity of the relationship among family members. What makes family relationship last longer are shared values and sense of belonging. In our analysis of three well-established companies, Arco, Musgrave group and Berry Bro & Rudd Limited, we noticed that also family companies' longevity secret lies in these same principles that maintain together family members through different generations. Adopting family values and extending them to the company culture will determine the long-term survival of family relationship with the business. In the three companies we examined the internal understanding of family's values appear to define the entire organization's behaviours.

Alexander Schmithausen completed his studies after graduating in Economics and Business Administration in the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea (SKK GSB), USA (Stanford) and the UK (LSE). In 2012, he received a master's degree from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. In addition, Schmithausen titled FInstAM, Fellow of the Institute of Administration Management Award in London. He worked as a legal assistant for a securities trading bank. Since 2013 Alexander Schmithausen works for a private Hospital Group in Germany. Alexander Schmithausen hat nach seinem Abitur sein Studium der Volks- und Betriebswirtschaft in den Niederlanden, Deutschland, Südkorea (SKK GSB), USA (Stanford) und Großbritannien (LSE) absolviert. In 2012 hat er einen Masterabschluss der Universität Edinburgh in Schottland erhalten. Zudem wurde Schmithausen mit dem Titel FInstAM, Fellow des Institute of Administration Management in London ausgezeichnet. Er hat als juristischer Assistent für eine Wertpapierhandelsbank gearbeitet. Seit 2013 ist Alexander Schmithausen für einen privaten Klinik Konzern in Deutschland tätig.