Chronicles lessons and strategies from the world's oldest family businesses.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
While business news teeters constantly between optimism and turmoil, it's good to hear that, in many parts of the world, the family business is as rock-solid as ever. O'Hara used interviews and primary research to peer into some of the oldest family businesses in existence in Europe, Japan, South Africa, the U.S., and Canada. Some of the businesses include a Japanese temple restoration company, founded in 578; an Italian winery, founded in 1385; the Zildjian cymbal manufacturer, founded in Turkey in 1623 and transplanted to the U.S. in the 1920s; and Shirley Plantation, Virginia's oldest plantation, established in 1639. Each profile includes historical background, a timeline, information on family lineage, and an account of the present-day workings of these well-matured organizations. Any business that has survived for centuries must have some sound business advice, and most were happy to provide adages that have kept them going throughout the years--some as simple as "don't drink too much." This sure puts the dot-com boom in perspective. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Right from the beginning, Bill O'Hara sets the stage for profound impact and historical significance that enduring family businesses offer to scholars, students, and practitioners alike. Centuries of Success takes the concept of 'best practices' in family enterprise to a while new level."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
centuries of success,
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This review is from: Centuries of Success: Lessons from the World's Most Enduring Family Business (Hardcover)
Dr. O'Hara's penetrating and readable book opens an inviting door to the nuances of family businesses throughout history. The reader is entertained and informed about how family members influence - for good and bad - the changing fortunes of a plethora of enterprises in Italy, France, Japan, or South Africa, to name just a few of the countries the author visited for sit-down discussions with family elders as well as heirs. The eminent former president of a prestigious business college, Dr. O'Hara easily balances an array of family issues and elicits some remarkably candid observations from his sources - especially the younger generation. Invaluable, too, is his concluding identification of eleven recurring principles and practices that seem to visit global family businesses
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful!,
This review is from: Centuries of Success: Lessons from the World's Most Enduring Family Business (Hardcover)
Rather than interviewing one scion about building a single family business, author William T. O'Hara profiles 20 of the world's oldest - at least two centuries - family-held businesses, representing a combined 8,911 years of experience. O'Hara uses profiles of these companies and their leaders to explain how these family businesses survived when so many others failed. Generally, only about a third of family firms survive the transition from the founding generation to the second wave, and the mortality rate worsens over time. Given the global reach of these businesses and their extraordinary longevity, O'Hara offers unique information. The drawbacks are slight: sometimes the book reads too much like an anecdotal travelogue and occasionally it surrenders to generalities about family businesses, though that may have been unavoidable. These quibbles aside, we strongly recommend this book for anyone seeking insights into how families work together, stay together and profit together, generation after generation.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent history of Family Businesses,
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This review is from: Centuries of Success: Lessons from the World's Most Enduring Family Businesses (Paperback)
Picked up this name from a Entrepreneurship textbook bought locally, and have been picking some of the stories, and they are well written. I fully recommend it as a research book.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
On the morning of our meeting, I waited at the reception of the Osaka Tokyu Hotel and recited to myself the litany of Japanese business protocols I had learned: bow rather than shake hands, exchange business cards and handle them carefully, do not write on the card or put it into a pocket, and do not suggest the Japanese call you by your first name. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Van Eeghen, World War, Kongo Gumi, New York, Hill Carter, South Africa, Leadership Genogram, John Brooke, Avedis Zildjian, William Clark, Bob Ruhl, John Durtnell, Piero Antinori, Ugo Beretta, New World, Georg Benedikt, Pietro Beretta, Francois Mellerio, Frederic Emile, Iron Lady, Richard Durtnell, Richard Hoare, United Kingdom, Christian Bixler, Eric Molson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
On the morning of our meeting, I waited at the reception of the Osaka Tokyu Hotel and recited to myself the litany of Japanese business protocols I had learned: bow rather than shake hands, exchange business cards and handle them carefully, do not write on the card or put it into a pocket, and do not suggest the Japanese call you by your first name. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Van Eeghen, World War, Kongo Gumi, New York, Hill Carter, South Africa, Leadership Genogram, John Brooke, Avedis Zildjian, William Clark, Bob Ruhl, John Durtnell, Piero Antinori, Ugo Beretta, New World, Georg Benedikt, Pietro Beretta, Francois Mellerio, Frederic Emile, Iron Lady, Richard Durtnell, Richard Hoare, United Kingdom, Christian Bixler, Eric Molson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 42
books:
See all 42 books this book cites
- Mind Your Own Business by Marcy Syms on page 128, and page 133
- Japanese Inn by Oliver Statler on page 17, and page 32
- Sustaining the Family Business by Marshall B. Paisner on page 80, and page 88
- Your Family Business: A Success Guide for Growth and Survival by Benjamin Benson on page 128, and page 220
- The Revolutionary War Set on page 138, and page 147
See all 42 books this book cites
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