According to the latest issue of The Economist, that's the definition of sustainability for 2009. The ultimate question for business leaders this year is a simple one: can we stay in business?
Here's another question. How many companies, worldwide, that are in business today were in business 200 years ago? Two hundred years' of survival, now that is sustainablity!
The answer is, in round-round figures, 5,000. There are none in the US (short history!). I thought there might be one, Paul Revere's day job as a silver smith, since the name Revere Silver is still around, but it's not the same company. The name has been bought and sold many times over.
But that's not the point.
More than 3,000 of the oldest firms on the planet are in Japan. Can you imagine? So many companies still in business after 200 years.
The reason, according to the magazine that did the research, is simple: people come first. They are all small to medium sized businesses that put their primary stakeholders first, and the primary stakeholders are the people who do the work.
Okinawa Looks Like This
Peaceful: a beautiful place for a walk
自己紹介
- Chura
- Born and raised in the USA (NJ), I’ve spent most of my adult life in Japan. One of my favorite places in Japan is Okinawa. To me, Okinawa is a land of stories and an island of music, magic and mystery. The music is shima-uta, songs sung to the rhythm of a three-stringed lute called a sanshin. The magic is in the colors of land, sea and sky. The mystery? Mystery begins where the line between legend and verifiable human memories begins to blur. I am a member of the Archaeological Institute of America, chapter chief of a sanshin study society, and a founding member of the Marine Culture Research Association of Okinawa.