Not Even an Heir

Japan to promote foreign takeover of heirless companies

Japan has some of the world's oldest businesses. The Guinness Book of World Records lists a hot spring hotel in Yamanashi as the oldest running hotel business in the world (started in 705) along with the world's oldest sake brewer and many other companies. Japan also contains half of the world's companies older than 200 years or shinise, a fact well explored in our Kyoto Artisans seminar. The longevity of these companies is linked with the concept of primogeniture in Japan: the eldest son of the family would have an obligation and the reward of receiving and running the company for the next generation. Creating such companies ensured the longevity of the name and the continuity of the brand. But modern views have begun shifting Japan's long tradition of loyalty in family businesses, because of the economic inviability of many traditional crafts, which are being less sought after, and a growing mindset towards choice within the culture. 

Such brand loyalty for Japan products have had benefits in that Japanese businesses have comparably lasted much longer than their Western counterparts. In fact, of the original Fortune 500 companies, listed in 1955, only 14 percent of these companies still exist today. But shifting times have pressured companies to begin adopting apprentices of the work who are more interested in the work and more talented in producing it as well. More than 90 percent of adopted individuals in Japan were adults and the infusion of new blood into the family business is believed to improve the business with new ideas. 

Despite this, the article suggests that not enough of the market exists where younger people want to become apprentices or succeed the existing business. To save the existing Japanese businesses and reduce the large economic impact of nearly 1.27 million companies, which constitutes a third of all Japanese businesses, the Ministry of Economy is encouraging these businesses to be acquired by European and U.S. businesses. With many owners entering advanced ages, like those in the wagyu business, Japan's companies with their long traditions of isolation and loyalty has struggled to compete with the continuously expanding global market.

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-japan-has-more-old-businesses-than-any-other-developed-nation-2015-4

https://www.munich-business-school.de/insights/en/2017/family-business-japan/

https://slate.com/business/2014/10/worlds-oldest-companies-why-are-so-many-of-them-in-japan.html