In today’s breakneck-paced business world, it has become commonplace to hear about companies going bust and disappearing. In fact, most businesses, even successful ones, do not have a particularly long lifespan. Yet, there are companies that have endured for decades, and even centuries.

How did they stay so resilient? Studying the success of such enterprises reveals a set of simple principles that every aspiring leader can learn from and recreate. 

Build Strong Brands
A powerful brand helps companies to connect with customers on a deep emotional level. It has the capacity to extend across multiple product and business lines, while maintaining its core essence. Apple is a prime example that has meticulously nurtured its reputation through decades, making it synonymous with style, innovation, quality and ingenuity. Apple and iconic brands like Nike (apparel), Maersk (shipping) or Cigna (insurance) offer great lessons to modern marketers obsessed with clicks and likes. It’s hard to imagine these companies caring about such vanity metrics. Instead, they build brands and attract customers that transcend sales channels – retail stores, dealerships or the internet. 

Embrace Technology
History suggests that major technological shifts birth new market leaders. Enterprises embracing technology are the ones that endure. For instance, few would consider Procter & Gamble (P&G) a tech company, but their seemingly mundane everyday products are surprisingly research and development (R&D) intensive. A close look at its food, care, apparel and other product lines would show how fast the tech behind them evolves. No wonder P&G remained the industry giant for so long. Similarly, Kongo Gumi, the oldest existing company, exemplifies the lasting importance of combining tradition with innovation to stay relevant for over 1,400 years. Starting with building religious temples centuries ago, this iconic construction company constantly integrates innovations in design and material composition into its practices.

Focus on People
Lasting business success is always built around people. Singapore Airlines (SIA), famous for its amazing service, invests heavily in its staff to provide a great experience for travellers. Through prioritising personnel development, SIA was able to nurture connections with customers and solidified its status as the industry leader. In the famous Toyota Way – a set of organisational management principles, the word “people” appears most often, indicating Toyota’s emphasis on developing exceptional leaders, training highly-skilled specialists and giving employees a sense of belonging in the company. The result? Toyota remained the automotive leader even while their competitors came and went. 

Have An Inspiring Mission
A mission sets the north star for the company and informs everything it does, from strategy to product features. It inspires action and keeps the organisation on course in both good and bad times. Disney’s passion for inspiring people through storytelling carried it through the years, multiple tech shifts and numerous media formats. Concurrently, Standard Chartered’s dedication to growing prosperity through commerce and investment threads through the diverse markets, currencies and financial instruments it operates. 

Principles behind corporate longevity are simple, yet not easy. They take minutes to grasp and lifetimes to master. But the outcome of mastering them is well worth the effort, bringing tangible impact to lives of millions of people – through decades and centuries. 

This essay first appeared in the Singapore Computer Society magazine.