Jay Parkhill April 18th, 2007

Apologies to readers for a dearth of posts recently. Recovering from a bicycle accident has gotten in the way of my writing. I should be back at it soon, though.

In the meantime, here is a neat, sad story about a Japanese temple construction company supposedly in operation by the same family since 578. Its long run finally ended, apparently, as the company folded under excess debt.

The article’s author does a good job identifying some factors that helped the company survive for 1,400 years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they aren’t that different from what helps startups make it: focus on the core business, but be flexible to changing circumstances and the needs of the business.

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