Why do most business die with their founders?

Profwriter

Active member
Very few business have lived for centuries, a simple Google search will reveal this, its interesting to find out that most of the oldest companies or business in the world are in Japan. What could they have been doing that led to the sustenance of their business for centuries even after their founders are dead?

It's amazing to discover that some have existed for over a thousand years and the business keeps living on. I strongly belive that they must have been making profits, if not they would have sold out and shut down.

To anyone who is a business owner, do you see your business living for a thousand years or more?
What do you think that led to the continuos existence and growth of these businesses who has lived for over a thousand years, an example is a construction company called Nakamura Shaji in Japan.
 

eojo2401

Active member
There are several factors that can make the business ceased to exist after the dead of the owner. Firstly the vision of the business owner maybe different from vision of his or her survivors. For example if a father establish a business ventures to take care of his family and to provide quality education for his children, definitely his business will ceased to exist after his death because non of his children will have interest in such enterprise. What will be of interest to them is to become a medical doctor, a legal luminary or a banker. And if they are fortunate to get there heart desires career, there father's business will surely end the day he died. There some other factors but let me apply break here.
 

Daykas

Active member
There are lot of factors that can make businesses to die with the fonder.
But the highest of it is when the founder doesn't have a proper future plan for his/her business.
Second is that most business become outdated if the owner is not doing more research about it and finding the next possible way of stabilizing the business
 

Samuel72

Verified member
According to my own point of view business is all about risk. Before going into any business you need to be aware of your risk and alsoyou need to be aware of the challenges of the business, some business really need much capital for it to grow why some other business needs more time and most of all hard-working for it to grow so you need to know this strategy that will make your business grow fast before venturing into the business
 

Veetos12

New member
Very few business have lived for centuries, a simple Google search will reveal this, its interesting to find out that most of the oldest companies or business in the world are in Japan. What could they have been doing that led to the sustenance of their business for centuries even after their founders are dead?

It's amazing to discover that some have existed for over a thousand years and the business keeps living on. I strongly belive that they must have been making profits, if not they would have sold out and shut down.

To anyone who is a business owner, do you see your business living for a thousand years or more?
What do you think that led to the continuos existence and growth of these businesses who has lived for over a thousand years, an example is a construction company called Nakamura Shaji in Japan.
The reason why most businesses die with their founder is that the inability of the founder to engage people who can succeed him or her while the business is still running when he is alive. A proper take over plan should be made by the founder even when nothing happened to him.
 

Chibson

VIP Contributor
I have seen a lot of businesses that died with their founders and also have seen a lot of business that survived even when the founder has passed on. So it all depends on some factors and of course circumstances. A business that is well rooted and also has a very good foundation and long-term plan will not easily die even if the founder dies. Some businesses die when the founder dies, because there is no enough plan to sustain the business for a very long time.
 

marcusfe

Active member
Most business owners do not have any plan for succession after their exit from the business, they just run the business to take care of their present condition. There are businesses out there who are over 200 years old even waxing strong after the owner is no longer existing. This is a result of the adequate planing of the owner. Such a person had prepared a blueprint in which the business will follow.
 

Victor001

Active member
Its very predictable in this day and time, that most business don,t leave to fulfill expectations , this may be due to the fact that there was not enough prior knowledge to kick start the business, less investment funds, ni appropriate information or skills to aid the business,leaving the business at an edge. Sometimes, successful business owners choose not to cast their business secret and ideas, for the fear of the unknown.
 

Hena101

Active member
There are many reasons behind why many businesses die with their founder of we look critically into the issue some is because of their mistakes and some because of their children or partners mistakes. Their mistakes is that many businesses founders tight all the success and otherwise of the businesses to their self they don't teach other how to operate the businesses in their absence and some the failure of their children or partners to learn while they are alive
 

Segat

Active member
Most business dies with their founders as a result of so many reasons which is a peculiarity to so many businesses in the developing world. Sometimes most business founder don't really have written blue print documents of the business which any other person aside the owner of the business can work with even when they are not there.
 

Profwriter

Active member
I have seen a lot of businesses that died with their founders and also have seen a lot of business that survived even when the founder has passed on. So it all depends on some factors and of course circumstances. A business that is well rooted and also has a very good foundation and long-term plan will not easily die even if the founder dies. Some businesses die when the founder dies, because there is no enough plan to sustain the business for a very long time.
How will you related this to a family setting, using Nigeria or Africa as an example, most of the business that has spanned centuries are usually being owned and managed by the family members of the founder. Do you see that happening in Nigeria?

How many family owned business are thriving? Would you prefer your relatives manage your business too?
 

Georgeadawara

Active member
Having someone with same dream and vision as you are is a problem the reason why many business die with there funders is that the people working they don't have same vision as you. And some is from the family problem may be they like the property to be shared to the family members from there every thing will be failing apart.
 

Briangsam

Active member
Hundreds of tons of businesses have indeed died with their founders literally. My grandfather was a medical doctor. He had the first private hospital in my town. He died. Sadly, the hospital died with him because none of his children were doctors. They engaged the services of trained doctors and they mismanaged it. The hospital is no more now. These things happen.
 

Shigobad2020

Active member
Very few business have lived for centuries, a simple Google search will reveal this, its interesting to find out that most of the oldest companies or business in the world are in Japan. What could they have been doing that led to the sustenance of their business for centuries even after their founders are dead?

It's amazing to discover that some have existed for over a thousand years and the business keeps living on. I strongly belive that they must have been making profits, if not they would have sold out and shut down.

To anyone who is a business owner, do you see your business living for a thousand years or more?
What do you think that led to the continuos existence and growth of these businesses who has lived for over a thousand years, an example is a construction company called Nakamura Shaji in Japan.
The founder of a business is the head and the lifeline of a business , so it's normal for a business to die with their founder if the founder did not leave a legacy for the children or someone else to continue the business, some founders tend to hide the secret from their employee and family so thebusiness dies with them.
 
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