Risk Monster, a credit management outsourcing service that calculates bankruptcy risk, recently announced the results of its first survey asking, “Which Japanese Companies Do You Expect to Still Exist in 50 Years.” The survey was conducted over the Internet on Feb. 25 and 26, and received 1,000 valid responses from influential individuals between the ages of 20 and 69.

Coming in third was Honda, second place went to the East Japan Railway Company, and grabbing the top spot was…

…Toyota Motor Corporation with a response rate of 44 percent.

Rounding out the top ten were:
No. 2, Honda, 24.9%;
No. 3, East Japan Railway Company (JR east), 21.1%;
No. 4, Ajinomoto (foods), 20.7%;
No. 5, Nissan, 20.6%;
No. 6, Central Japan Railway Company, 20.1%;
No. 7, Yamato Transport, 19.8%;
No. 8, Canon, 17.5%; and
tied for the No. 9 spot Nissin Foods and Panasonic, both with 17.4%.

By industry, 16 of the top 20 companies were in manufacturing: automobiles, 3 (Toyota, Honda, Nissan); electrical machinery/devices, 5 (Canon, Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba); food and beverage, 6 (Ajinomoto, Nissin Foods, Suntory, Kikkoman, Kirin Beer, Kewpie); and other, 2 (Bridgestone (tires), Toto (ceramics)).

Three rail companies: JR East, JR Central, and JR West made the top 20. The only service company to break into the top 20 was shipping company Yamato Transport.

All companies making the top 20 have been in existence for more than 60 years with 89 years being the average.

When respondents were asked about the image they had for a company and why they felt it was likely to still be around in 50 years time, the number one answer given was “technical capability” at 45.2%. This was followed by:
“Product quality,” 41.8%;
“Market share,” 27.4%;
“Originality,” 26.0%; and
“Management philosophy/approach,” at 25.1%.
“Trustworthiness” was also emphasized.

Top ranking companies had either a lot of equity capital or a high equity capital ratio as demonstrated by number one Toyota, with 10.5 trillion yen of equity capital and an equity capital ratio of 34.4 percent, and number two Honda, with 4.4 trillion yen and 37.4 percent.

In reviewing the results, Risk Monster provided the following analysis, “It’s not a matter of simply possessing technical capability. In order to survive fierce global competition and still exist 50 years later, companies will also need to be able to effectively leverage that capability.”

Source: Mynavi