Lessons From Century Club Companies: Managing for Long-Term Success

The connection between employee training investments and long-term employment is well documented

understanding what their best and most innovative customers are doing.”

The resulting close-knit, mutually-supportive relationships heighten the company’s ability to weather challenges as well as to learn and adapt over time.

Frugality in running the business enables the company to set aside money in prosperous times to help weather the lean years. This approach to financial management also means money is available to internally fund new opportunities when they arise, thus avoiding external sources of financing, or having to convince others of the value of an initiative

Present leaders of Century Club companies see themselves as stewards or custodians of the business and feel an obligation to manage the firm in a way that both honors the past and ensures its survival into the future. This deliberate focus on continuity, rather than making a name for themselves, results in real differences in the way old companies

Century Club companies have thrived for over 100 years by successfully practicing a way of doing business that creates shared value and enables their own survival long before such ideas came to be described as the next evolution of American capitalism.

Mars Inc. (1911) We depend completely on the strength of our relationships—with our consumers, with fellow associates, suppliers, distributors, and the communities in which we live and work. We believe we only achieve the best results if we are unselfish in these relationships and give a fair return.

survival is the ultimate performance measure.”

The leaders of the case study Century Club companies were adamant that all these factors must be implemented together to sustain a firm for the long run: together they form a mutually reinforcing web of sustainable business practices.