Graeme Lofts tells the stories of Australia’s oldest and best known family businesses.
To be considered for the book, the business had to have been around for over 100 years under family control. The companies discussed are Sadleirs Group, Cooper’s Brewery, Furphy, Dymocks, Brown Brothers Wine, A.H. Beard Bedding Co, Bulla Cream and Haigh’s chocolates.
There were a number of common threads between each business despite being part of different industries, the key theme being that they all make decisions for the long term. We see so many ASX listed businesses making decisions to satisfy half yearly earnings expectations that will hurt the business over the long term.
Each of these successful companies have proven their ability to survive depressions and multiple wars and I believe a lot of it has to do with making decisions with a long-term view. The other key commonality is their focus on the customer with each business believing if that if they do the right thing by the customer, then the customer will support their business. I was so enthralled by the book I got through it in one Sunday afternoon.
A great history lesson of Australian business and a great lesson on how to run a company to survive long term.