The House of Mitsui: Secrets of its Longevity

Abstract

This paper examines the business achievements of the once-powerful House of Mitsui. Its long success is studied from the perspective of its founders' skills, making extensive use of historical documents of the Mitsui family collected and prepared by the Mitsui Research Institute for Social and Economic History. The focus is placed on seven marketing innovations which, coupled with extraordinary personal ability, resulted in a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

Keywords: Economic history,business history, management history, history of family business, History of entrepreneurship,

JEL Classification: L21,M10,M13,M14, N8,N15,N80,N85