On the Succession of Marketing Entrepreneurship in the House of Mitsui

Abstract

In the early 17th century, the Mitsui brothers began business in Tokyo. After a lapse of several years, they split up into three families. Among them, only the House of Mitsui had conducted business until the end of the World War II for 272 years and the other two families disappeared from history. This paper examines the succession process in the Mitsui families focusing on the House of Mitsui in its early days and elucidates the reasons why only the House of Mitsui was successful in the succession of the founder's marketing entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Japanese Management, Japanese Marketing, Family Business, CEO Succession, Survival Strategy of Business Firms

JEL Classification: L20, L21, M10, M13, M14, M31, M51, N80, N85