Comment by vesinisa
5 years ago
Company being old certainly does not mean it needs to be full of legacy systems and business processes. It only means that the company's management is not competent at evolving the company's processes and systems, which means it will eventually fail regardless of being a fresh startup or centuries old going concern.
Bosch, Siemens, Bayer, BASF and Carl-Zeiss are all examples of over hundred year-old German companies that continue to innovate at the cutting edge of their industries and are massively profitable.
Minor nitpick: Volkswagen isn't over a hundred years old at all.
It might not be entirely inaccurate to say that they have survived a thousand years, but those were the shortest thousand years in history.
Hah! Thanks, edited.
It might be also said that their innovation most recently has focused on some less-than legal technologies. But innovation it is, nonetheless.
Those companies innovate and do well but they're not online businesses. They sell specialized niche high tech physical goods not digital services.
What about IBM? Founded in 1911, $13B profit in 2018. Most successful company in several online business sectors.
What about Nokia? Founded originally in 1865 as a paper mill, re-invented itself multiple times in countless different industries, before becoming the leading mobile phone manufacturer in 1990s and 2000s. They did eventually indeed succumb to their failure to evolve, but a more competent management post 2006 would have likely saved the company.
Then there's Nintendo, founded in 1889. They originally started making playing cards, eventually branching to toys and then video games.
Google isn’t helping me here, other than mainframes which sectors does IBM dominate?
Not online they wont