Experts from The Witten Institute for Family Business met Henokiens Japanese members in April 2019

A group composed of researches from the Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU = Wittener Institut für Familienunternehmen) went to Japan in April 2019 to explore the differences and similarities between Japanese Family Businesses and German Family Businesses. For this, they interviewed local members of academic institutions as well as representatives of spiritual organizations (e. g. Buddhist monks, Zen Masters, Shinto priests etc.) and multi-generational business families among which six Henokiens company members : Gekkeikan, Nakagawa Maschashichi Shoten, Okaya, Toraya, Yamamotoyama and Yamasa.

The learning journey was intended to address three major topics in its specific cultural constellation in Japanese society: first, issues pertaining to succession; second, structures and strategies of family and business governance and, third, established routines of conflict prevention and resolution within business and the family taking into consideration that surveys on the longevity of firms reveal that many of the oldest family companies in the world are Japanese.

The Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU) is Germany's pioneer and guide for academic research and teaching of the specific features of family businesses. The foundations for the consistent interdisciplinary orientation of WIFU were laid when it was founded in 1998, with the installation of three professorships – business management, psychology/sociology, and law. This configuration of disciplines, the scientific mirror image of the very make-up of family businesses, has enabled WIFU to gather technical expertise that is unparalleled in the field of family enterprise. Since 2004, the Institute's sponsors – an exclusive group of 75 family businesses – have enabled WIFU to act with and on behalf of family businesses. WIFU makes use of these unique European-wide conditions to systematically advance research and teaching of this particular organizational form and to develop innovative approaches for solving related problems. With currently 18 professors, WIFU has been contributing significantly for the last 20 years to the trans-generational sustainability of family businesses.

The WIFU researching team who participated to this journey was composed of Prof. Dr. Rudolf Wimmer, Prof. Tom Rüsen, Prof. Dr. Heiko Kleve, Dr. Tobias Köllner and Dr. Sigrun Caspary.

More information of this research :
Witten Institut for Family Business (WIFU)
Alfred-Herrhausenstr. 50
D-58448 Witten (Allemagne)
E.mail : wifu@uni-wh.de
Tel: +49 2302 926-513