DOI - Vydavatelství Mendelovy univerzity v Brně

Identifikátory DOI

DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-082-5-0226

The Century-Old Companies and Brands in the Czech Republic

Jiří Nesiba ORCID...1
1 Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

The article provides basic desk research on the oldest and still existing Czech companies and corporate brands. This pilot and exploratory research mapped century-old business entities in various sectors, from their establishment to the present day. The study analyses the factors that contributed to their sustainability and adaptation in changing political and economic conditions. The article provides a descriptive overview of Czech companies that are over, or very close to, a hundred years old and still in existence. Desk research is made by web scraping and by AI-assisted knowledge exploration. The findings demonstrate that, despite significant historical upheavals, including two world wars (1914–1918, 1939–1945), the period of communism (1948–1989), and the transformation following 1989, a diverse range of companies in various economic sectors have still operated in the Czech Republic. It underlines the importance of corporate traditions and brand identity in the long-term perspective of business.

Klíčová slova: Company Longevity, Company Resilience, Company Biography, Czech Republic, Century-old Company

stránky: 226-234, online: 2026



Reference

  1. AFIN, R., TIBOR, K., ILONA, C. 2025. Firm performance and markets: Survival analysis of medium and large manufacturing enterprises in Indonesia. Journal of Industrial and Business Economics. 52, 107-151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-024-00302-7 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  2. AHMAD, N. 2008. A proposed framework for business demography statistics. In: CONGREGADO, E. (Ed.). Measuring Entrepreneurship. Vol. 16. Boston, MA: Springer, pp. 113-174. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72288-7_7 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  3. ALMEIDA, F. 2023. A longitudinal study of birth, death and survival rate of micro-companies in the European Union. European Journal of International Management. 22(1), 145-164. https://doi.org/10.1504/EJIM.2024.135212 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  4. AYRES, R. U. 2004. On the life cycle metaphor: Where ecology and economics diverge. Ecological Economics. 48(4), 425-438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2003.10.018 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  5. BAKKER, R. M., JOSEFY, M. 2018. More than just a number? The conceptualization and measurement of firm age in an era of temporary organizations. Academy of Management Annals. 12(2). https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0035 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  6. BALMER, J. M. T. 2011. Corporate heritage identities, corporate heritage brands and the multiple heritage identities of the British monarchy. European Journal of Marketing. 45(9/10), 1380-1398. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561111151817 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  7. BECKER, C. 2014. Sustainability and longevity: Two sides of the same quality. In: Third International Workshop on Requirements Engineering for Sustainable Systems (RE4SuSy). Karlskrona. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.2214.0800 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  8. BJERKE, M. B., RENGER, R. 2017. Being smart about writing SMART objectives. Evaluation and Program Planning. 61, 125-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.12.014 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  9. BOGNAR, G. 2019. The value of longevity. Politics, Philosophy & Economics. 19(3), 229-247. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470594X19880279 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  10. BROWN, J. P., LAMBERT, D. M., FLORAX, R. J. G. M. 2013. The birth, death, and persistence of firms: Creative destruction and the spatial distribution of U.S. manufacturing establishments, 2000-2006. Economic Geography. 89(3), 203-226. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecge.12014 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  11. BUCHELI, M., WADHWANI, R. D. (Eds.). 2014. Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  12. CARROLL, G. R., HANNAN, M. T. 2000. The Demography of Corporations and Industries. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  13. COAD, A. 2018. Firm age: A survey. Journal of Evolutionary Economics. 28, 13-43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-016-0486-0 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  14. COLEMAN, S., COTEI, C., FARHAT, J. 2013. A resource-based view of new firm survival: New perspectives on the role of industry and exit route. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. 18(1), 13500027. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946713500027 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  15. CREMER, S., SIXT, M. 2009. Analogies in the evolution of individual and social immunity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 364(1513), 129-142. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0166 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  16. CREMERS, M., LAUTERBACH, B., PAJUSTE, A. 2024. The life cycle of dual-class firm valuation. Review of Corporate Finance Studies. 13(2), 459-493. https://doi.org/10.1093/rcfs/cfac026 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  17. CRESSY, R. 2006. Why do most firms die young? Small Business Economics. 26, 103-116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-004-7813-9 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  18. D'ANGELO, E., GANGI, F., MICHELA DANIELE, L., COSCIA, M. 2022. Does corporate social responsibility help the longevity of centenarian family firms in Europe? Corporate Governance and Research & Development Studies. 1, 55-80. https://doi.org/10.3280/cgrds1-2022oa13806 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  19. EJERMO, O., XIAO, J. 2014. Entrepreneurship and survival over the business cycle: How do new technology-based firms differ? Small Business Economics. 43, 411-426. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-014-9543-y Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  20. ENGERT, S., BAUMGARTNER, R. J. 2016. Corporate sustainability strategy: Bridging the gap between formulation and implementation. Journal of Cleaner Production. 113, 822-834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.11.094. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  21. ESTEVE-PÉREZ, S., PIERI, F., RODRIGUEZ, D. 2018. Age and productivity as determinants of firm survival over the industry life cycle. Industry and Innovation. 25(2), 167-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2017.1291329 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  22. FERREIRA, A., PINHEIRO, M. D., BRITO, J. de, MATEUS, R. 2023. A critical analysis of LEED, BREEAM and DGNB as sustainability assessment methods for retail buildings. Journal of Building Engineering. 66, 105825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2023.105825 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  23. GANGI, F., D'ANGELO, E., MICHELA DANIELE, L., COSCIA, M. 2022. Does corporate social responsibility help the longevity of centenarian family firms in Europe? Corporate Governance and Research & Development Studies. 1, 55-80. https://doi.org/10.3280/cgrds1-2022oa13806 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  24. HASAN, M. M., CHEUNG, A. W.-K. 2018. Organization capital and firm life cycle. Journal of Corporate Finance. 48, 556-578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.12.003 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  25. HIEMANN, M. 2022. A life cycle model of firm value. Journal of Financial Reporting. 7(1), 85-121. https://doi.org/10.2308/JFR-2019-504 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  26. HILAIRE, V., KOUKAM, A., RODRIGUEZ, S. 2011. Immune systems. In: DI MARZO SERUGENDO, G., GLEIZES, M. P., KARAGEORGOS, A. (Eds.). Self-Organising Software. Springer, pp. 287-306. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17348-6_10 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  27. CHANDLER, A. D. JR. 1962. Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Enterprise. Cambridge: MIT Press.
  28. KINTNER, P., MERRICK, T., MORRISON, P., VOSS, P. (Eds.). 1994. Demographics: A Casebook for Business and Government. RAND.
  29. KOZAK, M. 2018. Determinants of business survivability: Literature review. International Journal of Synergy and Research. 6, 183-191. https://doi.org/10.17951/ijsr.2017.0.6.183 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  30. LAWLESS, M., STUDNICKA, Z. 2024. Old firms and new export flows: Does experience increase survival? Open Economies Review. 35, 215-243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11079-023-09727-4 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  31. LEXICON OF LONGEVITY. 2025. Longevity. Club Vita. [Accessed: 17 September 2025]. https://www.clubvita.net/glossary
  32. LI, T.-T., WANG, K., SUEYOSHI, T., WANG, D. D. 2021. ESG: Research progress and future prospects. Sustainability. 13(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/su13211166 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  33. MACLEAN, D. 2024. Longevity. Journal of Practical Ethics. 11(2), 53-72. https://doi.org/10.3998/jpe.6216 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  34. MARKLEY, R. 2012. Time, history, and sustainability. Telemorphosis: Theory in the Era of Climate Change. 1, 43-64.
  35. MARKOWICZ, I. 2014. Business demography: Statistical analysis of firm duration. Transformations in Business & Economics. 13(2B/32B), 801-817.
  36. MAYSON, S. 2023. The implications of valuation: The longevity of the firm. In: Law Firm Strategy: Competitive Advantage and Valuation. Oxford Academic, pp. 237-252. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199231744.003.0013 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  37. MORRIS, J. R. 2009. Life and death of businesses: A review of research on firm mortality. Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis. 4(1), 1932-9156. https://doi.org/10.2202/1932-9156.1050 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  38. PALACIOS-MUNOZ, B., PEUPORTIER, B., GRACIA-VILLA, L., LÓPEZ-MESA, B. 2019. Sustainability assessment of refurbishment vs. new constructions by means of LCA and durability-based estimations of buildings lifespans. Building and Environment. 160, 106203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.106203 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  39. PANZA, L., VILLE, S., MERRETT, D. 2017. The drivers of firm longevity: Age, size, profitability and survivorship of Australian corporations, 1901-1930. Business History. 60(2), 157-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2017.1293041 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  40. PATER, L. R., CRISTEA, S. L. 2016. Systemic definitions of sustainability, durability and longevity. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 221, 362-371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.126 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  41. RANNIKKO, H., TORNIKOSKI, E. T., ISAKSSON, A., LÖFSTEN, H. 2019. Survival and growth patterns among new technology-based firms: Cohort 2006 in Sweden. Journal of Small Business Management. 57(2), 640-657. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12428 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  42. REEVES, M., et al. 2016. The biology of corporate survival. Harvard Business Review. [Accessed: 17 September 2025] https://hbr.org/2016/01/the-biology-of-corporate-survival
  43. SAMMOUR, A. A., CHEN, W., BALMER, J. M. T. 2020. Corporate heritage brand traits and identity: The case of John Lewis. Qualitative Market Research. 23(3), 447-470. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-03-2018-0039 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  44. SHAHEN, M. E., et al. 2021. Intergenerational sustainability is enhanced by taking the perspective of future generations. Scientific Reports. 11, 2437. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81835-y Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  45. SHAHIN, A., MAHBOD, M. A. 2007. Prioritization of key performance indicators: AHP and goal setting. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. 56(3), 226-240. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410400710731437 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  46. TAKAHASHI, N. 2017. Checking firms' life spans expected 30 years ago. Annals of Business Administrative Science. 16(6), 257. https://doi.org/10.7880/abas.0170919a Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  47. WEIDEMA, B. P., SCHMIDT, J., FANTKE, P., et al. 2018. On the boundary between economy and environment in life cycle assessment. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 23, 1839-1846. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1398-4 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  48. WILSON, J. F., TOMS, S., DE JONG, A., BUCHNEA, E. (eds.). 2017. The Routledge Companion to Business History. Abingdon: Routledge.
  49. WIRBA, A. V. 2024. Corporate social responsibility: The role of government in promoting CSR. Journal of the Knowledge Economy. 15(2), 7428-7454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-023-01185-0 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  50. YUSUF, F., SWANSON, D. A. 2010. Business demography in the 21st century. Population Research and Policy Review. 29(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-010-9176-z Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  51. ZHANG, Z. 2022. Evolution paths of green economy modes and the trend of hypercycle economy. Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment. 20(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjpre.2022.03.001 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  52. ZHOU, H., CHEN, H., CHENG, Z. 2016. Internal control, corporate life cycle, and firm performance. In: The Political Economy of Chinese Finance. International Finance Review, Vol. 17. Emerald Publishing, pp. 189-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1569-376720160000017013 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
Návrat zpět