德国“百年老店”亲历记

Experience into “Century-lasting” German Enterprises

“百年老店”的长寿秘密是什么？要回答这个问题并不容易，并充满了太多误读的可能；但我们实在太好奇，忍不住一探究竟。

What is the secret lying behind those 'Century-lasting' German enterprises? It is difficult to answer, and very likely to be misread as well. We are so curious that cannot help but take a close look. In late October, 2012, we paid a visit to Stuttgart, one of the most developed industrial areas in Germany. In Stuttgart we interviewed 4 'old' German companies (Trumpf, Index, Metabo, and Emag), of which the average 'age' was 105 years! At first, we believed that there must be many secrets and expected to explore them, but in the end, we became a little understand and a little puzzled. Perhaps, the over-century enterprises have no secrets at all, they only follow some really simple common sense.