Surviving in a declining industry: a new entrepreneurial history of Nihonsakari since the 1970s

Abstract

The longevity of enterprises has long been an important area of research for business historians and management scholars. Nevertheless, little research has been directed towards what enables some firms to survive in a declining industry. In this article, following the new entrepreneurial history approach, we focus on Nihonsakari, a Japanese sake brewer founded in 1889, in order to analyse the concrete processes that enabled it to survive as the sake industry declined since the 1970s. We argue that the core feature propelling its longevity was the persistent co-creation processes among stakeholders that made diversification possible.