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The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

businessfinancing.co.uk

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Re: The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

#141

Post by Certhas »

marliechiller wrote: post #137
squiggleblaz wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But do you seriously reckon all those European businesses from the 800s were registered as a company? This map is nothing but a racist pissing match created by enlightened Europeans who've worked out some novel way of considering them better than the civilisations they trashed. It's an embarrassment.

is it that? or is it just a mildly interesting, if factually incorrect infographic? youve made a mental leap to racism there which is quite unfair

Not the person you are replying to, but: I don't think anyone set out to create an intentionally racist map. But the effect can still be racist. If it's based on data-sources and concepts that have a Europe and Europe descendent focus, and then presents them as facts about the world, without acknowledging the perspective, that is problematic. If further the tenuous continuity claims in some European countries, that are little more than advertisement, are put side to side with much stricter formal registration data from other countries this starts being quite deliberate.

Re: The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

#142

Post by dhacks »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #65

This map seems to use a very variable and at times generous definition of both “company” and “still in business”. Sure, Australia Post is one of Australia’s oldest institutions if you count from the date of the establishment of its oldest predecessor (which this map does, as a Postmaster-General was first appointed for New South Wales in 1809), but a single national postal service wasn’t established until Australia i…

Reminds me how the restaurant Earl of Sandwich, which was founded in 2004 in Orlando, puts established in 1762 on their website and the front of some of their buildings [1]. Just because the "sandwich" was invented in 1762.

[1]: http://paradisefoundaround.com/wp-content/uploads/disneyland...

Re: The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

#145

Post by tenant »

It makes sense that an inn can be very old. Even if they were to destroy a town, soldiers would still need somewhere to drink. In an era of blanket bombing etc this might no longer be the case. I'm sure some pretty ancient businesses were destroyed in WW2

Re: The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

#146

Post by arberavdullahu »

wyattpeak wrote: post #102

The article claims that the oldest company in Kosovo was founded in 1999. I assume this is related to when it gained statehood, because it seems patently implausible that there are no institutions more than twenty years old. The trouble is, all sorts of entries on this list predate the formation of the modern states in which they reside. Serbia's Apatin Brewery (1756) clearly predates its time as a part of Yugoslavia…

I'm not sure how they got the data. I was able to find one company older than the one mentioned in the article which is still running. I'm referring to Birra e Pejes (Beer Peja) which was founded in 1968 [0].

There might be some discrepancies in this article because the information could have been obtained from English written sources, whereas, more accurate information is available in sources written in the native languages of each country.

[0] https://gjirafa.biz/birra-e-pejs-1

Re: The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

#147

Post by arethuza »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #133
psalminen wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't started in America though.

Because I'm meant to believe HSBC was started in El Salvador right? The standard in the image does not include having started there.

That's presumably the local legal entity for HSBC - most large companies operate by having at least one local legal entity in each country they operate in which are usually wholly owned subsidiaries of some other company in the group.

Re: The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

#148

Post by PappaPatat »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #128
Yessing wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for example Café M’Rabet – Tunis was created in 1630 and it is still operational till now. But it was not registered as a company at the time.

But do you seriously reckon all those European businesses from the 800s were registered as a company? This map is nothing but a racist pissing match created by enlightened Europeans who've worked out some novel way of considering them better than the civilisations they trashed. It's an embarrassment.

Can you give some pointers as to what data / sources / criteria would make for a more fair representation?

Re: The oldest company in almost every country (that is still in business)

#150

Post by vidarh »

manfredo wrote: post #44
crooked-v wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the pre-colonial population maybe didn't have a culture of setting up long running businesses This assumption of an entire continent as having a single culture is something that I find cringy at best.

I don't think the above commenter wrote that all of precolonial Africa had a single culture, only that precolonial cultures evidently did not have cultures with long standing businesses - at least as we understand businesses them today.

There's no evidence of this, in large part because the African empires for the most part were wiped out under colonial rule, not just subjugated.

Often with extreme prejudice, such as when the British destroyed and burned Benin City to the ground, destroyed large parts of its walls, which were once a single fortification threading through the city measuring four times the length of the Great Wall of China, looted it's art, which then for a long time was "explained away" because the bronze sculptures were a lot more advanced than Europeans liked to think Africans were capable of, ignoring the descriptions of Benin City from those who'd been there.

The result was that for a long time the idea of what pre-colonial Africa was like was based on ignoring the things the colonial powers had stolen (the Benin Bronzes were sometimes assumed to have been brought by Portuguese traders, for example; a more comfortable idea than Africans making bronze statues), and looking at the aftermath of colonial destruction as evidence of lack of large structures and cities.

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