Europe’s best family firms have a secret weapon money can’t buy
Tradition provides impossible-to-quantify corporate benefits, not least self-confidence and a sense of perspective
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BERRY Bros & Rudd is a magnificent piece of Old England. Founded in 1698 to cater for the new craze for coffee, the shop still displays “the sign of the coffee mill” above the door despite having moved into the wine business two centuries ago. The walls are panelled in the darkest oak. Leather-bound volumes record the weights of “notable customers” including William Pitt, Lord Byron and Beau Brummell.
Yet the company has not allowed its reverence for tradition to divert it from innovation. Berry Bros led the charge into Asia (particularly China) in the 1980s. It now has outlets in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore and stocks Chinese wine on its shelves. Everything from the company’s wine cellars (including a huge one in Basingstoke) to its computer systems are state of the art.
It is fashionable in global business circles to pass over Europe with a sigh. US companies dominate the world’s technological frontier (with Chinese competitors snapping at their heels). Asian companies have mastered the art of mass-producing middle-class prosperity. What are European companies good for?
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