The older tiers of this list seem to be heavily dominated by Japan, Germany, and Switzerland. Is that reflective of something other than the demographics of non-"New World" contributors to Wikipedia?
Germany, Austria and the UK, mostly seem to be breweries and inns/pubs. I'd speculate that some of this is likely to be monastery or abbey run so, again, it's not as family dependent as most businesses would have been. Also, if you find a popular spot for serving beer in one of those countries, say near a major market, you'd be getting punters for generations.
Switzerland's a bit less obvious. Possibly it's to do with its stability and conservativism?
- not being colonised (rules out New World, Africa, middle east, India)
- not going through Communism or one of the less business friendly dictatorships (rules out Eastern Europe, Russia, China etc)
That's not to disprove your point, I suppose, but perhaps to make the perseverance of those companies all the more fascinating.
(This is not to say that looting didn't happen; the V2 rocket programme was explicitly looted, for example)
Japan, Germany and Switzerland have been efficient bureaucracies since time immemorial. They've had brief periods of trauma, but they haven't experienced an upheaval with the profound and lasting impact of something like the Russian revolution, the Great Leap Forward or the British Raj.
They are also cultures that highly value economic stability and family ownership, although I think this is a secondary factor. I have no doubt that there are huge numbers of family-owned businesses that would be on this list, but for the fact that no records exist to demonstrate their age.
Survivor bias, most prominently. "To be listed, a brand or company name must remain operating, either in whole or in part, since inception."
Surviving was helped by continuity of social structures: Japan and Switzerland have seen very little external upheaval, while Germany's contemporary territory, despite unable to claim the same, has also seen a strong adherence to local institutions throughout. These companies tend to be, disproportionately, small, local affairs, so a tight-knit group of people was able to sustain them throughout generations as borders were being redrawn on the macro level.
In places where warfare and demographic change led to the movement or fall of entire populations, the continuity of such institutions was put at risk.
As a related factor, survival of documentation and the quality and continuity of recordkeeping also plays into this list.
We'd do quite well if the list was 'stately homes'.
Two total wars (WW1 and WW2, plus numerous other invasions and revolutions).
> the UK,
has 10 of the list, not sure how many you're expecting
> Norway,
Population only 5 million. Considerable famine in 1690s.
> Albania
Italian occupation in WW2.
> India
British occupation
> Syria
French then British occupation, then Ba'ath, with coups.
> and a heck of a lot of other places with thousands of years of history.
Mostly lots of invasions. Britain hasn't been invaded since 1066. Japan has had plenty of wars but no serious land occupation since the Mongols.