I wonder what is the secret to keeping these corporations alive.
Some people say that the grandpa build the business, dad grow the business, and the son wreck the business. So these families might have ways or tradition to transmit knowledge and wisdom to their offsprings, or maybe they're just incredibly lucky.
Peter Lynch, the investor who used to run Fidelity's Magellan fund used to have a saying that he wanted to invest in businesses that even his dumb nephew could run.
The idea being, businesses that have great fundamental economics and competitive advantages are going to be much more sustainable and thus more likely to compound wealth over time.
If you look at the lists, a lot of these are businesses that are fundamental and cater towards basic human needs/wants. For example, note all the hotels on the list. Maybe they have a fantastic really critical location in a country that has good property laws. That means you can keep transferring it through your bloodline and as long as nobody does anything too stupid (e.g.: take on crazy amounts of debt, go wild and de-worsify) the hotel should continue to exist.
I guess for the major part of the time they were more like a guild. Building temples requires very special skills; they say they aim at 1000 year duration, even though those temples are made of woods, instead of stones. It requires many years of apprenticeship, and probably becoming a member of their family was the only way to master the profession, thus there weren't much competitors. On the other hand, temples had always been built and reconstructed.
Some people say that the grandpa build the business, dad grow the business, and the son wreck the business. So these families might have ways or tradition to transmit knowledge and wisdom to their offsprings, or maybe they're just incredibly lucky.