The test of time.

• Author: Bailey, David
• Position: North Carolina's largest and oldest private companies

Six of the 100 largest private companies have beaten the odds and lasted 100 years. Nearly a third are over 60.

In a state with such a long history of commerce, it's no wonder six of the largest private businesses have been around a century or more. What seems remarkable is that all six are still family-owned and that the CEOs of five of them are descendants of founders.

"That's not surprising to me," says Mike Henderson, partner in charge of the Carolinas family-wealth-planning practice for Arthur Andersen & Co. The international accounting firm ranked the North Carolina 100 using 1994 revenue. This year the oldest companies were also ranked by age.

NORTH CAROLINA 100 The Centenarians

Years in Business Company

124 Harvey Enterprises & Affiliates 123 Royster-Clark Inc. 109 Monroe Hardware Co. 101 The News and Observer Publishing Co. 100 W.R. Bonsal Co. 100 Harriet & Henderson Yarns Inc. Only about one in 10 family businesses survives three generations, Henderson says. Those that make it do business differently from most companies: "The reason these companies have beaten the odds is they feel a real fiduciary responsibility and a sense of stewardship for the next generation, so they make decisions based on the long haul.

"The companies that make it long-term really encourage strategic regeneration. If you go back to granddad who founded the business, one basic strategy probably lasted his entire tenure. The average shelf life of a strategy today is more like three to five years."

John O. McNairy, CEO of Harvey Enterprises & Affiliates, the oldest company on the North Carolina 100, agrees. "It's not like you're going west and have to go east all at once, but periodically you've got to change course a few degrees." During its 124 years, the Kinston-based company has had to do quite a bit of tacking. "In order to stay in business as long as we have, you've got to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves, and that may lead you down paths which you never dreamed you'd be traveling."

Those paths have gotten the company into trucking, convenience stores, propane distribution, environmental cleanup and, most recently, into cotton ginning, marketing [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] and farming. It's been decades since Harvey Enterprises planted any cotton. "It's kind of come full circle," McNairy says.

"The business constantly changes because the products continue to change," says S. Clark Jenkins, president of Royster-Clark Inc., Harvey's...