Mitsubishi

One of Japan's largest conglomerates with roots dating to 1870, founded as a shipping company by Yataro Iwasaki during Japan's Meiji Restoration. Mitsubishi exemplifies succession through business portfolio transformation rather than individual business evolution.

The company demonstrates portfolio succession - managing organizational evolution by changing the business mix. After WWII dissolution forced restart, Mitsubishi reformed into a keiretsu structure with cross-shareholding and coordination, showing that catastrophic disruption can reset succession to earlier stages.