日本百年家族企業的生存祕訣 養子繼承製度!

In Japan, 98% of those being adopted are actually adult men, aged between 20 and 30.

日本98%的被收養人實際上是20-30歲的成年男子。

In Japan, there is a several-hundred-year-old tradition in which businesses adopt their executives so companies or institutions are "family-run" groups.

日本有一項延續了數百年的傳統，即企業收養管理人員，這樣一來，企業或機構就成了"家族運營"集團。

It all started hundreds of years ago when Japan's civil code dictated how a family's wealth would be passed on after the death of the family elder.

這一切始於數百年前，當時日本民法典規定了家族長者去世後家族財富的繼承辦法。

If a family did not have any blood-related sons, the law said that adopted sons could carry on the family name, business, and receive the wealth.

該部民法典規定，如果家裏沒有任何有血緣的子嗣，養子可以延續姓氏、繼承產業和財富。

Nowadays, legal adoption of this kind is paired up with an arranged marriage of a daughter, meaning the adopted son becomes son and son-in-law at the same time because he changes his name to the wife's family name.

如今這類合法收養與女兒的包辦婚姻相結合，即養子同時成爲兒子和女婿，因爲他會將自己的姓氏改爲妻子的姓氏。

Studies have found that adult adoption is a very effective way of keeping family businesses healthy over long periods of time.

研究發現，收養成人是家族企業長期健康運營極有效的方法。

According to The New Economy, "adopting highly qualified adults to head family businesses has the triple effect of displacing untalented blood heirs, eliciting better performance from managers who stand to be placed on a fast-track to ownership by becoming an adopted son, and encouraging proactivity among blood heirs who live under constant threat of being replaced by a 'superior' adopted son."

《新經濟》雜誌稱，“收養高素質成年人來領導家族企業具有一箭三雕的效果：取代無才的血親繼承人；促使有望通過成爲養子而踏上擁有公司捷徑的管理者表現更出色；激發處於隨時可能被“更優秀”的養子取代的威脅中的血親繼承人的工作積極性。”

Today, there are a host of matchmaking companies and marriage consultants specializing in recruiting adult adoptees for Japanese companies.

如今，有很多婚介公司和婚戀顧問專門爲日本企業招收成年養子。

"There is definitely demand because the birth rate in Japan has been falling and many parents just have a daughter," says Chieko Date, the founder of a matchmaking site for woman looking for husbands willing to get adopted by their families.

伊達千惠是一家婚介網站的創始人，該網站爲女性尋找願被其家族收養的丈夫。伊達千惠說，“因爲日本的出生率一直在下降，而許多夫妻只有一個女兒，所以肯定有需求。”

"And many men are looking for opportunities to use their business skills outside the corporate world because in this economy, climbing up the corporate ladder is much harder."

“許多男人都希望在企業世界之外的天空施展自己的商業技能，因爲在這種經濟體制中升遷要困難得多。”