5 Companies That Have Stood the Test of Time and How They Did It

Only 57 companies remain on Forbes' historic list.
By Laura Sanicola ,

Against all odds, some companies know how to keep the dough rolling.

Only 57 --or 11%-- of the original Fortune 500 have remained on the magazine's historical list since its inception in 1955.

Cracking the list in general is no easy feat. Fortune ranks the corporations in terms of gross revenue during the fiscal year, and the list is generally regarded as the 500 most powerful companies engaging in American business.

However, 89% of the companies from 1955 have either gone bankrupt, merged, or have dropped off the top Fortune 500 companies. In fact, many of the companies on the inaugural list are not recognizable today, such as Cone Mills, a Greensboro, N.C. based textile company or Armstrong Rubber, a New Haven, Conn.-based automobile supplier.

Some companies that lead their respective sectors in 1955 do not even make an appearance on the 2016 list, including Pullman Co. (a rail road car manufacturer best known for its sleeping cars), apparel retailer Burlington (BURL) - Get Report and Briggs Engineering (BGC) . Today, those industry leaders have been replaced with Nike (NKE) - Get Report , package delivery company UPS (UPS) - Get Report and engineering company Fluor  (FLR) - Get Report . Other industries have seen the same companies dominate for years. In aerospace and defense, seven of the 11 companies currently on the Fortune 500 have remained on the list since 1955.

In order to remain on the list, the companies must stand the test of time, surviving volatile markets and changing consumer needs. They must also compete with giants like Citigroup (C) - Get Report and Walmart (WMT) - Get Report , both founded prior to the list's inception but currently ranking No. 29 and No.1, respectively.

Today, a firm on the Fortune 500 can expect to spend 15 years or lest on the prestigious list. This short life cycle is not necessarily bad for American economy, according Mark Perry, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C., and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan. He cites "creative disruption" in which innovative young companies would disrupt older established companies.

"What you would get is a constant cycle of companies being created and destroyed and through this churning there would end up a lower prices for consumers," Perry said.

The theory is that as the kings of the market economy grow and more companies saturate the market, prices are driven down for consumers, a concept that benefits companies like Proctor & Gamble (PG) - Get Report and Pzfier (PFE) - Get Report , two veterans on the list ranked No. 34 and No. 55, respectively.

"Over time the composition of their products is always going to change," he said. "But people will still buy dishwasher liquid and medicine."

Here's how these five companies have continued to drive revenue.

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