It might annoy those who see business life as being glued to a Blackberry twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, that some of the highest rates of business success, at least as defined by the lowest rates of business failure, are enjoyed by the technophobe Amish.

The Amish themselves would put this down to Divine Providence, but, leaving the theology aside for a moment, their religious lifestyle also brings distinct competitive advantages in the secular sense.

Top of the list is a reputation for integrity that is an increasingly valuable asset in an increasingly valueless marketplace. It also does no harm to have the proverbial Protestant work ethic. Finally, they are among the few people in the West who still live with a real sense of community that leads to practical co-operation between them in business – epitomised by the beautiful “barn-raising” scene in Peter Weir’s film Witness.

All that said, the low rate of business failures among the Amish still comes down to a basic, unsentimental truth: those who choose to adopt cautious, low-risk business strategies are mathematically less likely to fail than those who choose higher risk strategies.

The Amish preference for the low-risk, low-failure option is a deliberate choice. They tend to stick to businesses they know. More significantly, they also avoid borrowing money.

This limits their potential for growth, but it also limits their exposure when times get tough. Recent months have demonstrated the advantage of a business not having to rely on unreliable banks in a downturn.

It is for the entrepreneur to decide what sort of business he wants. That depends on what he wants from his business – which depends, in turn, on what he thinks he wants from his life. If that sounds too philosophical, it should be remembered that the Amish succeed in business precisely because their businesses are a direct reflection of their philosophy of life.

That philosophy might seem alien to a City kid out for his first hundred million, but as you get older, you see hundreds of those City types come and go – most of them going in one of the downturns that always occur, but which they never seem to foresee happening to them – and not coming back. Then you begin to wonder if the Amish, who always endure, complete with their funny hats and archaic language, might not have had the right idea all along.