Introduction
In today’s column I take on board more frontally the added reputational and business risks, which flow from the circumstance that ExxonMobil [Guyana’s lead oil Contractor] displays the characteristics of a zombie corporation as that term is commonly understood in the formularization of the dynamics of zombie firms in business and economics. The zombification of ExxonMobil is indeed a vital analytical foundation underpinning this extended series of columns on Guyana’s emergence as a Petrostate. Given this diagnosis I lay out in the next section, a summary description of the key metrics that distinguish a zombie business.
Zombie Corporation Metrics
There is a voluminous body of literature on zombie firms and stocks. I would strongly urge readers to google the topic. To be helpful I’ll refer to useful readings, going forward.
Simply put a zombie company is one unable to service its debt from current profits, over an extended period of time. Investopedia offers a fuller definition. That is, zombie companies are those: