The idea of cryogenically freezing somebody when they become seriously ill has been around for some time, but how about freezing a company when it becomes seriously ill?

ergo:

Bottom drops out of the market, company gets frozen. Market recovers, unfreeze the company.
-- ThomasEdison, Jan 10 2003

stick the staff in the fridge?
-- po, Jan 10 2003


Like the category. Is that what gave you the idea though?
-- sild, Jan 10 2003


Slartibartfast? is that you?
-- Zircon, Jan 10 2003


Company recovers to market to discover that their creditors have been waiting to be paid, all of their processes are 30 years out of date, inflation has devalued their entire fund, their stock value has gone to zero for inactivity, and their product is now illegal. Other than those minor issues, I like it.
-- RayfordSteele, Jan 10 2003


You can stash the capital but resuscitating a company which has been bled of its labor seems pretty tricky. And why bother? Instead it seems more efficient to sell off the capital and invest your money elsewhere in the meantime.

This would only make sense for companies which require complex and idiosyncratic physical equipment that would have more value preserved for the future than disassembled, but I think you'll find in that case speculators would be happy to acquire your factory (or whatever) and put it on hold until conditions change and they can sell it again.

Fundamentally, this is an idea that's somewhere between "bad" and "nonsense" because once you remove whatever ineffable "corporate culture" exists, the rest is just a bunch of parts that can be easily disassembled, sold, and reassembled at will, unlike body parts (with current technology).
-- egnor, Jan 10 2003


Isn't this the purpose of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings? (That's the "reorganization" bankruptcy, as opposed to Chapter 7 which is "liquidation").
-- krelnik, Apr 22 2003


I don't think [ThomasEdison] means Ch 11. I think he was referring the HHGTTG concept.

Assuming a 100% equity capital structure, no time depreciating equipment, a flexible labor-force and no inventory degradation, it's possible, but only in such extreme cases.

I remember a business school assignment in the early-mid 1990s entitled "Why the current bull market will last forever" I was forced to explain (against my better judgement) how today's flexible company management, as described above, would enable companies to respond to changes in demand without a boom and bust cycle. Hah!
-- FloridaManatee, Apr 22 2003


I think this will prevent companies that deserve to go bankrupt from being removed from the marketplace. Those that are no longer needed because of structural changes in the economy should merely be dissolved, like salt in water. Those that are having trouble because of mismanagement or bad customer service, could indeed be frozen, but then used as ice sculptures. (Which would improve quality of life for consumers - good ice sculptures are way too expensive!)
-- beland, May 26 2003



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