식품제조업의 한계기업 동향과 특징

Trends and Characteristics of Zombie Firms in Korean Food Manufacturing

Social concerns in zombie firms is growing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn. We employed financial statement panel data of food manufacturers at the firm level and analyzed the trends and characteristics of zombie firms. If the interest coverage ratio is less than 1 for 3 consecutive years, it is classified as a zombie firm. Recently, the share of zombie firms has been increasing, albeit slightly, and as of 2021, 10 percents of the food manufacturers in the sample were identified as zombies. However, in the past 20 years, the proportion of firms that have become zombies has reached 35.3%. Zombie firms have a negative impact on the growth of the food manufacturing industry due to the congestion effect. In order to promote the revitalization of the food manufacturing industry, it is time to carefully select zombie firms and come up with measures to improve their constitution.