This work is part of research projects that are in the line of Business Reality which are focus on the relationships of organizations with different agents that affect them. This research takes place within a specific program called Business Epidemiology and aims to identify the behavior of the corporate “Thanatos” in the industrial sector in Colombia, from 2007 to 2013. However, within the study some results of previous compulsory liquidation to 2007 are named. Initially, the work contains a collection of information from different experts and academics that have been commissioned to study the sustainability of the business and the factors that affect it. Also, it is performed a theoretical analysis about the phenomenon of corporate morbidity which is based on real numbers that leads identify the effect of this phenomenon on the Colombian economy and the welfare of its inhabitants. Furthermore, a general concept of the situation of the industrial sector in Colombia and its impact on the country`s economy was developed. On the other hand, the opportunities and challenges offered by the recent free trade agreement is analyzed in this study and it is done an approach to the theories of internationalization and the relationship established from them. Likewise, factors that threaten the durability of business and creating them are identified. In order to develop this study, data provided by the “Superintendencia de Sociedades” were taken, from which were identified companies that have been entering liquidation and reorganization processes. Taking into account that there are two types of liquidation in Colombia, research is divided into two chapters: compulsory liquidation and judicial liquidation. The number of companies that went into liquidation and the cities that had more liquidation of companies in the industrial sector are presented in each of these chapters. Finally, by analyzing the information found in this study, a series of recommendations to the main problems encountered related to the closure of businesses in the country is presented.
