Stepping Up Supports
It has been found that the 30 largest business groups in South Korea are stepping up their support for partner firms, in spite of the current slowdown of the national economy, in order to tide over the ongoing recession by means of closer cooperation with them.
According to the Federation of Korean Industries’ (FKI) recent survey, the 30 conglomerates are planning to provide 1.8452 trillion won (US$1.604 billion) for their partner firms this year. The amount is 6% larger than that of last year and has increased by 3.8% on an annual average basis since 2011.
833.4 billion won (US$724.6 million) of it is scheduled to be provided for technical innovation purposes, followed by 492.1 billion won (US$427.9 million) for marketing assistance, 460.2 billion won (US$400.1 million) for guarantee and loan assistance and 59.5 billion won for employee training.
When it comes to year-on-year growth, the investment for overseas market penetration has increased by 46.5% while the support for employee training, the assistance for sale and purchase and the support for productivity improvement have increased by 46%, 12.9% and 8.8%, respectively.
It has also been found that the 30 conglomerates are striving to enhance the capabilities of their partner firms by means of smart factory development, joint R&D projects, overseas marketing assistance, etc.