[2020 Asia Consumer Awards] Consumers as the Center of South Korea's Economy... Also Examined Online Surveys and Business Ethics

Judging Comments / Yoo Chang-jo, Professor, Department of Business Administration, Dongguk University

Professor Yoo Chang-jo, Department of Business Administration, Dongguk University (Chairman of the Jury)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] With the Fourth Industrial Revolution based on advanced technology, consumers are playing a leading role on the stage called the market. While companies were once at the center of the market, now consumers occupy that central position. This power of consumers comes from the expanded networks they create themselves. Consumers are becoming the main actors driving the market by seeking participation and cooperation with various members on the market stage. In this era, the core of corporate customer management systems lies in consumer-centered operations. The Asia Economy Consumer Awards, now in its 14th year, certifies and showcases brands that develop and provide products and services centered on consumers and have received the highest evaluations from consumer assessments.

The Consumer Awards are broadly divided into category-specific awards and agency head awards, with the judging panel prioritizing consumer evaluations during the selection process. In the first stage, Asia Economy conducted an online survey targeting candidate companies by category, recommending those that received the highest evaluations from consumers as award candidates. In the second stage, the judging panel reviewed the ethicality of the management activities of the candidate companies and evaluated the appropriateness of awarding them. As a result, 48 category-specific awardees were selected. Finally, an evaluation was conducted to select agency head awards from 10 companies that received the highest scores in the consumer survey. The panel of six judges, composed of consumer field experts and key officials from relevant government ministries, comprehensively evaluated the companies’ excellence in management activities based on consumer evaluation scores and the relevance of the awards to the government ministries’ work to select the agency head award recipients.

As a result, Lotte Duty Free received the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award, Paris Croissant (Paris Baguette) received the Minister of Health and Welfare Award, CJ CheilJedang (Bibigo Juk) received the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Safety Ministry Award, and Ottogi (Premium X.O. Dumplings) received the Food Industry Association President Award. The judging panel also decided to give a special award to LG Household & Health Care (Nature Collection), which has achieved outstanding results in domestic and international markets.

In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, consumers and companies will create the market together. We hope that the companies receiving awards today will cooperate with consumers, create and spread conditions that allow consumers to actively participate in the market, and become a new driving force for the Korean economy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.