Next Year's Four-Character Idiom Chosen by SMEs: 'Tojeokseongsan'

The Meaning of "Soil Piles Up to Form a Mountain"... Determined to Overcome the COVID Management Crisis and Achieve Results

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners selected the four-character idiom 'Tojeokseongsan (土積成山)' as the phrase that represents the business environment and management will in 2021. The Korea Federation of SMEs (Chairman Kim Ki-moon) announced on the 14th that 29.7% of respondents chose Tojeokseongsan as the four-character idiom for next year in the 'Survey on SME Business Environment Outlook through Four-Character Idioms' conducted from the 2nd to the 7th with 300 SMEs.

Tojeokseongsan means 'soil accumulates to form a mountain,' symbolizing that small things accumulate to achieve great accomplishments. It appears that SME owners, who endured a difficult year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, expressed their determination to overcome the crisis through solid management and achieve results next year.

However, among businesses with fewer than five regular employees, the most selected idiom (27.1%) was Geojuyangnan (去住兩難), which means 'a difficult situation deciding whether to go or stay.' It is interpreted that micro and small business owners, who suffered the most from the COVID-19 crisis, are not optimistic about next year's business conditions and find it difficult to prepare countermeasures.

For this year's business environment, SME owners chose Nosimchosa (勞心焦思), meaning 'to be deeply worried and anxious' (36.3%), reflecting their anxious feelings about the management crisis and concerns about maintaining their businesses amid the emergency economic situation caused by COVID-19.

The most common response strategy for next year's business environment among SMEs was 'solid management through cost reduction (54.7%),' followed by 'discovering new clients (46.7%)' and 'strengthening cooperation and collaboration among SMEs (26.3%).' The most needed support measures were 'support for hiring and employment retention (49.3%),' 'stimulating domestic demand (42.0%),' 'measures to stabilize exchange rates and prices (27.0%),' and 'regulatory relaxation (23.0%).'

Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "Since Tojeokseongsan also means that the combined efforts of many people achieve great things, I hope that the efforts of 6.63 million SMEs and small business owners will make 2021 a year of economic leap forward." He emphasized, "As difficulties for SMEs and small business owners are expected to continue due to the impact of COVID-19 next year, economic policies should prioritize revitalizing SMEs."

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