Samsung Electronics Wins 'Best' for 10 Consecutive Years in Win-Win Growth Index Evaluation

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Samsung Electronics announced on the 15th that it received the highest grade for 10 consecutive years for the first time among domestic companies in the '2020 Win-Win Growth Index Evaluation' selected by the Win-Win Growth Committee.

The Win-Win Growth Index is an indicator that quantifies the level of win-win growth by evaluating about 210 large companies on ▲fair trade ▲win-win cooperation activities ▲partner companies' perception, to promote win-win growth between large and small and medium-sized enterprises. Since the evaluation was introduced in 2011, Samsung Electronics is the only company to have been selected for the highest grade for 10 consecutive years. It was also selected as a 'Best Honorary Company,' awarded to companies that have received the highest grade for three consecutive years.

Under the core value of 'Pursuit of Win-Win and Integrity Management,' Samsung Electronics is promoting various win-win activities to establish fair trade with partner companies, improve their competitiveness, and spread a culture of win-win growth. It is expanding win-win activities not only with first-tier partners but also with second- and third-tier partners, and furthermore, it is broadening the scope of win-win by supporting small and medium-sized enterprises that do not currently have transactions.

Employees of 'Wonik IPS,' a semiconductor equipment company partnering with Samsung Electronics, are inspecting semiconductor production facilities.
Photo by Samsung Electronics

Partner Companies' Transaction Payments in Cash... Establishing Fair Trade

Since 2005, Samsung Electronics has been the first domestic company to pay the transaction payments to small and medium-sized partner companies in full cash.

Since 2017, it has taken the lead in improving the payment culture of domestic companies by creating a 500 billion KRW fund to support material payments, allowing first-tier partners to shorten payment periods to second-tier partners within 30 days, and providing interest-free loans for two years.

Additionally, Samsung Electronics prioritizes establishing fair trade by mandating fair trade education for employees in contact with partner companies, improving policies and systems related to partner companies, and reflecting not only raw material prices but also minimum wage increases in delivery prices. Samsung Electronics signs fair trade agreements annually with first-tier partners, and first-tier partners sign agreements with second-tier partners, who in turn sign with third-tier partners.

Support for Partner Companies' Funding, Technology, and Talent Development

Samsung Electronics provides customized support in various fields such as funding, technology, and talent development to enhance the overall competitiveness of partner companies. To support partner companies financially, it established a 1 trillion KRW Win-Win Fund in 2011, offering low-interest loans for technology development and facility investment funds. Since 2010, it has provided incentives to excellent semiconductor sector partner companies, paying a total of 425.4 billion KRW over 11 years since the system's introduction. It plans to provide about 240 billion KRW over the next three years starting this year.

For technology support, Samsung Electronics has held excellent technology briefings since 2009 to discover future growth engines for partner companies. Since 2015, it has opened its patents free of charge to domestic small and venture companies, transferring about 1,560 patents free of charge as of July this year. To strengthen the competitiveness of domestic small businesses by securing next-generation technologies and localization, Samsung Electronics plans to expand the 20 billion KRW public-private R&D fund operated jointly with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups since 2013 to 30 billion KRW (15 billion KRW each from the Ministry and Samsung Electronics).

Talent development for win-win growth is also one of Samsung Electronics' focused social contribution projects. To this end, it established the Win-Win Cooperation Academy, a dedicated organization for partner companies, in 2013. The academy, composed of about 100 experts, has provided free consulting to 1,500 partner companies over the past eight years. Education has been provided to 140,000 partner company employees, and support has been given for the recruitment of 3,500 talents.

An employee of Daeduck Electronics, a PCB (printed circuit board) company partnered with Samsung Electronics, is inspecting the production facility. Photo by Samsung Electronics

Expanding Win-Win Activities... Support for Manufacturing Innovation such as Smart Factories

Samsung Electronics is expanding programs applied to first-tier partners, such as the Win-Win Fund, employee education, and manufacturing innovation support, to second-tier and lower partners. In 2018, it additionally established and operates a 700 billion KRW 'Third-Tier Partner Exclusive Fund (Win-Win Fund, Material Payment Support Fund)' for third-tier partners.

Meanwhile, since last year, Samsung Electronics has provided financial support, consulting for diversifying purchasing channels, and quarantine supplies to partner companies facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 situation. It has also provided urgent support to improve productivity for about 20 small companies producing essential quarantine products such as masks, diagnostic kits, eye protection gear, hand sanitizers, and LDS syringes.

The smart factory project introduced in 2015 has evolved since 2018 into comprehensive support activities necessary for small and medium-sized enterprises, such as manufacturing site innovation, environmental safety improvement, and manufacturing operation system establishment, in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Samsung and the Ministry have invested 10 billion KRW each annually from 2018 to 2022, totaling 100 billion KRW, and about 200 Samsung manufacturing experts support smart factory construction on-site.

Samsung has additionally invested 10 billion KRW to operate programs such as domestic and overseas buyer discovery, global promotion, and education. From 2015 to last year, about 2,500 small and medium-sized enterprises have benefited from Samsung Electronics' smart factory construction support project.

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