Gwangju Jeonnam Small and Medium Business Administration Holds Meeting to Strengthen Competitiveness of Clustered Small Manufacturers

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Due to the explosive increase in non-face-to-face transactions caused by COVID-19 and the rapidly changing distribution environment, small manufacturers centered on offline transactions are facing management difficulties.

The Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Small and Medium Venture Business Administration held a meeting to strengthen the competitiveness of small manufacturers in industrial clusters at the Printing Business Center in Seonam-dong, Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 31st of last month, to listen to the voices from the field in areas densely populated with small manufacturers and to seek ways to actively respond in the post-COVID-19 era.

This meeting was attended by the Small Manufacturer Specialized Centers from three cluster areas: Printing in Seonam-dong, Gwangju; Jewelry in Chungjang-dong; and Ceramics in Muan, as well as Mokpo National University, which was selected as a digital specialized university this year.

The attendees stated, “Most small manufacturers possess excellent technical skills but are not familiar with digital culture and lack online marketing capabilities, making it difficult to develop sales channels as they often become subcontractors for large companies.”

They added, “Currently, efforts such as creating online platforms centered on the clusters are underway, but professional education to utilize and operate these platforms and active government support are necessary.”

Furthermore, through collaboration with the ‘Small Business Digital Specialized University,’ which provides specialized theoretical education and practical courses in e-commerce, distribution/logistics, import/export, and marketing for small business owners, they decided to actively promote the online advancement of small manufacturers in the clusters.

Director Jang Dae-gyo said, “We will discover independent projects to enhance the capabilities of small manufacturers so that they can become self-reliant, and we will provide policy support to enable participation in Ministry of SMEs and Startups and related agencies’ projects such as small business export capacity enhancement support projects and collaboration activation projects.”

The meeting was a general meeting to strengthen the competitiveness of small manufacturers, and through individual meetings at each specialized center in June, direct communication with small manufacturers on site will be conducted, and mid- to long-term support plans will be sought.

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