"When Companies Grow Big, Regulations Follow... Increasing Number of 'Peter Pan Syndrome' Firms Avoiding Growth"

When Assets Increase from 5 Trillion to 10 Trillion
Regulations Rise from 274 to 342

As corporate assets increase, the number of applicable regulations also rises, leading to an analysis that the 'Peter Pan syndrome' phenomenon, where companies hesitate to grow, is spreading. Peter Pan syndrome refers to the psychological phenomenon exhibited by 'adult children' who cannot adapt to adult society even after becoming adults.

The Korea Economic Association (KEA) released a 4-minute 29-second video titled "How much do regulations increase as companies grow?" on its KEA TV YouTube channel on the 9th. The video presented data related to company size and regulatory status.

There are four regulations applied to companies with total assets exceeding 50 billion won. When total assets increase to over 10 trillion won and the company enters the Mutual Investment Restriction Corporate Group, the number of regulations rises to a maximum of 342.

Data on 'Increase in Regulations by Company Size' surveyed by the Korea Economic Association.
[Photo by Hankyung TV]

In January, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry surveyed 300 domestic mid-sized companies that graduated from small and medium enterprises within the last 10 years. As a result, 77% of the respondent companies said they have felt or are feeling policy changes such as reduced support and strengthened regulations after graduation.

KEA stated, "More than 30% of the overall regulations are outdated regulations that have been in place for over 20 years," adding, "There is a need to revise outdated regulations to prevent small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies from falling into a regulatory swamp as they hesitate to grow into large corporations."

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