"Now Business Transformation Also Embraces Win-Win Cooperation Among Large, Medium, and Small Enterprises"

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Approves First Large-Medium-Small Win-Win Joint Business Conversion
Deputy Minister O Gi-ung Visits First Case 'SeAH Besteel'

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that Vice Minister Oh Ki-woong visited the Gunsan plant of SeAH Besteel, located in Gunsan, Jeonbuk, on the 11th to tour the site and hold a meeting with representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participating in the joint business transition.

The joint business transition is a system where SMEs that find it difficult to independently transition their business set common goals with large enterprises or other SMEs and transition together. The 'Small and Medium Enterprise Business Transition Act' was amended in May this year and has been in effect since November 17.

O Gi-ung, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (center), is taking a commemorative photo after holding a meeting with representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises participating in the joint business conversion at the SeAH Besteel Gunsan plant in Gunsan, Jeonbuk, on the 11th.

Since the implementation of the system, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups approved the joint business transition plan of SeAH Besteel and nine SMEs as the first case on December 8. SeAH Besteel, a large enterprise specializing in special steel manufacturing participating in the joint business transition, decided to jointly develop and produce technologies and products that recycle 300,000 tons of by-products generated annually during the production process into industrial materials such as bricks and cement in cooperation with seven SMEs. At the same time, they plan to promote production through joint development with two SMEs of electric vehicle parts using lightweight and high-strength special steel materials.

Through this joint business transition, SeAH Besteel expects to reduce costs related to landfill of steelmaking by-products and practice ESG (environmental, social, and governance) management. SMEs see this as an opportunity to establish a foundation for growth by securing new competitiveness and markets through cost reduction by recycling by-products and manufacturing eco-friendly products.

Vice Minister Oh Ki-woong personally visited SeAH Besteel’s Gunsan plant, the first case of a win-win joint business transition, to encourage participating companies and explore ways to improve the system. At the meeting with SeAH Besteel and participating SMEs, companies requested expanded support for sales channels, workforce, and financing necessary for the joint business transition process, as well as deregulation.

Vice Minister Oh said, "I hope this joint business transition, where large and small-medium enterprises coexist, will be successfully completed and become a model leading a new industrial ecosystem," and "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to actively support SMEs’ new business transitions to revitalize and relaunch our economy."

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