7 large companies lag in consideration of smaller suppliers

7 large companies lag in consideration of smaller suppliers. May. 11, 2012 07:43. tesomiom@donga.com jjy2011@donga.com.

Seven big Korean companies ranked at the bottom of the share growth index as announced Thursday by the Commission on Shared Growth for Large Corporations and Small and Medium Enterprises.

The seven are Dongbu Construction, Hanjin Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, Home Plus, Hyosung, LG U Plus and STX Offshore & Shipbuilding.

The shared growth index is derived by combining the performance assessment of conglomerates by the Fair Trade Commission with the survey results on contractors that cooperate with large companies as conducted by the commission. A low index score indicates that a company is relatively behind in consideration for small and mid-size suppliers.

In contrast, Kia Motors, Samsung Mobile Display, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Electronics, POSCO and Hyundai Motor have been named the best performers. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and 19 other companies have rated second-tier performers, while 23 others including Daelim Industrial have been rated “ordinary.”

Chairman Yoo Jang-hee of the commission told a news conference in Seoul, “All 56 companies evaluated were leaders in shared growth, but we gave the ‘needs improvement’ rating to several of them to encourage them to do a better job. We focused on conducting an objective and fair evaluation.”

The commission plans to improve its evaluation index within the first half of this year by considering the realities in each industry. Evaluations of 74 companies are slated for next year and the outcome will be announced in April 2013.