Ministry of SMEs and Startups Conducts 'Survey on the Implementation Status of Business Adjustment for Small and Medium Enterprises'

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 29th that it conducted the "2023 Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Business Adjustment Implementation Survey" on business adjustment cases that ended with SME business adjustment recommendations and win-win agreement signings.

Since 2013, the Ministry has regularly conducted implementation surveys on business adjustments with metropolitan and provincial governments every year. This year, the survey targeted 22 cases where the government recommended business adjustments or parties signed win-win agreements, and the recommendations or agreements remained valid, from the past three and a half years.

The majority of the survey targets were Corporate Supermarkets (SSM) with 8 cases, followed by department stores (5) and large discount stores (3).

Officials from the Ministry and metropolitan/provincial governments directly visited the stores of large corporations under investigation to closely examine whether the large corporations were actually implementing the business adjustment recommendations and win-win agreement terms.

As a result of the implementation survey, 21 out of the total 22 cases were being properly implemented. For one case of partial non-compliance in a win-win agreement (prohibition of selling designated waste bags), the relevant metropolitan/provincial government urged the large corporation to comply, and the corporation promptly corrected the issue.

Additionally, it was confirmed that the business adjustment system contributed not only to protecting the business areas of SMEs but also to revitalizing the local economy, as evidenced by a large discount store in Gyeonggi-do that, from July 2020 to last August, hired about 310 local residents including short-term hires and mid-term leavers after signing a win-win agreement.

An official from the Ministry stated, "We plan to continue faithfully performing the role of preventing indiscriminate entry of large corporations into small business districts and protecting SMEs through the business adjustment system."