Kim Myungjin, MainBiz Association Chairman: "Golden Time to Address SME Crisis... Package-Type Support Urgently Needed"

Complex crises from U.S. tariff hikes and a strong won-dollar rate materialize
Support must move beyond isolated "point-based" measures to ensure connectivity and continuity
Laying the groundwork for the next 20 years by legislating innovation-driven SMEs

"We need a 'package-type' support policy that connects the currently scattered, point-based support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises into a single, integrated framework."

Kim Myungjin, chairman of the MainBiz Association (Korea Association of Business Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises), made this remark in an interview held on the 9th at the association's office in Sinseol-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. He pointed out that "under the current government support policies, funding, research and development (R&D), human resources, and digital transformation (DX) support are not organically linked, which undermines policy effectiveness," and proposed a new support policy.

Chairman Kim defined 2026 as the year when small and medium-sized enterprises face a "constant crisis." He assessed that, whereas past crises were temporary downturns tied to economic cycles, now, due to a combination of factors such as high interest rates, a strong won-dollar exchange rate, and stronger protectionism becoming prolonged, the deterioration in the profitability of small and medium-sized enterprises is accelerating.

He said, "The uncertainty in the global trade environment, centered on U.S. tariff hikes, is the biggest burden," adding, "Small and medium-sized enterprises have much less ability than large corporations to pass on higher costs to prices." As a result, he analyzed that small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to move to the next stage of growth are simultaneously experiencing a fragmented support system and regulatory gaps, and are hitting a growth bottleneck.

Kim Myungjin, chairman of the Mainbiz Association, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily at the Mainbiz Association in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun

The "package-type support" proposed by Chairman Kim is a scheme in which companies selected after a quantitative evaluation of their growth potential using various indicators such as sales, job creation, and technological capabilities receive integrated support under a single "scaling-up program" that covers everything from research and development (R&D) and digital transformation (DX) to policy finance and workforce development, helping them make a step change in growth. He said, "The core of support is the 'connectivity' and 'continuity' that fill the gaps between each growth stage," and added, "This must be accompanied by swift government policies that remove regulations hindering innovation through special exemptions or pilot projects."

Chairman Kim cited the completion of the "Seven Pillars of the MainBiz Future Vision," which he put forward when he took office in 2024, as a key task for the remainder of his term. His plan is to build an organic support system for small and medium-sized enterprises around seven pillars: finance, policy, culture, education, welfare, innovation, and global.

He plans to focus in particular on "innovation" and "global." Under the innovation pillar, he intends to strengthen the technological competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises by establishing an industry-academia-research collaboration system through the "Think Tank 1000" project. He went on to stress, "The 'online coexistence platform' to be launched this September will serve as a digital hub for nurturing 100,000 MainBiz companies." Under the global pillar, his plan is to secure a foundation for overseas expansion by leveraging GMA (Global Market Advisor), which is composed of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, KOTRA, and private-sector experts active in local markets.

In addition, marking the 20th anniversary of MainBiz this year, he said he would use this as a turning point to look back on the association's achievements over the past 20 years and design the next 20 years. He said, "The first step for the new 20 years is to clearly stipulate in law that innovation-driven small and medium-sized enterprises are the key drivers of national growth," and once again emphasized the need to enact the "Act on the Promotion of Innovation-Driven Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," which would encompass the previously discussed "Act on the Promotion of Management Innovation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises" and the "Act on the Promotion of Productivity Improvement of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises."