Policymakers should shift toward selecting high-potential small and medium-sized enterprises and providing them with repeated support to drive growth, experts said at a symposium Wednesday.
Given that each company has different growth patterns, a "selection and concentration" approach with sustained investment and customized support for each growth stage would be more effective in enhancing SME competitiveness than one-time assistance, according to the analysis presented.
The Korea Federation of SMEs and the Korea Small Business Institute jointly hosted the "SME Policy Symposium" with four academic associations—the Korean Academy of Entrepreneurship, the Korean Association of Small Business Policy, the Korean Economic Association, and the Korean Association of Small Business Studies—at the federation's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. Participants from industry, academia, and research institutes discussed ways to build a growth ladder for SMEs.
"Rather than spreading support broadly, the government needs a strategy to identify companies with proven growth potential and provide sustained backing," experts said in unison.
Choi Se-kyung, senior research fellow at the Korea Small Business Institute who delivered the keynote presentation, shared findings from tracking SME growth trajectories from 2016 to 2023. The analysis showed that 11.7% of small enterprises receiving government support grew into mid-sized companies, compared to just 4% of those without support.
"We need a system that selects and intensively nurtures small businesses with growth potential," Choi said. "Since growth trends differ by company size, policies should be tailored to the characteristics of each growth type."
Kim Jun-yup, associate research fellow at the institute, emphasized the importance of repeated support, arguing that frequency matters more than the amount of funding for SME high growth.
"Repeated experience with support programs plays a role in nurturing companies and strengthening their growth capabilities," Kim said. "A shift from one-off support to package support and track-based support systems is needed."
