Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group is striving to establish a culture of growing together with its partners. Thanks to these efforts, it achieved the highest grade in the 2020 Win-Win Growth Index evaluation for the second consecutive year. In the same evaluation, Samsung C&T’s Fashion Group received the second-highest grade of “Excellent.” Overall, Samsung C&T E&C received a perfect score in the performance evaluation of large companies, a first in the construction industry. How was the group able to achieve this?
Growing with its partners
The Win-Win Growth Index (WWGI) is an index that quantifies the degrees to which large companies share their growth with and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Korea’s National Commission for Corporate Partnership (NCCP), together with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), perform a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of shared growth and fair trade by large corporations each year.
Shared growth includes things such as fairness and adequacy of transaction conditions; cooperative relationships in the fields of funds, R&D, production, management welfare, and manpower development; and a survey of the feelings of partners that are part of the shared growth system. Fair trade includes the fairness of contracts, prevention of legal violations and efforts to comply with laws, and the support of win-win cooperation.
This year, Samsung C&T E&C received a perfect score in its performance evaluation. This is the first time any company in the construction industry has achieved this feat.
The secret to growing together
What sets Samsung C&T E&C apart from its competitors in achieving the best possible evaluation score is its differentiated win-win policy. Namely, the group provides payments in advance and guarantee fees for all types of construction, including electricity and facilities, which have high initial investment costs.
The group also emphasizes safety. It publicly emphasized education targets in accordance with the opinion of its partners that there was a shortage of youth safety managers, and its partners voluntarily hired people who completed six weeks of education and training developed by Samsung C&T E&C.
In addition, the group has strengthened its safety management of projects and encouraged long-term employment by supporting wage increases for its partners’ own safety managers.
By obtaining the highest grade in the 2020 Win-Win Growth Index evaluation, Samsung C&T E&C Group received additional points for the credibility of its public bidding process and received incentives to be exempted from official investigations by the FTC for two years.
The fruit of continuous communication
Samsung C&T E&C Group was able to receive positive reviews in its 2020 Win-Win Growth Index evaluation due to its efforts to continuously communicate with partners, including via meetings, even during the COVID-19 situation. An example of that is Partners’ Day.
Since the first Partners’ Day in 1991, the company has held regular meetings to discover excellent partners and create mutual benefits for itself and its partners. In 2007, it became the first big firm in the construction industry to sign an agreement committing to shared growth and has taken the lead in establishing a culture in which it and its partners can move forward together. In particular, as a first in the industry in Korea since 2011, full transaction prices have been paid in cash, helping partners smoothly manage their cashflow situations.
As of 2019, Samsung C&T E&C was providing about USD84 million worth of funding to partners, including interest-free loans and win-win funds that provide interest reduction benefits when lending. Additionally, there are also various support programs such as supporting the recruitment of partners and wage increases for safety managers as part of a construction safety manager training program.
Samsung C&T E&C Group is constantly striving to grow together with its partners by sharing its vision and management principles. With this as a base, it will continue to lay the foundation for growth with its partners through various win-win cooperation projects.
