Plastic supply-chain pact and venture investment contract overhaul earn top honors; 15 cases selected in total
Two initiatives — one that secured higher supply prices for small manufacturers squeezed by soaring plastic raw material costs, and another that overhauled venture investment contract practices — have been named the top proactive-administration cases by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
The ministry announced Friday that it held its "2026 First-Half Proactive Administration Best Practices Competition" and selected 15 cases that resolved on-the-ground difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners, or introduced innovations in administrative service.
A total of 40 cases were submitted from the ministry's headquarters, regional SME and startup offices, and affiliated public institutions. After preliminary and final rounds of evaluation involving a proactive-administration monitoring panel and outside experts, two cases received top honors, three were named excellent and 10 received encouragement awards.
One of the two top-honored cases was titled "Overcoming Management Difficulties for Plastic-Processing SMEs Caused by Middle East Disruptions Through Mutual Cooperation."
The ministry identified field complaints that individual small businesses could not absorb rising raw material costs on their own, then worked with the National Assembly and the Korea Fair Trade Commission to bring together large companies, the franchise industry, and plastics-related trade associations. The effort led to the signing of a mutual-cooperation agreement in April.
Nine companies joined the agreement: CJ CheilJedang, Daesang, Nongshim, Lotte Chilsung, LG Household, Sangmidang Holdings, Starbucks Korea, GS Retail, and NH Agri Business Holdings' agricultural materials division.
Through the pact, the ministry facilitated supply price increases worth about 20 billion won ($14.4 million) for 394 partner companies. It also arranged for about 14.97 billion won in outstanding payments to be settled early, easing the financial burden on small businesses.
The second top-honored case was "A Public-Private Overhaul of the Standard Venture Investment Contract."
Investment agreements between startups and investors require a high level of expertise, and the significant gap in bargaining power between the two sides has long fueled disputes over contract terms and unfair practices.
The ministry treated this as a structural problem in venture investment contracting and formed a "Venture Investment Contract Development Forum" that brought together investors, startups, legal experts and relevant agencies. Drawing on field input, the forum identified areas for improvement and comprehensively revised the standard venture investment contract and its accompanying guide.
The revised framework introduces separate SPA and SHA agreements, adopts a round-by-round collective consent mechanism, presents a convertible preferred share (CPS)-centered standard, improves conversion-right refixing clauses, explicitly states the obligation to pursue an initial public offering, and clarifies limits on third-party joint liability.
The ministry said the case was highly regarded because it went beyond resolving individual complaints — working with market participants to identify unreasonable contract practices and establish institutional standards applicable across the market as a whole.
Three cases received excellence awards: the consolidation of information systems and construction of an integrated SME platform, the elimination of gaps in public sales channels caused by delays in certification renewals, and the development of an AI-powered policy-fund application system.
Ten cases received encouragement awards, including free legal counsel for small businesses that reported technology theft, a restructuring of the Onnuri gift-certificate support system, installment payment and deferral options for small-business loss-compensation clawbacks, and measures to address logistics disruptions stemming from Middle East tensions.
The ministry said it plans to give monetary incentives and other rewards to the winning departments and staff, and to share the best practices so they can be applied to similar policies and operations.
Lee Sun-bae, the ministry's policy planning officer, said the ministry would continue to encourage proactive administration so that small businesses and small business owners can feel real change on the ground, and would work to build a public-service culture in which employees who take the initiative on difficult problems are properly recognized and rewarded.
boo@heraldcorp.com
