44 of 231 firms earn top S rating

SK Telecom holds top grade for 14th year running

SK Intellix posts biggest score gain

IBK, Woori Bank named top in inaugural shared-finance assessment

Jang In-hwa, chairman of the Commission on Shared Growth, speaks at a press briefing on the 2026 Shared Growth Index results held Wednesday morning at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul. [Boo Ae-ri]
Jang In-hwa, chairman of the Commission on Shared Growth, speaks at a press briefing on the 2026 Shared Growth Index results held Wednesday morning at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul. [Boo Ae-ri]

Samsung Electronics has received the top rating in the Shared Growth Index for the 15th consecutive year. SK Telecom maintained its top grade for the 14th straight year, while three Hanwha Group affiliates — Hanwha, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Aerospace — earned the highest rating for the first time.

The Commission on Shared Growth announced the results of its 2026 Shared Growth Index evaluation Wednesday morning at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, during its 90th plenary session.

This year's assessment covered 231 companies based on their performance last year. The Shared Growth Index measures the level of cooperative partnership at each company by combining the commission's own comprehensive co-growth evaluation with the Korea Fair Trade Commission's assessment of fair-trade agreement compliance.

44 firms earn top grade; Samsung Electronics leads with 15 straight years

Results of the 2026 Shared Growth Index evaluation
Results of the 2026 Shared Growth Index evaluation

A total of 44 companies received the top S rating. The A (excellent) grade went to 69 companies, B (average) to 81, C (insufficient) to 24 and D (very insufficient) to 13.

Companies earning the top grade included Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia, Naver, Posco, LG Electronics, SK hynix, Nongshim and Lotte Department Store. Samsung Display, Samsung C&T's construction and fashion divisions, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, LG Chem, Hyundai Mobis and GS Engineering & Construction also received the highest rating.

Samsung Electronics has held the top grade every year since the index was introduced 15 years ago. SK Telecom has done so for 14 consecutive years, while Hyundai Transys, KT Corp and SK Inc have each maintained the top rating for 12 straight years. LG Innotek and SK Ecoplant also kept the highest grade for the 10th year running.

Twenty companies qualified as "honorary top-rated firms," a designation requiring three or more consecutive years at the top grade. Doosan Enerbility, Samsung C&T's fashion division, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, SK Siltron, GS Retail (GS25) and Hyundai Autoever were among six companies newly achieving three consecutive years at the top level.

Five companies earned the top S rating for the first time this year: Hanwha, Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Aerospace, Lotte Duty-Free and Korea Seven.

Companies receiving the A (excellent) grade included Ottogi, Amorepacific, E-mart, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Department Store, CJ Olive Young, LG H&H and LX Hausys.

Meanwhile, 24 companies were rated C (insufficient), including Daedong, Autech Carrier, Coupang Inc, GM Korea, Hite Jinro and OB Beer. Thirteen companies were classified D (very insufficient), among them Das, Daebang Construction, KG Mobility, Seoul Semiconductor and TYM.

Some 81 companies received the B (average) grade, including Korea Zinc, KleanNara, Yuhan-Kimberly, KCC Glass, Kolmar Korea, Cosmax and Hyundai Livart Furniture.

The Commission on Shared Growth held its 90th plenary session at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, and announced the results of the 2026 Shared Growth Index evaluation and a pilot assessment of the Shared Finance Index. [Commission on Shared Growth]
The Commission on Shared Growth held its 90th plenary session at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, and announced the results of the 2026 Shared Growth Index evaluation and a pilot assessment of the Shared Finance Index. [Commission on Shared Growth]

Overall scores rise but SME satisfaction dips; SK Intellix posts biggest gain

The average performance score for large companies rose 5.02 points, from 57.56 last year to 62.58 this year. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics tied for the highest score. SK Intellix recorded the largest year-on-year improvement in performance score among all assessed companies, finishing the year with an A (excellent) rating.

By contrast, the average score in the small and medium-sized enterprise satisfaction survey slipped 0.38 points, from 73.47 last year to 73.09 this year. Korea Seven received the highest satisfaction score, while Kyochon F&B posted the biggest year-on-year gain.

Support figures for partner firms were also disclosed. One hundred large and mid-sized companies provided 1.18 trillion won ($882 million) in support to partner small and medium-sized enterprises, while 128 companies contributed 181.4 billion won to shared-growth cooperation funds. Another 140 companies paid 165.32 trillion won to 44,317 first-tier partner SMEs through a shared-payment system.

The acceptance rate for supplier requests to raise unit prices or purchase amounts reached 98.3 percent, up 10.5 percentage points from 87.8 percent the previous year. Of the 3.51 trillion won in requested increases, 3.45 trillion won was in fact applied.

IBK, Woori Bank named top performers in inaugural shared-finance assessment

Industrial Bank of Korea and Woori Bank were named top performers in the pilot Shared Finance Index assessment, conducted for the first time this year.

The Shared Finance Index is a system that comprehensively evaluates financial institutions on their efforts to support small and medium-sized enterprises and on SME satisfaction. Six banks — KB Kookmin, Industrial Bank of Korea, NH NongHyup, Shinhan, Woori and KEB Hana Bank — were assessed across three categories: shared-finance performance (40 points), shared-growth cooperation performance (40 points) and SME satisfaction survey (20 points).

Commission Chairman Jang In-hwa said the Shared Growth Index evaluation is "a very important tool for encouraging companies to voluntarily pursue cooperative partnerships," adding that the commission would seek improvements to the system from multiple angles based on feedback from the field to strengthen its effectiveness.

The commission plans to develop evaluation indicators that reflect the characteristics of individual industries and to consider expanding the assessment scope to second- and third-tier suppliers. It also intends to refine the Shared Finance Index metrics and gradually broaden the range of institutions covered.

"We will expand the scope of shared growth into diverse sectors such as online platforms and the defense industry, and actively pursue cooperation with local governments," Jang added.


boo@heraldcorp.com