NAVER Earns Its 5th ‘Excellent’ Rating on Win-Win Growth Index, Efforts with Partners to Overcome Pandemic Acknowledged
NAVER Earns Its 5th ‘Excellent’ Rating on Win-Win Growth Index, Efforts with Partners to Overcome Pandemic Acknowledged
NAVER Earns Its 5th ‘Excellent’ Rating on Win-Win Growth Index, Efforts with Partners to Overcome Pandemic Acknowledged
- NAVER is the first internet company to win the Excellent rating for five straight years, in part for contributing to the shared growth of its partners and SMEs
- Company also is acknowledged for continuing technical and policy support to promote inclusive growth with partners during the pandemic
2021-09-15
NAVER Corporation announced today that the company has achieved an Excellent rating—the highest possible grade—in the 2020 Win-Win Growth Index evaluation by Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership (KCCP) for the fifth year in a row.
Win-Win Growth Index is announced annually to promote shared growth between companies and analyzes big companies’ efforts to foster partnerships with smaller counterparts. The index includes a list of companies based on data evaluated by KCCP and Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). This year, the assessment included 210 companies and listed them in five grades from Best to Excellent to Poor.
KCCP first recognized NAVER as a ‘Best Honored Company’ in the Win-Win partnership online platform category in 2019 as it acquired the Excellent grade in the index for the third straight year. In 2021, the commission acknowledged NAVER’s efforts to foster inclusive growth with partners for the fifth time, naming it ‘Best Honored Company’ yet again. The honor recognizes NAVER’s efforts to support the operations of its business partners, growth of SMEs and stability of communities with its technologies during the pandemic.
For example, NAVER has been paying its partners in full within 10 working days since the beginning of their business relations, making NAVER on of the most trusted and reliable partners in the industry. In addition, NAVER also increased the amount of low-interest loans for partners during the pandemic and provided hygiene and protection products, such as face masks.
NAVER has also been promoting inclusive growth for SMEs. Since 2013, it has been operating Partner Squares, educational spaces that can accommodate around 100,000 people annually, all over the country. Partner Squares are places where entrepreneurs and SMEs receive NAVER’s support as well as online and offline education in areas as search advertisements, marketing, customer management and taxes.
NAVER also provides customized consulting and marketing support in line with the SME’s business development status through Project Flower. KCCP recognized those efforts as voluntary programs at this year’s Win-Win Growth Index evaluation. The company established Fountain Fund in 2017 to bolster Project Flower for the sustainable growth of its partners. As of August 2021, Fountain Fund’s accumulated investment has reached KRW 320 billion.
Lastly, NAVER has actively bolstered the stability of communities by offering technical support and policy advisement. Using its technology, the company has offered commission-free NAVER Order service and supported customer-facing promotions for offline SMEs who were going through financial difficulties due to the pandemic. It also was the first Korean internet company to develop and implement a QR code check-in service for customers to gain safe access to places and promoted ‘virus-safe restaurants’ that strictly follow sanitary and distancing guidelines in search results. NAVER provided non-contact online collaborative tools, such as NAVER Works, WORKPLACE and CLOVA Dubbing to partners, schools and organizations for free, and helped a company that developed an app to inform people about mask availability during a widespread shortage.
“We are pleased to be recognized and receive the Excellent grade from the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership for the fifth year in a row,” said Dong-ah Lim, executive officer of NAVER Environment. “As Korea’s leading internet company, NAVER will continue to work on inclusive growth with diverse partners and SMEs to overcome difficulties during the pandemic and promote sustainable growth for the long term.”
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