Korea Industrial Complex Corp. (KICOX) provides a one-stop service for companies wanting to make their way into foreign markets, market exploration.
Ace Machinery Co., a specialized maker of automatic folding carton gluing machines, boasted a 70 percent share in the domestic market, but his global standing was low. Entering the mid-2000s, the company found it difficult to maintain growth due to the sluggishness of the domestic market. Ace Machinery CEO Lee Chul turned to the Center for Supporting Corporate Growth of KICOX for support. It’s known formerly as the Family Doctor Center. KICOX offered a helping hand to Ace Machinery — finding target markets based on the analysis of data from Ace Machinery and paving the way for the company to participate in overseas fairs through KOTRA’s support program.
Ace Machinery, which received consulting services ranging from export to tariffs, marketing, and market exploration via related organizations and experts, was honored with an award of exporting $3 million in 2009. The company saw its exports surge to $7.1 million as of last year.
KICOX has established itself as an organization committed to mentoring tenant companies of industrial complexes wanting to make their way into foreign markets, in line with the government’s policies to give a helping hand to SMEs.
Last May, KICOX launched a service, which it called a “corps,” to support exports at 10 industrial complexes. The corps offers a helping hand as mentors specializing in market exploration. During 2014, KICOX succeeded in finding 42 mentor companies and 111 mentee companies. Thirteen companies saw combined exports stand at $$5.15 million. KICOX recently held a ceremony to launch corps to support exports at 63 state-run industrial complexes at Hotel Inter-Burgo in Asan, Gyeonggi-do.
KICOX’s Paradigm Shift
When KICOX marked its 50th anniversary last year, it was a significant milestone for the corporation. President Kang Nam-hoon said the year 2015 will be the first year of putting into practice an action plan to transform state-run industrial complexes into “creative ones.” He said KICOX, established in 1964, will have to make preparations for the next 50 years.
It was significant that a special act was legislated last year to provide inter-ministry support to resuscitate decrepit industrial complexes and strengthen their competitive edge. Enforcement degrees specifying options to upgrade industrial complexes will be worked out in the first half of this year, KICOX President Kang said.
There are some 30,000 tenant companies in state-run industrial complexes, which employ a combined 2 million workers. They account for 69 percent of the nation’s total manufacturing production, 81 percent of the nation’s total exports and 47 percent of the nation’s total employment.
Recognizing such woes as the aging of industrial complexes and employment issues, KICOX President Kang said his corporation will devote itself to reinventing the conventional state-run industrial complexes into creative ones that will evolve into a combination of human beings, technology and culture. This year, eight industrial complexes will be designed under a pilot program to undergo innovation, he said.
KICOX will establish a platform of providing integrated support to tenant companies’ growth, a network of government organizations providing services to SMEs, which have so far suffered from difficulties due to understaffed manpower. In 2014, KICOX opened 10 centers for providing integrated support for corporate growth, ranging from consulting related to the designation of factory sites to global marketing support. The project has become one of the government’s 3.0 excellence practices.
At a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of its founding, KICOX announced the new vision and corporate identity to help labor and management make a fresh start. At its headquarters in Daegu last Aug. 11, it unveiled its new vision and corporate identity.
The new vision sets KICOX apart as an innovative and creative industrial complex organization combining industry, technology and culture, and suggests a goal of raising the number of tenant companies at the nation’s industrial complexes from the current 50,000 to 100,000 and the number of employees there from the current 990,000 to 1.5 million by 2020 by putting into practice its top four management tenets — creativity, innovation, customer satisfaction, co-existence & cooperation, integrity and trust.
KICOX was set up in 1964 as a semi-governmental organization with the job of developing and managing industrial complexes for the sake of economic growth, employing some 600 people. KICOX marked the 50th anniversary of its establishment with the creation of the Seoul Digital Industrial Complex, formerly known as the Guro Industrial Complex.
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