The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises held a briefing on global expansion strategies for cooperatives on the 14th to discuss ways for small and medium-sized enterprises to enter overseas markets jointly. The briefing was arranged to respond to the global supply chain crisis and the spread of protectionism and to share cooperative-centered overseas expansion strategies.
In particular, in the Fourth Three-year Plan to Revitalize SME Cooperatives, which the Ministry of SMEs and Startups released in Oct. last year, the government presented "joint entry into overseas markets through cooperatives" as a key task to foster cooperatives as a core collaboration base for the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.
At the event, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) explained support systems for small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the official development assistance (ODA) market and ways to participate in the procurement market. This was followed by presentations of successful cases of overseas expansion by cooperatives.
The Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative said it is supporting domestic small and medium-sized enterprises in their overseas expansion by participating in ODA projects related to agricultural machinery in Senegal, the Philippines and Vietnam. Recently, in cooperation with the Philippine Department of Agriculture, it has also been pushing to establish an industrial complex dedicated to agricultural machinery locally.
The Korea Medical Devices Cooperative introduced that, along with participating in overseas exhibitions such as the trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, it operates "Overseas Medical Device Support Centers" in Vietnam and Indonesia, providing licensing consultations, buyer development and post-export support.
The Korea Spatial Information Industry Cooperative shared its participation case in Tanzania's national spatial data infrastructure project and stressed that cooperatives should serve as a sector-specific "export control tower."
Seo Jae-yun, head of the Cooperative Division at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, said, "There are many difficulties that individual small and medium-sized corporations face in the process of entering overseas markets, and joint entry through sector-specialized cooperatives can be a solution," and added, "The government should also move beyond simple support for individual corporate exports and actively provide institutional support and expand budgets so that a cooperative-centered 'platform-type overseas expansion model' can take root."