POSCO Group will build a win-win cooperation system with partner companies.
POSCO Group held the "POSCO Group win-win agreement signing ceremony" at POSCO Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 16th.
About 130 people attended the event, including Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Ju Biung-ghi and POSCO Holdings President Lee Jutae, representatives of the group's five major companies, and representatives of first- and second-tier partners.
Through this agreement, POSCO Group pledged to carry out four key action items—improving payment terms, activating the win-win payment system, giving preference to first-tier partners that join win-win cooperation, and providing support for win-win cooperation to boost partners' competitiveness—and to establish a win-win ecosystem that delivers practical support to even second- and third-tier partners.
Regarding improved payment terms, POSCO Group decided to pay partners the full amount in cash-equivalent form within an average of 10 days. It will also support first- and second-tier partners so they can pay their lower-tier partners within up to 30 days, respectively.
POSCO will also raise the utilization of the win-win payment system to support partners' stable collection of payments. The win-win payment system is a settlement scheme under which first-, second-, and third-tier partners receive settlement funds in cash on the settlement date and can cash out settlement funds before the settlement date at low financial expense.
In addition, POSCO Group will expand support for partners in finance, technology development, and overseas market entry to strengthen their competitiveness. In particular, it decided to expand the "profit-sharing program," which shares financial outcomes achieved through joint technology development with partners, from existing first-tier partners to second-tier and lower partners. According to POSCO Group, POSCO introduced the profit-sharing program in Korea for the first time in 2004.
Accordingly, POSCO Group said it expects that more than 5,300 partners within the POSCO Group ecosystem will benefit from this agreement. POSCO Group will also reflect the main elements of this agreement in the fair trade agreement with partners scheduled for early next year.
Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Ju Biung-ghi said, "Win-win cooperation will be the foundation for POSCO Group's continued innovation and an investment that can help the entire industrial ecosystem take a leap forward," adding, "I hope the culture of mutual growth will become the new standard for our economy."