Conglomerates expect proactive deregulation from next administration

Korean companies that are facing ‘quadruple challenges’ have called the new government for proactive deregulation, and revision of laws adding burden to companies.

In a survey conducted by The Dong-A Ilbo, 31 out of 33 companies responded to the question “what corporate policies they hope from the next administration to be inaugurated in May.” Sixteen companies, or 51.6 percent of the respondents, picked ‘proactive deregulation’ among the new administration’s policies (multiple answers possible), which was followed by ‘revision of laws and regulations adding burden to companies’ at 14 (45.2 percent) and ‘expansion of incentives for investment and employment’ at 12 (38.7 percent).

Smaller companies shared similar views as well. Thirteen (43.3 percent) of the 30 small and medium-sized businesses picked ‘revision of laws and regulations adding burden to companies the most,’ which was followed by ‘incentive programs for investment and hiring (10 companies, 33.3 percent) and ‘proactive deregulation’ (8 companies, 26.7 percent).

Those answers were followed by ‘support of overseas market development through economic diplomacy’ (19.4 percent of conglomerates, and 14.5 percent of SMEs), ‘labor reform to secure flexibility in labor’ (19.4 percent of conglomerates and 16.7 percent of SMEs), and ‘maintenance of consistency in corporate policies’ (16.1 percent of conglomerates and 7.3 percent of SMEs). ‘Tax reform including corporate tax cut’ was demanded more strongly by SMEs (12.7 percent) than conglomerates (3.2 percent).

Among different policy tasks, companies hoped the new government will put more priority on investment and deregulation tailored for different sectors (35.2 percent), which was followed by ‘easing of labor regulations’ (25.8 percent) and ‘reduction of pseudo-taxes’ (15.0 percent).


will@donga.com