Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Among 44 Companies Rated "Top-Rated" for Mutual Growth

Outstanding Win-Win Finance Banks: Industrial Bank of Korea and Woori Bank
Lotte Duty Free, Hanwha and Others Named Top-Rated for the First Time
"Considering Expanding Evaluation to Second- and Third-Tier Suppliers"

The Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership selected 44 companies, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and Naver, as top-rated (S) companies in this year’s Mutual Growth Index evaluation. In the first-ever pilot evaluation of the Win-Win Finance Index, Industrial Bank of Korea and Woori Bank were named outstanding banks.

On November 11, the commission held its 90th meeting at Conrad Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, and announced the results of its “2026 Mutual Growth Index Evaluation and Pilot Evaluation of the Win-Win Finance Index.”

The Mutual Growth Index is a metric that evaluates and quantifies the level of mutual growth achieved by large companies. It is calculated by combining the commission’s comprehensive mutual growth evaluation with the Fair Trade Commission’s evaluation of compliance with fair trade agreements. According to the commission, its evaluation of 231 companies based on their performance last year found 44 top-rated (S) companies, 69 outstanding (A) companies, 81 average (B) companies, 24 below-average (C) companies and 13 significantly below-average (D) companies.

Companies rated top-tier included Kia, Naver, Nongshim, Doosan Enerbility, Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, SK Telecom, LG Electronics and SK hynix. Five companies—Lotte Duty Free, Korea Seven, Hanwha, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Aerospace—received the top rating for the first time this year.

Six companies—Doosan Enerbility, Samsung C&T Fashion Group, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, SK Siltron, GS Retail (GS25) and Hyundai AutoEver—received the top rating for three consecutive years and were newly designated “Top-rated Honorary Companies.” This brings the total number of Top-rated Honorary Companies to 20.

Attendees at the 90th meeting of the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership pose for a commemorative photo at Conrad Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 11th. Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership

By sector, Hyundai Transys ranked first in manufacturing, while Innocean topped the non-manufacturing sector. By sub-sector, Samsung E&A ranked first in construction, Nongshim in food, and GS Retail (GS25) in retail.

Meanwhile, the average score in the mutual growth performance evaluation was 62.58 points, up 5.02 points from 57.56 points the previous year. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics received the highest scores, while SK Intellix posted the largest year-on-year score increase. The average score in the survey measuring small and medium-sized enterprises’ perceptions was 73.09 points, similar to the 73.47 points recorded the previous year. Korea Seven received the highest score, while Kyochon F&B posted the largest year-on-year score increase.

In the first-ever pilot evaluation of the Win-Win Finance Index, Industrial Bank of Korea and Woori Bank were selected as outstanding banks. The evaluation covered the six banks with the largest SME loan portfolios: KB Kookmin Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, NH NongHyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank and Hana Bank. The Win-Win Finance Index was calculated by combining the Financial Supervisory Service’s evaluation of win-win finance performance, worth 40 points; the commission’s evaluation of mutual cooperation performance, worth 40 points; and the survey measuring SMEs’ perceptions, worth 20 points.

Jang Inhwa, chairperson of the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership, said, “To make future evaluations more effective, we will explore various institutional improvements based on feedback from the field. We will consider measures such as developing sector-specific indicators that reflect the characteristics of each industry within the Mutual Growth Index, extending the evaluation’s scope to second- and third-tier suppliers, refining the indicators for the Win-Win Finance Index, and gradually expanding the pool of companies subject to evaluation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.