Sustainability Overview Of Korea

A growing body of evidence asserts that corporations can do well in financial terms by “doing good”, by “being responsible”, or, most of all, by “being sustainable”. Well-known global companies already have proven that they can differentiate their brands and reputation as well as their products and services if they integrate a long-term approach beyond conventional business thinking, and past market indicators or pure financial considerations both in terms of time (forward looking) and horizon (wide angel perspective).

Many foreigners coming to Korea are surprised that the country was officially considered and listed as an “emerging market” until autumn 2009. With the country’s fast development to a technologically leading nation, Korean companies need to adapt to the same sustainability challenges in order to consolidate and further expand their global position and competitiveness.In autumn 2009, SolAbility, a Korean-Swiss providers of ESG research and sustainability services, conducted a corporate sustainability survey amongst professionals in Korean corporations. The results of the survey and evidence form SolAbility’s ESG research work have now been published in a report.

While the concept of “sustainable development” and “corporate sustainability” has arrived here at a later stage compared to European or North American companies, there have been remarkable developments within Korean companies over recent years, which seem to have taken up pace with the focus on “green growth”. This survey is intended to give an overview of current status of corporate sustainability within the Korean corporate landscape and to highlight further development needs.

Highlights of the responses to this survey include:

• 187 respondents form a variety of business backgrounds
• More than 55% of respondents say their organization has implemented sustainability activities
• Initial sustainability activities were focused on “social responsibility” activities (ethical management, social activities), rather than strategic considerations
• However, the view on sustainability has been changing significantly and rapidly over the last 2 years.
• 65% of respondents indicate that sustainability has become more important at their respective company since the outbreak of the global financial & economic crisis
• 97.8% of respondents expect that their company will have fully implemented sustainability management by 2014

ESG Research highlights

• Sustainable companies significantly outperform the less sustainable companies in terms of financial performance, both long- and short term: A portfolio of the 0 most sustainable Korean companies has outperformed the stock index (KOSPI) by more than 200% since 2002, 18% in 2009
• Increase in sustainability activities amongst Korean corporations have been observed over recent years
• The push for integrating sustainability has gained significant monumentum with the recent financial and economic crisis

There have been significant advancements in corporate sustainability amongst Korean to the outside observer in recent years. The responses to this survey indicate that sustainability has gained a strong perception as being a valuable business concept – and is set to gain further importance in the future.