Large and small companies need to break out of the traditional boundaries of the contractor-subcontractor relationship to bring about shared-growth, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won said Friday.

Chey and the heads of major SK Group firms including SKC and SK Networks met with the CEOs of 70 SK Group subcontractors to discuss means to bring about shared growth at a conference in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

According to SK Group officials, chief executives of SK Group subsidiaries were included in the conference to enable them to listen to the views of subcontractors first hand and to apply them to the operations of each SK Group firm.

Speaking at the conference, Chey said that the conventional thinking that subcontractors were in a subordinate position to large companies should be discarded for shared-growth and to improve relations between the two.

“Discussions about past-oriented issues such as difficulties and problems are necessary, but the conference was arranged as SK considers subcontractors as one of the sources of future competitiveness,” Chey said.

Chey also said that while SK Group is working to create a healthy business environment, shared-growth cannot be fully achieved in a one-way system in which one side provides the help.

Saying that a business environment with long term goals is required, Chey requested the attending CEOs of SK Group subcontractors to provide ideas for promoting shared-growth in the future.

By Choi He-suk ( cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)