Recently, ESG management has become a global trend, receiving increasing attention from stakeholders such as consumers, investors, and governments, as regulations related to ESG disclosure and supply chain due diligence have been strengthened since the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UN PRI) was announced in 2006. ESG is an acronym for the environment (E), social (S), and governance (G) and is accepted as a key factor for the continuous survival and growth of a company. As a result, there are over 600 ESG management evaluation indicators operated domestically and internationally, and numerous global initiatives have emerged. Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy also announced “K-ESG Guidelines (December 2011)” and “K-ESG Guidelines for Supply Chain Response (December 22)” to help SMEs introduce ESG management and respond to supply chain due diligence. However, small-scale manufacturing companies with poor financial, human resources, and technological capabilities face significant challenges in introducing ESG management. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the current status of ESG management adoption in small-scale manufacturing companies with less than 150 people in Korea and propose activation plan ESG management based on the diagnostic requirements of the “Supply Chain Response K-ESG Guidelines.”

The core ingredient of traditional Korean style soy sauce is soy bean without any wheat or rice incorporated. National brands as well as regional micro-brewed companies constitute the soy sauce market in Korea. The present study investigated the physico-chemical and sensory properties of soy sauces produced by small-scale or mass-production. Additionally, the key physico-chemical parameters sufficiently representing the critical sensory characteristics have been identified. Ten types of soy sauce brewed by the Korean traditional method were selected for the study. Among these samples, seven types were brewed in small-scales in the Gyeonggi-do region whereas the other 3 types were mass-production products of major national brands. The total solid, reducing sugar, salinity, sugar content, amino nitrogen, CIELAB, acidity, and pH of soy sauce samples were measured for the physico-chemical analysis. A generic descriptive analysis was conducted to analyze the sensory characteristics of the samples using six trained panelists. The descriptive panel developed 21 sensory attributes. The data were statistically analyzed using ANOVA, PCA and PLSR. Overall, the micro-brewed products showed significantly higher value of salinity and acidity but lower content of reducing sugar than the mass-production products. The micro-brewed soy sauces elicited stronger fermented flavor, sourness, and bitterness whereas the national brand products elicited stronger alcoholic odor, sweetness and umami taste. Sugar content, acidity, and amino nitrogen showed strong relationships with fish sauce flavor, umami taste, and rich flavor. Salinity was closely related to the overall flavor intensity.

디자인산업은 매출액의 1%를 디자인과 제품개발에 투자할 경우 매년 매출 및 이윤이 3-4% 증가하는 매력적인 산업으로 평가받고 있다. 그러나 우리나라 디자인산업은 그 규모가 영세하여 2012년 정부추산 80,304개 업체 중 상용 근로자 수가 5인 이하인 소규모기업이 전체의 76%를 차지하고 있으며, 매출액 10억원 미만의 소규모 업체가 전체의 87.8%를 차지하고 있다. 그러나 이들 기업을 지원하고 지도할 정부의 디자인전담부서 예산이 2012년 21억원에서 2013년에는 18억원으로 감 축되는 등 정부 정책은 역행하고 있다. 디자인 산업의 발전을 위해서 정부는 현재 산업통상자원부, 문화체육관광부, 기획재 정부, 중소기업청 등으로 분산되어 있는 업무를 기능별로 통합하고 소기업 중심으로 지원규모를 점차로 확대해 나가는 정 책이 필요하다. 특히 디자인의 세계화를 통한 해외 비즈니스 기회 확대 차원에서 우리니라 소규모 디자인기업들이 신흥 디 자인시장에 진출거점을 확대하고 시장개척이 가능하도록 금융지원을 포함한 컨설팅지원에도 정부가 앞장서야 할 것이다.