By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
It takes a South Korean company nearly 16.8 years to become one of the nation's 1,000 biggest.
It also takes minimum annual sales of 193 billion won ($193.6 million) with a 90.7 billion won net profit, to not be included among the 102 firms that are kicked out of the list every year.
Sales of the 1,000 biggest companies averaged 1.3 trillion won in 2007, up 43 percent from five years ago, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said Tuesday in an analysis of a database of local businesses. Their net profit also jumped 56.6 percent over the same period.
Manufacturers took the biggest portion of the list with 48.5 percent, followed by retailers and wholesalers at 14.0 percent, construction companies at 9.2 percent and financers at 9.1 percent.
The report also showed the biggest enterprises are highly concentrated in the capital city and its vicinity. Seoul had the vast majority with 53.5 percent while Gyeonggi Province and South Gyeongsang Province trailed with 13.3 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.
Employees of the firms were tallied at 1,468, up 9.2 percent from 2003, with an average age of 26.
"Those 1,000 companies represent the country. Currently around 365,000 companies are registered nationwide and they take up the highest 0.3 percent," the KCCI said.
In a positive sign, concentration of economic power to bigger firms mitigated from five years ago.
The 10 biggest companies took up 20.6 percent of overall domestic sales last year, with the 50 biggest accounting for 50 percent, down 4.5 percent and 3.0 percent respectively. For the period, sales of the latter increased 35 percent to outgrow 17.2 percent of the former.
"It is a desirable phenomenon in accordance with a growing economy," the business lobby said.
A total of 71 companies remained in the list from 2002 through 2007. All the electricity, gas, tap water companies and 90.3 percent of logistics firms stayed, while only 15 percent of real estate and leasing service firms held on to the leading status.