**Arko Released ‘Corporate Culture Index’; CJ CheilJedang Tops Internal Cultural Capital, Samsung and Kia Stand Out in Brand Power**
(Seoul=News1) Reporter Jung Soo-young: A new index measuring a company’s competitiveness through ‘culture’ has been unveiled.
On the 27th, the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service (ARCO) announced the development and empirical analysis results of a ‘Corporate Culture Index’ designed to diagnose the cultural capabilities that companies have accumulated and manifested through arts and culture. This index aims to address a management environment where sustained growth and social responsibility cannot be fully explained by financial performance alone.
This research was commissioned from the Korean Academic Society of Business Administration. The research team defined corporate cultural power as the cultural influence exerted on both internal members and external society, or the ability to create such influence, based on the capital and cultural heritage the company possesses.
The corporate culture index was divided into four key areas: ‘internal cultural capital,’ focusing on employee creativity and organizational culture; ‘brand power,’ incorporating artistic storytelling at consumer touchpoints; ‘arts creation sponsorship,’ collaborating with the arts ecosystem; and ‘arts enjoyment sponsorship,’ expanding social cultural accessibility. The researchers explained that these four areas illustrate the pathways through which a company’s internal cultural assets expand into society.
The research utilized only publicly available materials, such as websites, sustainability management reports (ESG), disclosure information, and media reports. It targeted the top 100 companies by market capitalization as of the end of 2024, considering social impact and the level of information disclosure to perform cross-evaluation and expert verification before calculating the index.
The analysis found that CJ CheilJedang scored highest in the ‘internal cultural capital’ area. Consumer goods companies stood out in the ‘brand power’ sector, with Samsung Electronics and Kia noted for enhancing their brand status through arts and culture.
In the ‘arts creation sponsorship’ area, Hyundai Motor Company, IBK Industrial Bank, KT&G, and Amorepacific ranked highly. For ‘arts enjoyment sponsorship,’ KB Financial Group, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Kangwon Land excelled.
Yang Hee-dong, president of the Korean Academic Society of Business Administration and a professor at Ewha Womans University’s Business School, stated, “With the expanding voluntary disclosure of corporate information and along with long-term and extensive research, cultural power will become a core indicator (C-ESG) explaining a company’s non-financial value, beyond ESG.”
Jeong Byeong-guk, chairman of ARCO, explained, “This research demonstrates that corporate support for the arts is the ‘intangible competitive edge’ essential for a Korean company to survive in the global market,” and expressed his intent to lead the building of a partnership between arts and business.
The detailed report of this study will be available from March 3rd via the Arko website.