Corporate Favorability Index Reaches 'Highest' in 22 Years...Why?

[Financial News] It was found that the Corporate Favorability Index recorded the highest in 22 years since the first survey in 2003. With the domestic economic downturn and concerns about job reduction, and corporate efforts to overcome anti-corporate sentiment, the perception of companies in our society has changed significantly in recent years.
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently announced that in the '2025 Corporate Favorability Index (CFI)' survey conducted on 1,000 men and women aged 18 and over nationwide, the public's favorability toward companies was calculated at 56.3 points out of 100. It exceeded the favorability baseline of 50 points for the third consecutive year, and it is the highest score since the survey was first conducted in 2003. The 'Corporate Favorability Index' quantifies the degree to which the public feels favorable towards companies, calculated by summing up seven elements: productivity, international competitiveness, contribution to the national economy, ethical management, community contribution, corporate culture, and eco-friendliness, along with overall favorability. A score close to 100 indicates high favorability, while a score close to 0 indicates low favorability. Exceeding the baseline of 50 means that favorability outweighs unfavorability.
In this survey, △improvement in corporate culture such as working methods △efforts to practice ethical management, and △management for community and environment received good evaluations from the public compared to previous years. 'Corporate culture improvement' rose by 4.9 points from 50.9 to 55.8, showing the largest increase among the seven evaluation factors. 'Ethical management practice' and 'community contribution' also increased by 3.1 points and 2.3 points, respectively. Overall favorability also rose by 3.1 points, leading to an overall increase in scores. The chamber analyzed that the positive evaluation of corporate culture improvement and ethical management practice is the result of voluntary efforts by the business community.
On the other hand, the 'productivity improvement and technology development' index showed a decline since 2023, and it was the only one to decrease in this survey. The productivity and technology development index fell nearly 10 points over the past three years, from 73.3 in 2023 to 63.9 in 2024, and 63.5 in 2025. This is interpreted as reflecting concerns about supply chain instability due to tariff wars and US-China conflicts, competition in high-tech industries, and concerns about weakening competitiveness of our companies.

In this survey, respondents cited contribution to the national economy (40.8%), job creation (26.5%), and social contribution activities (11.8%) as reasons for having a favorable view of companies. On the other hand, the most cited reasons for not having a favorable view were lack of effort to improve corporate culture (31.6%), insufficient compliance and ethical management (26.3%), and lack of win-win management (21.1%).
The top priority that the public expects from companies in the economic field was 'creation of quality jobs' (39.7%), followed by 'development of new technologies through active R&D' (20.6%), 'growth into a global company' (16.1%), 'contribution to national wealth through exports' (9.7%), and 'active investment in startups, etc.' (8.2%). 
Park Il-jun, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce, emphasized, "It is very encouraging that the public's favorability toward companies has increased despite internal and external uncertainties," and "to ensure that companies can faithfully perform their roles such as improving productivity and technology, government support through regulatory improvement and R&D support is needed." He also stated, "We will continue to strive to spread new entrepreneurial spirit so that companies can gain public trust through the expansion of their social roles."
This survey was conducted from April 21 to April 30 on 1,000 men and women aged 18 and over nationwide through telephone surveys. The total number of call attempts was 5,685, and 1,000 participated in the survey. The margin of error is ±3.1% at a 95% confidence level.

ehcho@fnnews.com Cho Eun-hyo Reporter