POSCO again proved itself to be one of Korea's best companies in the field of supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as it has won the Win-win Growth Awards for the fourth consecutive year.

Korea's top steelmaker said Sunday it received the prize at a ceremony, hosted by the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnerships (KCCP), at the Novotel Ambassador in Seoul, Tuesday.

The KCCP has annually held the ceremony to spread the culture of shared growth between conglomerates and SMEs and has given awards to firms selected by professionals in the academic field, business and related organizations.

Among the top 133 enterprises in Korea, 25 firms received awards for their fair trade and win-win growth at the ceremony which was attended by executives of large companies, CEOs of their affiliates and officials of the KCCP, including Chairman Ahn Choong-young.

According to POSCO, Kim Sang-beom, who works for the electrical steel division of the company's steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, was selected as a man of merit at the ceremony.

Based on his 28 years of experience at the investment division of the electrical steel factory, Kim has worked on 16 projects for improving facilities to share benefits with POSCO's affiliates.

The KCCP recognized Kim's contribution to increase profits of the affiliates, as well as POSCO itself.

"We will expand various programs that we developed for shared growth," an official of POSCO said in a press release, "and will continue to support our affiliates so they can create new demand in overseas as well as domestic markets."

Since 1999, POSCO has emphasized mutual growth with SMEs, so it has run 32 shared growth programs which include technical assistance, financial support, partnership reinforcement, consulting and education.

The multinational firm has also supported technical developments of SMEs through benefit sharing, public-private joint R&D and techno-partnerships.

For the financial liquidity of SMEs, POSCO has always paid the whole amount owed in cash within three business days, after it receives goods from suppliers.