팬데믹 대응 중소기업 수출지원정책 고찰

A Study on Export Support Policy Responses to the Pandemic for SMEs

Purpose – The COVID-19 pandemic inflicted severe disruptions on the export activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Korea, prompting the government to introduce a range of export support policies in response. However, empirical studies assessing whether these policies adequately addressed the support needs of SMEs remain limited. Against this backdrop, the present study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of pandemic-related export support policies by analyzing their relative importance. Design/Methodology/Approach – To this end, a research model was created by categorizing the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy(MTIE)’s policy measures into broad groups, such as emergency financial support, logistics support, and digital transformation, under which more specific initiatives were classified. Based on this model, a survey was conducted among SMEs located in the Daegu–Gyeongbuk region, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology was employed to examine the relative weights of these policies. Findings – The findings indicate that emergency financial support was regarded as more important than logistics support or digital transformation. At the sub-policy level, measures such as subsidies for export–import logistics costs, preferential financing for export execution, and the early cash conversion of export receivables received particularly high evaluations. These results suggest that, in macro-level crises such as a pandemic, SMEs tend to place greater value on policies that alleviate survival pressures and reduce operational costs. Research Implications – This study provides policy implications by identifying which export support policies are most essential for SMEs in future crisis situations of a similar nature.