As of the end of 2013, the average R&D investment to sales of the KHC Candidates was recorded at 4.1%, more than the quadruple of the national average at 0.97%, showing their emphasis on investment in technology.
It is known that, on average, as many as 59 patents have been obtained by each of these KHC Candidates. Also, as of the end of 2013,
the average export volume to sales of the KHC Candidates was posted at 65.3%, nearly four times higher than the national average at 17.4%, evidencing that the Candidates are strongly committed to globalizing their businesses and they have the capacity to meet their goal.
Furthermore, their average sales growth has been kept on a rising trend, standing at 6.7% as of the end of 2013, more than three times higher than the national average, 2.1%. Also, their average employment growth rate is posted at 4.9%,
again, much higher than the national average, 2.8%, showing that these companies have stronger capacity of creating jobs than their average counterparts.
The Outcome of Hidden Champion Initiative.
Since the Hidden Champion Initiative has been launched at Korea Eximbank in 2009, the average annual sales growth rate and employment growth rate for the last 5 years (2009~2014) have reached at 11.2% and 6.3% respectively,
more than twice higher than those recorded by average SMEs and medium-large companies in Korea for the same period.