An Empirical Study on The Types and Characteristics of Technological Capability： Electronic and IT Firms of Korea

국내 기업의 기술력과 기업특성에 관한 실증연구： 전자/통신 기업을 중심으로

In the knowledge-based economy, technological capability is critical for the survival and growth of firms. Technological capability differs across firms depending on the structural and environmental conditions. In nature, the evaluation of technological capability is an intractable task and thus previous studies often employ such proxy measures as patent, productivity, or profitability. In this research, we define technological capability as a combination of the above three measures and investigate, by using the multi-variate statistical analysis, the characteristics of technological capability of electronics/IT firms of Korea. We first propose a taxonomy in which firms are classified into four clusters based on the differences in the nature of technological capability. Then, across clusters, we comparatively analyze the relationship between technological capability and structural/environmental factors of firms. Finally, the implications of empirical findings will be discussed. This study is a small-scale, descriptive one but will be extended and elaborated by augmenting the database and/or incorporating more variables.