A Study focused on how Korean IT Service Firms were financially impacted since the restrictions on participation of large firms

The government has strengthened the system of restricting participation of large corporations to limit participation in national information system construction projects and to increase participation of SME software companies. This study analyzes the financial performances of small and medium sized IT firms in Korea three years prior and 3 years after the restrictions on participation of large firm. A sample of 121 small and medium-sized IT services firms were classified into 3 groups and statistical techniques (T-test and one-way ANOVA) were used for the purpose of the analysis. In the three years after the restriction of participation of large corporations, the total assets and sales of the medium and small IT service firms were positive, but the operating profit and net profit were negative. There were many worries about the introduction of the restriction on the participation of large corporations, but many were stabilized. However, the negative impact was more pronounced for SMEs. Therefore, the reduction effect of SME IT service companies is different from the first legislative purpose of enforcing the restriction system of large enterprises, so we propose to revise the policy.