• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.13-35
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• 2020

Startup accelerators are a new type of investors providing a certain amount of shares for imparting education, mentoring, networking, and providing space and seed money that can directly resolve the difficulties faced by nascent entrepreneurs (Clarysse, 2016). Startup accelerators have expanded worldwide as their influence over the startup ecosystem has increasingly been established (Pauwels et al., 2016; Cohen & Hochberg, 2014). This study was conducted to derive investment determinants of startup accelerators that are emerging as major investment players around the world. To this end, the accelerator-type determinants of investment were derived. As previous research on this topic is nonexistent, this process involved qualitative meta-synthesis, literature reviews, observation, and in-depth interviews. First, more than 30 research papers were examined for the determinants of investment for firms at an early stage of their foundation, and the categories and determinants of investment in the relevant studies were comparatively analyzed using qualitative meta-synthesis. Further, related data were investigated to identify the characteristics of accelerators, and the startup evaluation process of US accelerators was studied. The more than 100 questions raised during this process were coded to examine the determinants of investment that accelerators considered important. In-depth interviews were conducted with four US accelerators to identify the characteristics of accelerators and key determinants of investment. Ultimately, 5 categories of accelerator-type determinants of investment and 26 subordinate determinants of investment were derived. The results were verified and supplemented by consulting with seven accelerators in Korea. The results were confirmed after pilot tests and verification by seven domestic accelerators. After confirming the accelerator-type determinants, the reliability of them was verified by examining the importance and priority of each category through the quantitative survey of Korean accelerators. The research that elicited the accelerator-type investment determinants is the first research and is expected to be a major reference to the progress of subsequent studies. This research that systematically derived the investment determinants of the accelerator is expected to make major contributions to the progress of follow-up studies, the process of selecting startups, and the investment decision-making process of the accelerators.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.31-47
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• 2022

The TIPS, a representative public-private cooperative project to revitalize the start-up ecosystem, is a government supported policy that promotes successful commercialization through various start-up support for technology-based startups. The purpose of this study is to analyze the investment decision factors of the TIPS program and to derive priorities. In order to achieve the research purpose, first, the investment decision factors were derived through literature analysis, a Delphi surveys were conducted on investors and experts participating in the evaluation of the TIPS program, and an AHP analysis was conducted on 20 VCs to empirically analyze the priority of factors on investment decisions. As a result of the analysis, the importance of critical factors was confirmed in the order of entrepreneurs(team) > market > product/service > finance > network. The importance of detailed factors was found in the order of entrepreneur's reliability and authenticity > market growth and scalability > team members' expertise and capabilities > adequacy of current market size > new market creation. This study presented the capabilities of technology-based startups preparing to participate in the TIPS program by deriving factors that influence investment decisions from an investor's perspective and comparing and analyzing the importance. It is also meaningful that basic data on determinants of private-led investment decision-making were presented to stake-holders such as venture capital, accelerator, and start-up support institutions.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.39-44
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• 2020

지금까지의 투자 의사결정 요인에 관한 연구는 벤처캐피탈 관점에서 이루어져 왔다. 벤처캐피탈이 투자할 만한 가치가 있는 스타트업을 선정하는 요인이 무엇인가 하는 것이 기존의 연구의 핵심이었다. 하지만, 최근 우수한 스타트업의 경우, 많은 벤처캐피탈이 투자를 하기를 원하면서, 오히려 능력 있는 스타트업들은 벤처캐피탈을 선별해서 투자를 받고 있는 현상이 나타나고 있다. 따라서 우수한 스타트업이 벤처캐피탈을 선택하는 결정 요인을 알아봐야 하는 시기가 된 것이다. 본 연구는 창업 초기단계(Series A) 창업가 4명, 중기단계(Series B/C) 창업가 3명을 인터뷰하여 스타트업이 벤처캐피탈을 선정하는 요인을 탐색하고자 한다. 연구 결과, 스타트업이 벤처캐피탈을 선정하는 주요 요인으로는 1) 계약내용, 2) 벤처캐피탈 명성(reputation), 3) 투자 심사역인 것으로 나타났다. 먼저, 초기 및 중기 단계의 스타트업 모두가 중요하게 생각하는 요인은 계약내용으로, 구체적으로는 가치평가 (valuation)와 우호적인 투자조건으로 나타났다. 다음으로, 벤처캐피탈의 명성 (reputation)의 경우, 벤처캐피탈이 지금까지 투자해 왔던 회사들의 면면 (portfolio)과 투자한 후, 후속 투자를 하는 경향 (Follow-on)을 중요시 하는 것으로 나타났다. 마지막으로, 벤처캐피탈을 선정할 때, 창업 초기 단계에서는 상대적으로 투자심사역의 영향이 컸고, 창업 중기 단계 이후로 갈수록 투자심사역 개인보다는 회사 차원의 벤처캐피탈의 영향력이 커짐을 발견하였다.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.161-189
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• 2007

The purposes of this dissertation are to identify various factors affecting the outcomes of feasibility analysis and investment decision makings of new IT project plans and empirically analysis the relationships among them. 9 variables which have been drawn from prior studies and industry practices are the amount of the necessary resource such as development budget and time, the expect financial benefits, the degree of alignments between IT projects and the business strategy, the estimated risk, and the investment priority as the dependent variable. Data from 125 IT projects of K bank, the leading commercial bank in Korea, have been collected and Regression Analysis and ANOVA have been performed. As results, 5 out of 8 hypothesis have been accepted partially or totally.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1-18
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• 2019

Venture capitalists (VCs) play an important role in finding and growing innovative venture companies with high growth potential but high risk. Venture capital investment does not depend on the system, unlike the investment for listed companies. Korea's venture capital industry has entered a period of growth, but lack of data has led to a lack of research on venture capital. Based on this background, this study attempts to analyze various factors affecting investment decision criteria of Korea VCs. In this study, I examined the major factors that VCs consider in decision making of investment through literature review, and I have drawn the research question accordingly. I will focus on the characteristics of founders, products / services, markets, financials, and networks that scholars share common investment decision criteria in Korean VCs. For the purpose of this study, the data were collected through the questionnaire surveyed by investment vetters working in current venture capital and analyzed using AHP analysis. Through this study, I tried to understand the Korean venture capital which has been poorly studied and what criteria and priorities Korean VCs make investment decisions in the Korean venture investment environment. The results of this research will contribute to the vitalization of venture investment, which is important for the upbringing of companies, by providing guidelines for establishing investment attraction strategies of venture companies.

• Korean small business review
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.173-209
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• 2021

Start-up accelerators are a new type of investor that provide mentoring, education and seed capital to start-ups for a fixed duration and receive a certain stake in them in return. They help start-ups achieve successful commercialization. With increase in performance visibility, the number of private and public sector accelerators rose across domestic and international markets. Private sector accelerators are established and operated by private entities while public sector accelerators are established and operated by the government. Both play complementary roles that are becoming increasingly important to start-ups. Therefore, this study aims to examine the differences in major operational goals and investment determinants between private and public sectors and to understand their implications. The results show that the private sector prioritizes profit generation through the investment, while the public sector aims to contribute to the development of high-growth start-ups, and create region-specific and technology-specific start-up ecosystems. Additionally, both groups consider customer needs the most important determinant. Public groups are more conservative in investments and tend to place importance on objective indicators such as patents, partners, mentors, and co-founders. Conversely, private groups value the capabilities of founders and their ease of collaboration with accelerators. These findings can help start-ups get support from public or private accelerators more easily. It will also help public and private accelerators refine the criteria for selecting start-ups.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.159-185
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• 2019

Chemical industry, as one of the basis industries of the country, is characterized by converged high-end technology and large scale capital investment. In 2018, the government announced "The Strategy for Chemical Industry Development" with the vision of 'An Upgrade to the Advanced Chemical Industry'. In the meantime, the advanced chemical industry in Korea has been developed not by its own R&D, but by the upgrading of technologies and processes through the technology transfer from developed countries. The method of technology transfer was mainly achieved with international joint ventures (hereafter IJV) linked with technology transferors from developed countries. As it is necessary to grasp the determinants of the technology transfer and their importance to promote the transfers through IJVs, this relative importance analysis study was conducted by using the method of quantifying experts' opinions (AHP) on the determinants of the technology transfer of both parties. As a result of the analysis, in the Hierarchy1(PEST factors), the technology transferees focus on economic factors such as 'profitability of technology transfer' and 'cost efficiency', while technology transferors considered technical factors such as 'operational excellence (abilities to continuously improve technology process)'. In addition, transferors and transferees have different priorities for technology transfer determinants in all areas of Hierarchy 2 (sub-determinants). This suggests that Korean government or enterprise should shift the policy direction toward 'technology-oriented' when they promote advanced-technology transfer through IJVs.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.135-149
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• 2008

This paper studies the determinants of the pattern of penetration of US films. The global dominance of US films has been an important issue. There has been several factors that make US films competitive global film market. Market size, large investment and political hegemony have been regarded as important determinants. But the number of varieties has not been considered, although the variety is important in the pattern of differentiated products such as films. This study is purposed to analyze the export pattern of US films and to find factors that affects the pattern of trade in films. The export pattern of US films to the seven leading countries in production of films is analyzed. The US tends to export more to the country with smaller number of films produced domestically. This paper concludes that number of films is the important determinant of the pattern of trades in US films.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1-20
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• 2023

This study attempted to identify the relationship between the investment determinants of accelerators and investment performance through empirical analysis. Through literature review, four dimensions and 12 measurement items were extracted for investment determinants, which are independent variables, and investment performance was adjusted to the cumulative amount of subsequent investment based on previous studies. Performance data from 594 companies selected by TIPS from 2017 to 2019, which are relatively reliable and easy to secure data, were collected, and the subsequent investment cumulative attraction amount, which is a dependent variable, was hypothesized through multiple regression analysis three years after the investment. As a result of the study, 'industrial experience years' in the characteristics of founders, 'market size', 'market growth', 'competitive strength', and 'number of patents' in the characteristics of products and services had a significant positive (+) effect. The impact of independent variables on dependent variables was most influenced by the competitive strength of market characteristics, followed by the number of years of industrial experience, the number of patents, the size of the market, and market growth. This was different from the results of previous studies conducted mainly on qualitative research methods, and in most previous studies, the characteristics of founders were the most important, but the empirical analysis results were market characteristics. As a sub-factor, the intensity of competition, which was the subordinate to the importance of previous studies, had the greatest influence in empirical analysis. The academic significance of this study is that it presented a specific methodology to collect and build 594 empirical samples in the absence of empirical research on accelerator investment determinants, and created an opportunity to expand the theoretical discussion of investment determinants through causal research. In practice, the information asymmetry and uncertainty of startups that accelerators have can help them make effective investment decisions by establishing a systematic model of experience-dependent investment determinants.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2020

Accelerators that invest in early startups, as well as nursery and overall management, have recently emerged as "key players" in the startup ecosystem. This can be proved by the case where the number of domestic accelerators registered in the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups has recently reached 208. Accelerators provide the necessary education for early-stage companies, including guidance for a certain period of time, and support startups in ways such as demo days to attract subsequent investment after the seed investment. There is not much research in academia about what factors impact on these accelerators when making investment decisions at the time of seed investment. In this study, we checked the meaning and function of the accelerator and tried to analyze what factors affect on accelerators when making a decision to invest in startups. The research method is based on a literature survey of previous studies on investment decision-making factors of venture capital and angel investors, and a lens model and judgment analysis method through empirical research targeting 43 accelerator investment decision-makers. Empirical analysis shows that accelerators have three of the key factors to consider when choosing the first startup to invest and educate; entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial traits, their product and service expertise and a potential return on success. This will provide an opportunity for early startups to gain strategic access to accelerators when they need money or need a structured educational program. Also, the results obtained through this research will be a kind of guideline for startups to attract accelerators' investment. The significance of this study is that discriminatory evidence was presented on the accelerator determinants of investment, and it would be highly suggestive to startups and related public institutions.