• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.81-89
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• 2016

Purpose - Prior researches have empirically focused on the effect of management consulting quality and consultant capability on entrepreneurial firms' performance. This study, however, focused on investigating the moderating role of absorptive capacity and resource capability between management consulting and entrepreneurial firms' performance. So, this study investigated the relationship among consulting quality, consultant capability, absorptive capacity, resource capability, and entrepreneurial firms' performance from the resource based view (RBV). Especially, this study focused on the mediating role of absorptive and resource capability in relational structure of entrepreneurial firms' dimensions. Research design, data, and methodology - In this study, research hypotheses and model are established by the prior researches from the fields of strategic management and entrepreneurial behavior. Concretely, H1~H4 are the relationship between consulting (consulting quality, consultant capability) and innovation (absorptive capacity, resource capability); H5 is the relationship between absorptive capacity and resource capability; and H6~H7 are the relationship between innovation (absorptive capacity, resource capability) and management performance. The data was collected 207 copies from entrepreneurial firms in South Korea. These firms were established in January 2014 and maintained by November 2015 in high-tech industry. The questionnaire was consisted of five dimensions; consulting quality, consultant capability, absorptive capacity, resource capability, and management performance. Each dimension measured multi items on a 5-point Likert scale. The hypotheses and research model are analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS 22. Results - The results of this study are as follows. 1) Consulting quality significantly influenced on the absorptive capacity of entrepreneurial firms. 2) But, consultant capability did not influence on the absorptive capacity of entrepreneurial firms. 3) Consulting quality and consultant capability significantly influenced on the resource capability of entrepreneurial firms. 4) Absorptive capacity significantly influenced on the resource capability of entrepreneurial firms; 5) Absorptive capacity did not significantly influence on the management performance of entrepreneurial firms. 6) Resource capability, however, significantly influenced on the management performance of entrepreneurial firms. By these results, absorptive capacity of entrepreneurial firms had a mediating role partly among consulting quality, consultant capability, and management capability. The resource capability of entrepreneurial firms had a mediating role among consulting quality, consultant capability, and management capability, perfectly. Conclusions - According to this study, the high level of consulting quality and consultant capability may enforce the resource capability of entrepreneurial firms. It means, practically, that external knowledge is a driver for innovation, and then the innovation effects on the management performance of entrepreneurial firms. So, at the initial stage, the management consulting programs are very important to entrepreneurial firms and should be conceived as an essential element. This study may contribute to the advancement of academic in field of new start business, small business, or venture business based on resources, especially the role of absorptive capacity and resource capability between consulting programs and management performance. However, this study has some limitations. They are the measurement of consulting quality's items, cross-sectional research, and the limitation of concept and industry.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.150-177
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• 2018

We review two specific risk management strategies of venture capitalists (VCs): deal syndication and domain specialization with respect to their explicit role in adjudging and managing the overall magnitude of information asymmetry risks. These are analyzed for three distinct categories of VC firms as classified by their funding stage focus (early vs. late), ownership type (foreign vs. domestic) and the human capital composition of the core VC team (entrepreneurial vs. investor). The analysis is based on both secondary data and primary data for active 72 VC firms in India. Syndication is moderately important for entrepreneurial VC firms, but not at all important for early-stage focused and foreign VC firms. This finding is distinctly different from what has been conventionally observed in the literature. Among the various arenas of domain specialization, high-technology focus is important for all segments of VC firms. In the context of investment-stage focus, foreign VC firms exhibit growth-stage specialization, while entrepreneurial VC firms concentrate on earlier investment stages.

• Korean small business review
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.19-35
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• 2017

It is very important for entrepreneurial firms to acquire and exploit the resources necessary for growth. This study examines how venture capital financing affect these entrepreneurial firms' ability to acquire and exploit the resources. Particularly, based on the resource based view, the authors explain the relationship between venture capital financing and entrepreneurial firm's market performance. Empirical results illustrate that venture capital financing positively and significantly affects the market performance of entrepreneurial firms. It is concluded that entrepreneurial firms need to increase the number of alliances with venture capital, which supports various activities after the investment to achieve growth with resource limitation.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.103-124
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• 2022

For venturing into international markets, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have not only emphasized internal resources but entrepreneurial orientation has also become the need of the day due to its significant role in increasing firm's competitive capabilities. Although research indicates that the competitive strategies can significantly impact export performance, minor attention is given to the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, business competitive strategy and export performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study scrutinizes the effect of each dimension of entrepreneurial orientation (i.e., innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness) and each of generic competitive strategies (i.e., cost leadership and differentiation) on the export performance of Chinese SMEs. And we investigated the moderating effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between the competitive strategies and export performance. We surveyed 217 Chinese SMEs through a structured questionnaire. For the data analysis and hypotheses testing, we used AMOS. 27. The findings display that differentiation and cost leadership strategies significantly improve export performance. The innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness also spur Chinese SME's export performance. Further we find that adding entrepreneurial orientation significantly improves our model of the relationship between the competitive strategies and export performance. Thus, our study extends the entrepreneurial orientation literature and provides interesting new insights into how entrepreneurial orientation helps firms create more successful export operations.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2015

In this study, we identified the various mechanisms through which entrepreneurial orientation impacts firm performance. We proposed that entrepreneurial orientation assists organizations in building cultural, structural, human and technical knowledge capabilities, which in turn lead to sustainable competitive advantage. We tested our proposed hypothesis using data collected from 76 managers of small entrepreneurial firms. We found that cultural knowledge capabilities are the strongest mediators of entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance relationship. By bringing in knowledge capabilities in the literature of entrepreneurial orientation, we open new directions for research. Our findings have implications for theory as well as practice.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.156-172
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• 2019

Purpose - Without question, globalization has presented different opportunities to entrepreneurs seeking to expand their companies in foreign markets. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial activity, information internalization, and product differentiation in export oriented firms. As such, entrepreneurial activities are divided into exploitative and exploratory opportunities. These opportunities are crucial in improving firms' performance. Design/methodology - A structural questionnaire was developed using 21 factors/indicators from previous researches. The subjects of this study were recruited using convenience sampling in export SMEs in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Data were collected through visits or e-mails from the export managers, executives, and CEOs of export SMEs in advance. 321 questionnaires were collected over a period of one month. 316 questionnaires were used in the final analysis. Findings - First, International Entrepreneurial-orientation (IE) has a positive effect on the exploration and exploitation of business opportunities. Second, the exploration and exploitation of business opportunities have a positive impact on information internalization. Third, information internalization has a significant effect on product differentiation and plays a mediating role in seeking opportunities, utilizing opportunities, and differentiating products. Originality/value - This study contributes to the development of academic discussions by explaining existing research gaps. First, there is currently a lack of research focusing precisely on the product differentiation capability of SMEs in manufacturing field in terms of IE. To bridge these gaps, we examined the entrepreneurial factors impact on product differentiation and tries to expand the discussion about the internationalization of SMEs, which were mainly focused on IT companies, and manufacturing companies. Second, there is no intuitive explanation regarding international entrepreneurial activity in terms of exploration and exploitation within existing. In this study, international entrepreneurship activities were classified in terms of exploration and exploitation.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.131-144
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• 2014

The entrepreneurial university concept is a new challenge and opportunity for science and technology universities in Korea. The traditional university functions of education, research, and community service are still highly relevant, but increasingly so are new types of collaboration for research outcomes and funding resources. Strategic university management is needed to handle socioeconomic contribution, involving the creation and maintenance of proactive relationships with firms, national and regional governments, and other regional entities. The emergence of the entrepreneurial university in Korea is similar to the socioeconomic changes observable in the history of university development in America and in many other developed countries. In this paper, we examine the emerging paradigm of entrepreneurial universities in Korea and discuss the interactions among universities, firms, and government strategy and policy by investigating and comparing two universities, POSTECH and KAIST, in their leadership, adaptation to changes in the environment, business strategies, organization, and cooperative network. We conclude with policy points that emphasize the fact that while entrepreneurial universities are an emerging concept, they can expand innovation and creativity in education and research in Korean universities in the mid-to-long term if university administration, policymakers and public administrators, and regional innovation actors take an interest in the need for a new organization and system where university research can contribute socioeconomically.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.15-29
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• 2020

Purpose: Due to an ever more interconnected global commercial environment, the role of SMEs from emerging markets has attracted considerable attention in business literature of late. Reinforced by strategic management theory, this study builds on aspects such as entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities to construct and test a framework that focuses on exploring their associations with export performance. Research design, data and methodology: To contribute further towards a deeper understanding of these markets, the current study empirically tests a model using data collected from 225 exporting firms located throughout South Africa. Results: The results from the data analysis show that entrepreneurial orientation contributes significantly towards improving the performance of South African SMEs. Additionally, this study integrates three dynamic capabilities in the strategy-performance relationship to test their interacting effects on the correlation between entrepreneurial orientation and export performance. Further findings advocate support for relationship-based capabilities playing a moderating role between entrepreneurial orientation and the exporting performance of small and medium firms emanating from emerging markets. Conclusions: Findings provide substance to the argument that entrepreneurship, as a strategy-making process, leads to export performance in emerging nations. Especially, this study provides several suggestions as to how small and medium-sized organizations can develop their exporting performance based on the research findings.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.101-121
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• 1998

Recent entrepreneurship studies emphasize the importance of entrepreneurial activities of entrepreneurs. This study focuses entrepreneurial behaviors, especially entrepreneurial networking activities of Korean high-tech ventures. Networking activities can utilize external resources which are critical to success, with less resource commitment. This study examines the relationship between characteristics of entrepreneurial networking and performance, and analyses influencing factors of entrepreneurial networking activities. Based on the data from 55 new high-tech ventures in Korea, hypotheses that the characteristics of entrepreneurial networking are related to the performance of new high-tech ventures are tested using regression analysis and t-test. Major findings of this study are as follows: (1) entrepreneurial networking are related to the performance of new high-tech ventures, (2) significant differences are found in the characteristics of entrepreneurial networking between high- and low-performance firms, (3) characteristics of entrepreneurs and firm' technological capabilities are related to the degree of entrepreneurial networking activities. Finally, managerial and policy implications of the study are presented and future research directions are also suggested.

• Proceedings of the Technology Innovation Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.23-37
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• 1998

Recent entrepreneurship researches emphasize the importance of entrepreneurial behaviors, entrepreurs activities. This study focused entrepreneurial behaviors, especially entrepreneurial networking for using external resources which are critical to success. This study examines the relationship between characteristics of entrepreneurial networking and performance using data from 55 new high-tech ventures in Korea. We tested hypotheses that the characteristics of entrepreneurial networking are related to the performance of new high-tech ventures using regression analysis and t-test. Major findings of this study are as follows: (1) entrepreneurial networking are related to the performance of new high-tech ventures, (2) significant differences are found in the characteristics of entrepreneurial networking between high and low-performance firms, (3) some factors are related to the entrepreneurial networking. Finally, some managerial and policy implications are presented and future research directions are suggested.