• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.257-277
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• 2022

Does servitization improve manufacturing firms' performance, and in what condition? Following the seminal work of Crozet and Milet (2017), this study analyzes disaggregated firm-level data that covers 40,000 South Korean manufacturing firms surveyed by the Survey of Business Activities of Korea. We compute firm-level servitization intensity with available sales data of each firm by two-digit SIC sub-sectors. We find two novel empirical regularities: Korean servitization intensity distribution shows a very different shape from the French benchmark; Servitized firms tend to perform higher profitability and higher productivity than non-servitized firms.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.256-276
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• 1994

This paper aims at identifying the desirable R'||'&'||'D life cycle related to government-industry cooperative R'||'&'||'D. It is based on a case study associated with the relationship between cooperation and cooperation in information in information communications sector. It presents three types of R'||'&'||'D life cycle to achieve a technological enhancement as high as possible with limited resources. The first case of R'||'&'||'D project is of "advanced type". In the generic technology phase, government takes a leading role jointly in R'||'&'||'D activities, but, in after the applied research phase, the domestic firms take the lead. This kind of cooperation can be made when competition between domestic firms is highly intense, and the technological knowledges of participating firms are at internationally competitive levels. The second type of "less-advanced type"; the firms of a country(more often a small country) lag behind in technology level, and the penetration of foreign firms in the market is limited. In this case, government takes full charge of R'||'&'||'D activities up to the applied research phase, due to the low technology level and insufficient financial resources of private firms. Lastly, this paper presents and R'||'&'||'D life cycle of "strategic" type. This applies to the case in which domestic firm with less financial resources make an attempt to increase their technological knowledges while the government, in turn, contributes to strengthen the international competitiveness of domestic industry.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.3-19
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• 2007

The purpose of this paper is to study the pattern of interactive learning in strategic networks. Interactive learning is defined as the exchange and sharing of knowledge resources conducive to innovation between an innovator firm, its suppliers, and/or its customers. The strength of internal knowledge resources can either hamper or facilitate levels of interactive learning. We assume that more complex innovative activities urge firms to co-ordinate and exchange information between users and producers, which implies a higher level of interactive learning. To test our theoretical claims, we estimated the level of interactive learning of firms in strategic networks with: (1) their customers, (2) their suppliers. Theses analyses allow a comparison of the antecedents of interactive learning of firms participating in strategic networks. Our findings suggest that interactive learning with customers is positively affected by company's capabilities and value-created activities, and with supplies is positively affected by value-created activities and technology innovation centers.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.77-100
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• 2005

This paper analyzes the determinants of firm's innovative activity, using Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) dataset. Especially, we focused on the role of external networks by partners(other firms or research institutions) in performing innovative activities. The product innovation, product improvement, and process innovation are used as proxies for innovative activity. The explanatory variables such as market concentration ratio, lagged profitability, foreign ownership, export ratio, firm's age, formal R&D activity, and industrial R&D intensity are also considered. With data from 1,124 firms for the two years (2000-2001), we estimated the logistic regression model. The finding is that the determinants of firm's innovative activities differ by type of innovations. We also found that the innovative behavior of SMEs differs from that of large firms. The result confirms that external networks have a strong positive effect on innovative activity. However, the network effects by partners vary across both firm size and type of innovations.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2001

Some spread-effects and their dynamics accruing to regional community from the new location of large firms would be an interesting theme in economic geography On the assumption that all firms not only should. have cooperative relations with their regional communities but also try to realize such cooperations in case of locating their facilities, some rationale for their philanthropic activities will be discussed in this paper. The focus of this paper is on the community contributions or philanthropy which are executed as the non-profit motivated activities of firms. Why and how should firms respond to the growing requirements of their communities, and what type of philanthropic activities could be good for their social behavioral contexts are the questions to be solved in this study. It is possible to get some guidelines of a firm's philanthropy through the comparisons on the practices in the three largest firm.5: Kodak. Dupont, and POSCO.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2023

Purpose - Using a sample of Korean multinational corporations, we examine whether the relationship between tax risk and the implied cost of capital discriminates between the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) of highly rated firms. Design/methodology - Firms with high tax risks have an increased uncertainty of future cash flows. Therefore, as the volatility of future cash flow increases, information asymmetry and the required return increases. Highly rated ESG firms can reduce information asymmetry, thereby weakening the positive relationship between tax risk and cost of capital. We employ the standard deviation of the cash effective tax rate as proxy of tax risk. We utilize the ESG rating data of the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS). We use a PEG model, MPEG model, and GM model to measure the implied cost of capital. Findings - We find a positive association between the implied cost of capital and tax risk. The positive relationship between tax risk and the implied cost of capital weakens in highly rated ESG firms. Highly rated ESG firms prefer a stable tax position to invest after-tax cash flows into sustainable management. Therefore, the negative effects of tax risk on cost of capital can be reduced. Originality/value - This study provides empirical evidence that ESG activities can mitigate the negative impact of tax risk on the cost of capital for Korean multinational corporations. In a business environment where ESG activities are more important, the empirical results that ESG activities can reduce the corporate risk of Korean FDI companies are expected to provide implications for the ESG activities of multinational corporations.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.187-199
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• 2018

This study examined the effects of startup firm's knowledge assets on the effectiveness of their sales strategies, efficiency of sales activities, and management performance, after categorizing these assets into customer knowledge assets and technology knowledge assets. Furthermore, the moderating effects of promotion focus by CEOs and sales managers of startup firms were analyzed. For the analysis, dyadic questionnaire surveys were conducted targeting the CEOs and sales managers of startup firms established at the Gyeongnam Technopark and the KAIST Technology Business Incubation Center in Korea. Hypotheses were verified through structural equation modeling, and moderating effects were identified through ANOVA. CEO's customer knowledge asset strengthened their effectiveness of sales strategies, and sales manager's technology knowledge asset strengthened the efficiency of their sales activities. Also, CEO's effectiveness of sales strategies and sales manager's efficiency of sales activities have been found to enhance startup firm's management performance. Meanwhile, the moderating effect of promotion focus strengthened CEO's effectiveness of sales strategies through CEO's customer knowledge asset and interaction as CEO's promotion focus level increased, but promotion focus of sales managers did not have any significant interaction effect. This study provides implications by offering empirical evidence on startup firms with regard to knowledge assets.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.105-113
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• 2022

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the ratio of non-controlling shareholder interests (minority equity ratio, MER) and the measurement error in real activities manipulation (RM) proxy for Japanese firms. Many Japanese firms have practiced stakeholder-oriented corporate governance systems. Previous studies suggest that the higher the MER, the more Japanese businesses tend to employ management techniques for the group's sales growth while also reallocating resources inside the group to reduce principal-principal conflicts. Such differences in management strategies by firms could lead to measurement error in the RM proxy. The analysis uses 16,450 firm-years listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The results of our analysis show that there is a positive relationship between MER and the RM proxy, and high persistence of RM proxies, suggesting that the RM proxies may contain measurement error. We also find that MER is correlated with variables associated with management strategy and that controlling for these variables can reduce the measurement error of RM proxy in firms with large MER. This study extends previous research on measurement error in RM proxy by relating them to ownership structure and corporate governance. This paper would contribute to researchers examining issues related to RM.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.135-155
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• 2022

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine how a broad palette of government support measures and firms' membership in government-developed clusters are related to firms' openness in innovation processes. Design/methodology/approach - Empirically, this study analyzes the Korea Innovation Survey 2018 data on the innovation activities of 1,450 Korean R&D-active manufacturing firms in a three-year period from 2015 through 2017. Findings - The results suggest that firms engage in open innovation to a greater extent--as measured by the breadth of external collaborating partners and of the utilized external sources of knowledge--when they are provided with a broader palette of government support measures and are located in government-developed clusters. However, the effect of diverse government support measures is attenuated for firms located in these clusters. Research implications or Originality - This study contributes to the innovation literature by illuminating how firms' open innovation can be understood in a national innovation system. Moreover, it provides valuable implications for firms seeking to obtain government support and collaborate with others.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.308-320
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• 2017

The national government, as well as many regional governments, have supported the 'Ppuri industries', and the Daejeon region is in need of developing these sectors. Various research studies have examined the ppuri industries. However, there are limited studies concerning innovative activities and difficulties in the industries. Therefore, this paper focuses on firms' innovative activities and difficulties in the ppuri industries in the Daejeon region and provides policy implications. For this purpose, we surveyed firms supported by Daejeon Technopark's Ppuri industries programs, utilizing an innovation survey questionnaire developed by STEPI. We assumed that these firms have high intention for innovation among firms in the Daejeon's ppruri industries, and tried to identify characteristics and problems of innovative activities by comparing results with those of STEPI's Korean Innovation Survey. The results show that the overall pattern of innovative activities of Daejeon's ppuri industry firms do not differ from those found in the Korean Innovation Survey. However, there are a few notable differences. The rate of aborted innovation in the Daejoen's ppuri industries was higher than those found in the Korean Innovation Survey. Lack of financing was a major factor hampering innovation. These results provide policy implications that industrial and regional characteristics of ppuri industries must be reflected in the policy, and also policy measures for lowering the rate of aborted innovation.