• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2021.04a
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• pp.33-42
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• 2021

Based on the findings of Lee et al.(2020) and Lee & Oh(2021), this paper aims to fill the gap in our knowledge regarding the relationship between strategic choices and corporate growth by utilizing a novel dataset of 'Unicorn' and 'Hyper-growing' companies. Two previous studies provide coherent findings that the relationship between firms' strategies and their performance should be explored under a more comprehensive framework with consideration of both internal and external factors. Therefore, in this study, we apply a single conceptual framework to two different datasets, which considers the strategy factors as independent variables, and the industry(market) and the firm age as moderating variables. For our dependent variables, valuations for unicorn companies and revenue CAGR for hyper-growing companies are used after categorizing them into three uniform groups. The strategy variables include 'Generic (Cost-leadership, Differentiation, focus) strategies', 'Growth(Organic, M&A) strategies', 'Leading(Pioneer, Fast-follower) strategies', 'Target market(B2B, B2C, B2G, C2C) strategies', 'Global(Global, Local) strategies', 'Digital(Online, Offline) strategies.' For industry(market) factors, it consists of historical growth rate for industries and economic, demographic, and regulatory aspects of states and countries. To overcome the differences in their units, they are also uniformly categorized into multiple groups. Before we conduct a regression analysis, we analyze the industry distribution of the 'Unicorn' and the 'Hyper-growing' companies with descriptive statistics at the integrated and individual levels. Next, we employ hierarchical regression models on Study A('Unicorn' companies in 2019) and Study B('Hyper-growing' companies in 2019) under the same comprehensive framework. We then analyze the relationship between the 'strategy' and the 'performance' factors with two different approaches: 1) an integrated regression model with both the sample of Study A and B and 2) respective regression models on Study A and B. This empirical study aims to provide a complete understanding and a reference to which strategy factors should be considered to promote firms' scale-up and growth.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.51-78
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• 2021

Followed by 'start-up', the theme of 'scale-up' has been considered as an important agenda in both corporate and policy spheres. In particular, although it is a term commonly used in industry and policy fields, even a conceptual definition has not been achieved from the academic perspective. "Corporate Growth" in the academic aspect and "Business Growth" in the practical management field have different understandings (Achtenhagen et al., 2010). Previous research on corporate growth has not departed from Penrose(1959)'s "Firm as a bundle of resources" and "the role of managers". Based on the theory and background of economics, existing research has mainly examined factors that contribute to firms' growth and their growth patterns. Comparatively, we lack knowledge on the firms' growth with a focus on 'annual revenue growth rate'. In the early stage of the firms, they tend to exhibit a high growth rate as it started with a lower level of annual revenue. However, when the firms reach annual revenue of more than 100 billion KRW, a threshold to be classified as a 'middle-standing enterprise' by Korean standards, they are unlikely to reach a high level of revenue growth rate. In our study, we used our sample of 333 companies (6.7% out of 5,000 'fastest-growing' companies) which reached 15% of the compound annual growth rate in the last three years with more than USD 100 million. It shows that sustaining 'high-growth' above a certain firm size is difficult. The study focuses on firms with annual revenue of more than $100 billion (approximately 120 billion KRW) from the 'Inc. 2020 fast-growing companies 5,000' list. The companies have been categorized into 1) Fast-growing companies (revenue CAGR 15%~40% between 2016 and 2019), 2) Hyper-growing companies (40%~99.9%), and 3) Super-growing (100% or more) with in-depth analysis of each group's characteristics. Also, the relationship between the revenue growth rate, individual company's strategy choice (market orientation, generic strategy, growth strategy, pioneer strategy), industry/market environment, and firm age is investigated with a quantitative approach. Through conducting the study, it aims to provide a reference to the 'Hyper-Growing Model' that combines the paths and factors of growth strategies. For policymakers, our study intends to provide a reference to which factors or environmental variables should be considered for 'optimal effective combinations' to promote firms' growth.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.105-118
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• 2021

As we enter the era of the 4th industrial revolution, information and communication technologies, including artificial intelligence and big data, are converging throughout society. Especially, as the importance of the social foundation of hyper-connection grows, the social influence of IoT, a network of connecting objects, people, and various entities, is also gradually expanding. In addition, as a pandemic, COVID-19, continues, interests in untact-oriented technology and service development are growing more than ever, and each company is trying to establish a core competency strategy to gain an edge in competition in the changing society. This study is a case study centered on Dawon DNS, a company that provides an IoT-based AI smart plug platform. Dawon DNS is broadening its services while developing products by applying advanced technologies, and this study is aiming to investigate the core competencies of the business evolution process. The obtained result of this study will provide implications for companies to become more competitive by suggesting the attitudes and strategies that startups should have during the transforming business environment.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.25-58
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• 2021

This study investigated the corporate growth with more emphasis on longitudinal characteristics, not the results of companies with relatively more emphasis on cross-sectional, in the 21st-century entrepreneurial context. As of the end of 2019, sampled 479 global unicorn companies, and 333 high-growth companies with revenue of more than $100 million among 5,000 private companies in the U.S. with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 15% for the past three years. They were examined with 3 perspectives in terms of corporate growth that 1) the growth of enterprise value, 2) the pace of growth, and 3) the effectiveness of growth. As a result of our study, the corporate growth of the perspective of creating enterprise value had a relatively higher relationship with the characteristics of industries and markets. The pace of growth was more fully explained by the characteristics of the industry and the market environment and the choice of strategies that make up a valid combination. In addition, growth in terms of the effectiveness of corporate performance was influenced by the choice of strategy, the characteristics of the industry and market environment, and its business age, the proxy variable of resource accumulation, comprehensively. This study through a sample based on companies with an enterprise value of more than $1 billion and annual revenue of more than $100 million can be a valid reference in terms of creating milestones and roadmaps for scale-up of early-stage startups, particularly in terms of practitioners' point of view. It also provides a critical reference for overcoming the limitations of mainstream theories of the 20th century and developing the theory of corporate growth that fits the 21st-century entrepreneurial context.