• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.269-306
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• 2018

Through this study, it is aimed to derive the policy direction considering the characteristics of the present Smart Factory, the industrial condition of Pohang area, and the promotion field. Secondly, the questionnaire data of the regional enterprises will prepare for the improvement of the industrial structure and the implications for efficiency, and preparation for regional preparation and industrial changes in preparation for the next generation of production revolution. The construction of Smart Factory in Pohang can be divided into two major directions. First, it is analyzed that smart factory pilot projects are highly needed, focusing on competitive medical precision manufacturing field among the SMEs in the region, primary metal and nonmetal manufacturing industries, and other machinery fields. In addition, local SMEs are willing to introduce smart factories for reasons of quality improvement and cost reduction, and it is confirmed that they will actively promote employee training and expertise if they can upgrade continuously.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.51-61
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• 2018

As Korean society becomes more matured, more people consider trust valuable, as a social capital. Researchers introduced trust literatures focusing on public policy, sociology than business. In this paper, it is empirically analyzed how Organizational Justice, Shared Values, Organizational Trust, 3 dimensions of social capital explained by Nahapiet & Ghoshall, together with Job Satisfaction and Innovative Behavior, as a proxy of performance at the organizational level. The results of this study are as below. Firstly Organizational Justice, consisted of 4 sub-variables of Distributional Justice, Procedural Justice, Interpersonal Justice and Informational Justice, classified by Colquitt, affects Job Satisfaction positively. Secondly Shared Values, consisted of 2 sub-variables of CEO's Core Value and Organizational Culture, availing Competing Value Model of Cameron & Quinn, affect Job Satisfaction positively. Thirdly Job Satisfaction, consisted of 2 sub-variables of economical satisfaction and self-efficacy, affects Innovative Behavior positively. Lastly Organizational Trust has mediating effect on the relationship between Job Satisfaction and Innovative Behavior. However, while the direct effect of Job Satisfaction on Innovative Behavior shows 69%, the indirect effect of Organizational Trust on Innovative Behavior shows 31%, which may not be ignorable. Furthermore in case of smaller organization with less than 30 members, the indirect effect of Organizational Trust shows 64%, comparing to 36% of direct effect of Job Satisfaction. This study was able to confirm that organizations need to maintain Organizational Trust as much as they strive to increase Job Satisfaction through securing Organizational Justice and Shared Values in order to effectively increase Innovative Behavior. For small organizations with less than 30 members, they can never achieve Innovative Behavior without Organizational Trust. Conclusively it is acknowledged that Organizational Trust is the most important prior condition for innovation and long-term survival of SME ventures.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.545-571
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• 2016

The development of ICT brings a big change in manufacturing industries, and new information technology such as IoT, AR, and big data was applied on manufacturing process. As a result, the concept of smart factory has been introduced as a new manufacturing paradigm. In fact advanced countries like USA, Germany, and Japan have actively introduced smart factory in their manufacturing industries such as electronic, automobile, machinery, to improve production efficiency and quality. The manufacturing environment has been changed into flexible system, so that smart factory will be leading future manufacturing industries. Thes changes have more severe influence on Korean manufacturing industries. Mny industrial companies, have a strong interest in smart factory and they, particularly big enterprises, have been adopting smart factory to increase their manufacturing efficiencies. However, Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have many financial and technological difficulties so that the diffusion of smart factory in Korean SMEs has not been satisfiable up to present. However, smart factory is very important for enhancing their competitiveness in global market. Therefore, this study aims at identifying the standardization strategy of smart factory in so-called Korean 'roots industry' by presuming that the standardization will activate the diffusion of smart factory among Korean SMEs. For this purpose, first, this study examines the competitiveness of SMEs, especially in 'roots industry' and identifies the necessity of diffusion of smart factory among those SMEs. Second, based on the active review on the existing literature, this study identifies four factor groups that would influence the adoption or diffusion of standardized smart factory. They are technological, organizational, industrial and policy factors. Third, using those four factors, this study made two comprehensive case analyses on the adoption and diffusion of smart factory. These two companies belong to molding sector which is one of the important six sectors in 'root industry'. Finally, based on the theoretical and empirical analyse, this study suggests four strategies for activating the standardization of smart factory; international standardization, government-leading standardization, firm-leading standardization, and non-standardization.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.35-64
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• 2007

Despite the tremendous efforts to boost them, domestic SMEs lack competitive power and it intensifies bipolarization between the conglomerates and SMEs. Furthermore, degree of industry-academy collaboration still falls far behind of that of developed countries even with government' s various policies and continuous increase in investment to strengthen the SMEs' technology innovation capability. Although many internal factors are suggested to affect technological performance, focus of existing studies has been restricted to immediate impact of industry-academy collaboration on technology innovation and it is not known how internal factors are related. This research conducts empirical analysis on the impact of industry-academy collaborations and absorptive capacity on technological performance in Korean SMEs. Sample frame is SMEs with more than five employees located in the nation wide industrial complex and 1,077 questionnaires are collected with the help of Korea Industrial Complex Corporations. 940 sample data excluding those with insufficient response are used in analysis. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the industry-academy collaborations and innovative HRM system, on important dimension of absorptive capacity, are positively correlated to technological performance. Furthermore, there exists a positive interaction effect between industry-academy collaborations and innovative HRM system. These findings make contributions to the formation of SME innovation policy and management. When funding industry-academy collaborations, government should consider SMEs' internal effort for innovation, that is, the possession of innovative HRM system, as well as firm's technology capability. Also, as technological performance cannot be achieved simply with R&D investment, both quantitative and qualitative assessment of SMEs' technological capability should be done to evaluate the candidate SMEs. As for management, it is important for SMEs with limited internal resources and capabilities to fully employ external resources to achieve higher technological performance. The development of innovative HRM system will be particularly helpful not only for internal R&D, but also for adoption of technology and knowledge from outside.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.161-190
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• 2016

This study aims to analyze the factors that influence the technological performance of national R&D programs, and to compare these factors with those that affect R&D in the machinery and chemical industry. This study also seeks to explore policy implications for the national R&D programs to meet the characteristics of each industrial technology. The results of this study are as follows: First, big enterprises create more Korean patents than small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the machinery R&D. Moreover, government-funded research institutes produce more SCI articles than enterprises in the chemical technology R&D. Second, there is no significant difference in the number of institutions that participate in the machinery technology R&D. Third, the production of Korean patents and Science Citation Index (SCI) articles on all samples in the machinery industry are influenced by government grants. For instance, in the samples, which consist of enterprises, the creation of overseas patents is influenced by the amount of government grants. Fourth, there is no significant difference in the magnitude of private investment, regardless of the sample and industry. In conclusion, different factors influence the technological performances of the national R&D programs in the chemical and machinery technology R&D. This shows that it is necessary to consider the characteristics of industry-specific technology when making science and technology policies for the national R&D programs.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.211-238
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• 2005

Korea is far behind other OECD countries in economy-wise productivity: Korea's labor productivity in terms of GDP per hour worked is the lowest among OECD countries. Against the existing productivity gap, there is a worrying sign in Korea's investment trend - rapid fall in machinery and equipment investment with slow increase in R&D investment. The challenge facing Korea is how to transform her economy from catching-up model to a knowledge-based one. The paper shows that, in tandem with the structural changes that today's Korean industries are experiencing, industry's innovation system is also changing. Innovation networks are emerging as the result of economy-wise restructuring since the financial crisis of 1997 and, though still not a dominant force, the newly emerging innovation networks will be the main threads of industry's innovation activities in the future. The changes in industrial innovation system would positively contribute in raising the productivity of the Korean economy. The paper contains a case study on Korea's automobile industry in order to highlight some of main characteristics of the structural changes, in addition to a chapter that gives an overview of the evolutionary paths of the Korea's industrial innovation. The paper assesses that changes can be considered as a positive sign of future growth perspective; but there are further challenges to make the Korea's industrial innovation system effective. The list of such challenges includes strengthening upstream sectors of currently leading industries, expanding the innovation base to SME and promoting technological co-operation between domestic firms and foreign firms.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.31-42
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• 2012

After the rapidly changing business management environment and financial crisis, high prices and domestic recession in Korea posed threats to the business survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper looks at the potential of micro business owners for sustainable development: those who have a spirit of entrepreneurship and the potential to be a hidden champion. Our study of micro business values uses structure equation modeling by LISREL. We have done so in order to understand the foundation of management innovation and success model of micro enterprise by increasing the entrepreneurship and management performance relationship analysis. A micro-enterprise is a type of small business, found only in Korea, often registered as having ten or fewer employees. We examine the successful type of hidden champions and the influence of entrepreneurship on start-ups in business. As compared to past research on the SME entrepreneurship, this study segments small businesses even further. Small business entrepreneurship was classified into three forms that are most appropriate for the Korean situation today: innovation, risk-taking, and pro-activeness. This research is meaningful as it is Korea's first empirical analysis on four business types: wholesale and retail sales, food and lodging business, service business, and manufacturing business. Thus far, research on small business entrepreneurship was carried out using small-scale investigative analysis. However, this research attempted to develop a model that can explain a cause-effect relation of the motivational level when it comes to the difference of entrepreneurship by each business type and small business start-up success factors. Various conceptual and operational definitions could be developed in a diverse and precise manner. Independent variables that are related to the success of small businesses can be developed additionally to examine the success factors related to the systematization in detailed manner. The research showed that the innovation, risk-taking and pro-activeness of the manifested difference in the degree of perception depending on the type of small businesses. Among the four business types, the ones that manifested the highest successful start-up rates were food, service, wholesale and retail sales and manufacturing. Results after conducting the regression analysis are shown on, which proves that the small business entrepreneurship exerts direct effect on the financial management performance of small businesses. In other words, small business entrepreneurship exerts a positive effect on the small business financial success and management performance. The R² value is 0.61. It is possible to know that the perception of systematization and variables on attitude explains the 61% of the success for small self-employed businesses management performance. We define start-up key factors that are helpful to achieve internal growth of firms by finding business survival strategies. The results also focus on Korean government policy for micro enterprise and small business support.

• Korean small business review
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.1-20
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• 2021

The survival period according to technological capability was analyzed for about 22,500 innovative SMEs in the service industry. The survival period was defined as the occurrence of overdue and default, and the technological capability was divided into two clusters. As a result of estimating the survival period according to technological capability through Kaplan-Meier analysis, it was confirmed that the estimated survival period of T1-T4 grade service innovative SMEs was significantly greater in both overdue and default. As a result of the analysis of the Cox proportional hazard model applying the control variable, it was confirmed that the higher technological capability, the lower the risk in the group of start-up companies. However, in the group of non-start-up companies the technological capability did not significantly affect the survival period, and the influence of the variables related to the size of the company was found to increase. Therefore, the technological capability is meaningful as additional information that has a significant effect on the survival period of innovative SMEs in the start-up companies group of service industry. In addition, it was concluded that it is necessary to reflect the technological capability when establishing the SME support and promotion policy of the start-up companies group in the service industry.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 2018

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) endeavor to overcome the adverse resource conditions and secure competitive advantage through technological innovation capability. Prior studies have focused on the overall or specific dimensions of technological innovation capability, and examined their performance impact. However, there has been less scholarly attention on the dynamic characteristics such as the relative importance of technological innovation capability or its performance impact at the different growth stages of a firm. In this vein, this study investigates the relationship between SME innovation capability and innovation performance at each growth stages of a firm. Based on the empirical analysis of manufacturing SMEs in Korea, we found that all dimensions of technological innovation capability had positive effects on innovation performance. However, each dimension of technological innovation capability had different effect on innovation performance by the growth stages. The planning capability can improve innovation performance at the growth and maturity stages. Manufacturing capability can have positive effect on innovation performance at the maturity stage. Both of new product development capability and commercialization capability contribute to innovation performance at all of the growth stages. This study suggests the guidelines for enhancing technological innovation capability at the different growth stages of SMEs. It also provides policy implications for the design and operation of growth-stage specific programs. Finally, the limitations of the research and future research directions are presented.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.89-98
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• 2017

The dynamic entrepreneurial activities of small businesses or individual entrepreneurs seeking to enter the global market based on innovative ideas and challenging spirit in the modern society, which is trending in entrepreneurial capitalism according to the times, Leading to new growth engines. In order to promote the establishment of universities in Korea, the government has been working on 'Five-Year Plan for University Entrepreneurship Education(2013-2017)', 'Efficiency of Government Start-up Support in 2015', and 'Five-Year Basic Plan for Activation of Industry-University Cooperation(2016-2020)'. However, there are still practical limitations in spite of the efforts made by universities and research institutes to revitalize start-ups. As a way to overcome these limitations, this study aims to systematize the entrepreneurship education of the university, and examines the role of changing universities and theory of clusters and the entrepreneurship education. In addition, we will look at the factors of creative university culture centering on the representative cases of the Innovation University in US, and present a conceptual framework for cluster-based entrepreneurship education for the purpose of 'successful entrepreneurship' which is different from 'start-up success'. The conceptual framework of cluster-based entrepreneurship education is based on the establishment of 'Integrated Entrepreneurship Education Platform' to revitalize start-ups centered on university technology. At the same time, this framework focuses on the three factors of talent, technology, and culture based on the relevant theories and examples, and emphasizes the clustering of entrepreneurial resources, entrepreneurial policies and leadership that should be involved in entrepreneurship education.