• The Journal of Small Business Innovation
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.35-50
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• 2017

The aims of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of firms financial status quo and the scale of financial support on SMEs overall performance. We have gathered the financial guarantee data from 1998 to 2013, provided by Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT), to analyze the effectiveness of Financial policy. To classify both financial status quo and scale of financial support, we utilized the following variables; Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR) and newly guaranteed amount ratio. To take the measurement of the overall performance, we employed profitability, growth ratio and activity index. To minimize the effect of repeated financial support (redundancy benefits), firms were selected based on the following criteria: firms that receive no financial support prior to implementing such policy over the last 3 years and no new financial support over the last 2 years. Results suggest that firms with higher ICR and large newly guaranteed amount influence on financial performance in terms of profitability index. Firms with lower ICR and large scale financial support showed a better performance compare to firms with small-scale financial support. Firms with large-scale financial support, irrespective of ICR inclined to have better performance to those of small-scale financial support in terms of growth index. For activity index, however, firms with large scale support led to higher performance in the short term. In turn, our analysis presents objective perspective with respect to the effectiveness of financial policy through credit guarantee on overall performance of SMEs. This study, therefore, implies that well-balanced SMEs supporting policy may lead to better directions.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.325-341
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• 2011

Environmental regulations in the world has been strengthened. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that international standard for social responsibility in the ISO26000 was published on November 01, 2010. CSR is rapidly changing in global environment. In the meantime, domestic companies such as donations to the required activities ought to be stayed. Strengthening the competitiveness of enterprises in the management tools that should be taken as the movement is taking place. The domestic small and medium-sized corporate social responsibility (SMEs CSR) activities have also taken many changes. In particular, multinational corporations and large companies within the supply chain, B2B companies in partnership appears to have a significant impact on business. In this study, in changing environment for domestic SMEs CEO survey results are based. CSR activities of SMEs and its impact on the financial competence, B2B businesses and B2C business activities of corporate social responsibility has been to analyzed the differences factor. This allows the small and medium-sized companies effectively promote socially responsible business activities, to spread the government, corporate, NGO, and local stakeholder's CSR was to provide a new perspective.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.655-665
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• 2016

Considering the importance of SMEs, which account for 88% of employment and 99% of domestic businesses, the government has implemented informatization policy support. On the other hand, due to budget limitations and the ability of the private market, it is time to transition to the new policy of the informatization support paradigm. This study evaluated the informatization policy support of SMBA by a comparison with the stage model to determine the future direction. The informatization development model is a step model divided into five levels ranging from the informatization initiation level to the strategic innovation level. The informatization policy of SMBA was focused on the development of automation and in-house integration, and business-to-business integration and strategic innovation step was found to be lacking. Based on these results, there are three implications for the informatization policy of the next SMEs. First, there is a need for a movement of the center of the support in the informatization step to the strategic innovative step. Second, by establishing an informatization road map, it is necessary to develop their own informatization capabilities according to the road map. Finally, it is important to improve the effectiveness of informatization support based on performance rather than policy providers.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.19-65
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• 2000

This study analyzes the development of technological infrastructure(TI) and technological infrastructure policy(TIP) to enhance the technological capabilities of small and mid-sized manufacturing enterprises(SMEs) in the U.S. and Korea in terms of the technological system(TS) concept, which is composed of technological infrastructure, industrial organization, and institutional infrastructure. In order to analyze the internal dynamics of the system, such as incentive mechanisms, the interaction among economic actors, and the policy implementation process, we compare the MEP(Manufacturing Extension Partnership) system of the U.S. and the Joong-Jin-Gong system of Korea. Among many similarities, contrasts, and insights from each country's effort to construct TI and TS, the main findings are as follows. (1) Both the MEP system and the Joong-Jin-Cong system are TI-led or government-led type TS. However, the nation-wide picture is different: in the U.S., most TSs including the MEP system., are classified as TI-led type; in Korea, many TI-assisted or private sector-led TSs have been developed since the early 1960s. (2) the MEP system, as a representative case of the U.S., is less stable than the Joong-Jin-Gong system of Korea in terms of financing and political cycle. (3) The MEP system is a more complex and cooperative network than the Joong-Jin-Gong system. NIST, as a critical mass, generates the system, bridges various institutions, and influences the development of the system by providing funding. (4) Regarding TI components, TSs in both countries focus on utilizing off-the-shelf technologies rather than advanced technologies. However, the direction of movement is different: in the U.S., TSs have come to emphasize existing technologies to counterbalance an innovation system that has been highly focused toward new technologies; in Korea, TSs have been moving from focusing on a higher diffusion rate of imported process technologies to stressing new technology development. (5) Personnel and staffing, embodying technological capability, is an important concern in both countries. But the human capital infrastructure of the U.S. system is more efficient and industry-oriented than that of the Korean system due to a more flexible labor market. (6) While the U.S. has a strong tradition of state and local autonomy in constructing TI and TS to fit SMEs's specific need, Korea has a centralized and bureaucratically-led policy implementation process.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.199-228
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• 2012

While there are increasing requests for open innovation, prior studies have focused mainly on the utilizing the external sources. This study suggests to broaden the way of measuring openness to include the innovation management factors and output besides of utilizing the external sources. Additionally, the new measures will compare the status of openness in small and medium enterprises between Korea and Japan. There is greater differences in openness between SMEs and big firms in Japan than ones in Korea. Although SMEs in Japan utilize the external knowledge sources more actively than ones in Korea, they show less openness from the perspective of managerial factors such as metric for open innovation, collaboration system, investment for collaboration, and performance.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 1999

CALS/EC is about doing business electronically. It is based on the electronic processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and video. It encompasses many diverse activities including electronic trading of goods and services, online delivery of digital content, electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, online sourcing, public procuremet, direct consumer marketing, and after-sales service. It involves both products(e.g. consumer goods, specialised medical equipment) and services(e.g. information services, financial and legal services); traditional activities(e.g. healthcare, education) and new activities (e.g. virtual malls). CALS/EC will be emerging to replace and substitute the role of the conventional market. By changing and eliminating some processes of the transactions, the electronic market and the electronic commerce will redistribute the power and hence the benefits of the market activities. Traditional way of doing business may enter into the new electronic market because the role and function of trust and established reputation will be reinforced in the electronic market. The CALS/EC through the Internet has been in the spotlight in the shopping behavior of the consumers. Accordingly Corporates are trying to adapt themselves to those rapidly changing environments being affected by the Internet. Among others, particularly to be noted is the CALS/EC between corporations and consumers whose potential growth can be considered very substantial. This report, focusing on the introduction of CALS/EC for the logistics of SMEs, will allow us to prepare more efficiently for the coming 21st Century. It is obvious that CALS/EC is fast becoming the useful way of exchanging not only information but products in business between firm-to-firm and firm-to-customer.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.83-89
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• 2018

In the SW industry, the diversification of global markets and technology trends are changing due to the emergence of new services, and IT companies are in need of strategic change different from the previous one. In this study, SWOT analysis was performed by extracting the internal environmental factors and external environmental factors through the previous studies to improve the project performance competence of small IT companies, and the SWOT Matrix was reconstructed through the pairwise comparison. Based on this, the purpose of this research was to propose the project performance competency improvement plans for small IT companies based on importance and priority, and the following four strategies were derived from the result of SWOT-AHP analysis. SO strategy was drawn in direction to invest R & D in new SW industry to enhance technology competitiveness of SMEs in order to develop SMEs, and in order to secure competitiveness of SW industry, WO strategy is drawn the cultivation of professional technical manpower through SW policy. ST Strategy presented technical management through SW system improvement policy to improve SW environment, and WT Strategy presented awareness training on the construction and necessity of project management system construction. Using the strategies presented in this study, it is expected that the managers of small IT firms will be presented as references to measure the performance competence factors of current organizations and company organizations.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.27-48
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• 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of firm resilience, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study aimed to investigate the concept of SME resilience, the role of entrepreneurial orientation in enhancing firm resilience, and the impact of top management networking capability on this relationship. The study defined firm resilience as consisting of adaptation capacity and recovery capacity and conducted a survey of 187 domestic SMEs for empirical verification. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial orientation is a critical factor in enhancing firm resilience. Furthermore, the networking capability of top management may also contribute to firm resilience, but it weakens the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm resilience as a moderating variable. In crisis situations, SMEs tend to rely more strongly on existing networks, rather than engaging in new network to acquire new resources, information, and knowledge, which can hinder their ability to adapt and recover. This study contributes to the further development and understanding of SME resilience, which is essential for enterprises to overcome crises and return to pre-shock levels.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.334-367
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• 2017

The ICT industry has been the main driver of Korea's economy with international competitiveness and is expected to be the growth engine that will revitalize the currently depressed economy. A broad range of different perspectives and opinions on the industry exist in Korea and overseas. Some of these are stereotypes, not all of which are based on objective evidence. Stereotypes refer to widely-held fixed opinions on a specific group and do not necessarily have negative connotations. However, they should not be viewed lightly because they can substantially affect decision-making process. In this regard, this study sought to review the stereotypes of ICT industry and identify objective and relative stereotypes. In the study, a decision-tree analysis was conducted on a survey result of 3,300 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to identify Korean ICT companies' characteristics that distinguish them from other technology companies. The decision-tree analysis, a data mining process based on machine learning, took a total of 291 variables into account in 10 subjects such as: corporate business in general, technology development activities as well as organization and people in technology development. Identifying the variables that distinguish ICT companies from other technology companies with the decision-tree analysis, the study then came up with a list of objective stereotypes of ICT companies. The findings from the stereotypes of Korean ICT companies are as follows. First, the companies are in need of technology policies that help R&D planning and market penetration. Second, policies must better support the companies working to sell new products or explore new business. Third, the companies need policies that support secure protection of development outcomes and proper management of IP rights. Fourth, the administrative procedures related to governmental support for ICT companies' R&D projects must be simplified. It is hoped that the outcome of this study will provide meaningful guidance in establishment, implementation and evaluation of technology policies for ICT SMEs, particularly to policymakers or researchers in relevant government agencies who determine R&D policies for ICT SMEs.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.63-83
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• 2003

This paper's objective is to provide insights about the problems and expansion strategies of electronic trade. Korean small and medium-sized firms have adopted the Internet since the end of 1990s in order to reshape their competitiveness, and it is now being utilized as a major export marketing instrument to develop new customers, save export transaction costs ad facilitate new work processes. However, at present, the use of the internet in the field of trading is limited to the collection of market information, owing to legal, technical and institutional restraints between countries. In addition to that, because firms have the difficulties in making the trade contract through the e-trade system, the negative recognition on its' utility has been spreaded gradually between companies. This is one of the barriers to block the expansion of e-Trade between Korean firms. Therefore, this paper points out the problems of e-trade in the environmental, institutional and strategic view and provides many considerations for establishing the expansion strategy of e-trade by the Korean government and trade supporting institutions.