• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.57-89
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• 2016

This paper used individual establishment level data to estimate the effects of government support for the research and development of 'small and medium enterprises'(SMEs). We analyzed, on the establishment level, the degree of technical advancement, strength of private R&D incentives, and the effect on employment levels of firms which participated in the 2010 government R&D support project. The results of this study are as follows. First, the size and frequency of government investment in the R&D of SMEs were both positively correlated with the amount of patent registrations. Furthermore, we found that the amount of patent registrations were positively correlated with the size of the establishments, but the average level of technological advancement for the firms running the research was lower than the average level of technological advancement for the firms merely participating in the project. Second, the government's R&D policy was found to be complementary to private R&D incentives, and a 1% increase in government R&D investment resulted in an inelastic increase (0.193~0.245%) of the firms' post-program R&D spending. Third, we found that R&D support from the government contributed to an increase of employment by the participating firms. Additionally, we found that the impact of R&D support on job creation varied for the firm size and technological characteristics. Therefore, it is important for governments to take into consideration each type of small business, when setting R&D policies.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.109-129
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• 2009

This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of SME's R&D system empirically. Specifically, this study analyze the relationships among R&D inputs(R&D investment, R&D human resource management), process(R&D planning, external network, internal cooperation), and output(technological innovation). A questionnaire was developed to measure the above variables. To test these relations, data were collected from the small and medium-sized IT firms located in Daegu-Kyungbuk region. The survey data of 154 firms were integrated as the empirical base for testing the relations. Most respondents were from the managers. Structural equation modeling analyses were used to examine the relations. Major results are as follows: Firstly, R&D HRM was positively and significantly influenced on the R&D planning. Secondly, R&D planning was positively and significantly affected on the external network, internal cooperation, and technological innovation. Thirdly, the both relations between R&D investment and R&D planning, and external network and technological innovation were not significant statistically. These results suggest the following implications. First, R&D human resource management is very important for IT SMEs. Secondly, internal cooperation mediates R&D inputs and technological innovation by approaching the other department's unique resources and by sharing the cost of new resource development. Several future researches need to overcome the limitations of this research. First, this study's sample was based on the small and medium-sized IT firms just located in Daegu-Kyungbuk region. This limitation may imply that empirical results can not represent overall small and medium-sized firm's situations. Therefore, future research needs to include different samples. Secondly, this study depends on the latitudinal study.

• 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 Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.59-65
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• 2014

Purpose - The competitiveness of logistics in the 21st century rests on ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of its local hub. While considering entry into a niche market in local logistics, it is pertinent to note that Budapest is emerging as a hub in EU enlargement in Eastern Europe. Big, small, and medium-sized businesses in Korea entered Hungary in the early 1990s since then, there has been a significant increase in Korean presence, of approximately 130 times. This study aimed to identify the key distribution issues that have emerged in relation to Eastern Europe. Research design, data, and methodology - This study indicates that 33 major Korean companies were located in Hungary, which serves as an out post to enter the European marketplace. However, Korea's exports to Hungary have declined (-32.0% in 2012) because of a loss of competitiveness against multinational corporations, due to factors such as the rise in current local distribution costs and wages. Hungary, on the other hand, through diversification and expansion of foreign trade with the non-EU markets, including Korea, is increasing its exports. Strategies of emerging countries are compared and reviewed in this study, by examining the vicissitudes of Hungary's distribution methods. Results - There are issues regarding Hungary's innovative ability. Hungary has a history of low wages and high skilled labor. However, the outflow of high-quality human resources for high-wages has become more extensive, and this underlines concerns that the CEE's trade hub is moving to neighboring countries. After the European financial crisis in 2010, the Hungarian economy is now developing, because of the IMF's measures, and it is being transformed into a trade surplus nation, while regaining distribution volumes rapidly. However, if there is continued lack of investment, the supply chain is weakened and exports decline amidst competition with TNCs or with China's distribution networks. Conclusions - It is necessary to create a new logistics approach for increasing trade between Korea and Hungary. First, Korean small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should build trust by working with advanced Hungarian talent, and they should expand into state-of-the-art fields instead of being confined to traditional sectors. Second, this study focuses on limiting and lowering their high expectations for success according to foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and the role in the CEE distribution hub Korea should try to strengthen the distribution hub with its centralized population, using better, more highly educated human resources, thereby sustaining more innovative ability. Further, the positive effects of these measures are manifested in enhanced business on both sides of Hungary, namely, the EU and non-EU nations such as Turkey and emerging markets around Europe, and a better engagement in the core placement of culture and industry. For this, Korea can contribute to, and benefit from, a Hungarian logistics center, for adopting the high-tech cluster systems and commercializing distribution technology such as RFID·USN.

• 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.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.213-236
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• 2017

World trade has entered a stagnant state, protection trade measures are spread due to delayed economic recovery in developed countries, sluggish investment in emerging economies such as China, economic recession in resource exporting countries, and geopolitical and political uncertainties along with the election period in the US and other major industrialized countries. Thus, in the economic structure of our country with a focus on export, for small and medium enterprises to grow, efforts for having various markets are necessary. The importance of the trade insurance system, which can support the risk management of enterprises, is emphasized by the fact that the majority of SME exporters have a risk management level and a lack of corporate capacity to enter the global market. This study was surveyed with 87 small and medium export companies in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to verify the effect relationship how service quality of trade insurance and utilization of trade insurance impact on the risk management of trade payment and export performance. The research hypothesis and model was derived from the basis of existing theory and empirical research, and obtained the following results. Firstly, Service Quality of Trade Insurance showed positive (+) effect on Export Performance. Secondly, Utilization of Trade Insurance showed positive (+) effect on Risk Management of Trade Payment. Thirdly, Risk Management of Trade Payment showed positive (+) effect on Export Performance. This study is differentiated from previous research information by empirically evaluating the relationship between the risk management of trade payment and export performance through utilization of trade insurance. This study contributed to academic by examining the research on the risk management of trade insurance and also practically suggested the direction how small and medium export company is to take the advantage of the trade insurance.

• The Journal of Bigdata
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.141-158
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• 2019

Based on RBV(Resource Based View), IT of SMEs classified into IT resource and capabilities. And We confirmed that capabilities and resources affected each performance. In other words, based on the questionnaire of SMEs and IT professionals, divides capability from the overall IT resource that are possessed by SMEs. Among the four attributes (value, rare, non-substitutability, imperfect imitability) presented by Barney (1991), this study targeted at value and imperfect imitability and investigated how SMEs recognize IT resource and capability. Furthermore, this study tests how IT resource and capability influence corporate performance. The result of this study finds that resources that are needed on "Knowledge-based" are classified into IT capability, otherwise classified into IT resource. Analysis shows that server, DB(database), system administrators, programmers, CIO, BA were capabilities, Desktop PC, PC software, software for salary and accounting management, e-commerce, Homepage, and network inside th enterprise were resources. Secondly, this study reveals that both IT resource and IT capability affected company performance (employee satisfaction, CEO satisfaction). IT is certainly having an impact on corporate performance. In conclusion, resource can be either IT resource or IT capability based on they way of utilization. And both IT resource and IT capability have an influence on corporate performance (employee job satisfaction, CEO satisfaction). Therefore, when considering IT investment, a company can purchase necessary IT resource and actively utilize it to be IT capability, which can have an influence on corporate performance in return.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.199-210
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• 2015

This study analyzes various aspects of the successful overseas expansion of SMEs that export consumer goods with their own brands. Through in-depth interviews with CEOs and marketing practitioners of fifteen SMEs that export consumer goods of their own brands, researchers examined the determinants of the decisions to export own-brand products, forms of expansion into foreign markets, firms' distribution networks, firms' technological and marketing capabilities, export barriers, and export support services offered by the government. The results indicate that these companies obtained competitiveness in the design and quality of their products through steady R&D investment, with a focus on niche markets. This study also shows that they established foreign branches, participated in overseas trade fairs, and tapped into foreign markets with Korean home shopping channels and department stores to build distribution channels and to find new buyers. However, the findings of this study reveal that many of those companies export both OEM/OEM products as well as their own-brand products due to the low level of brand awareness in foreign markets. Thus, efforts to improve their brand awareness in the global market are much needed. In addition, this paper demonstrates that the programs and services provided by state-run organizations need improvement in credibility and expertise. This research suggests recommendations for successful export programs, and provides meaningful insights for consumer-goods SMEs establishing foreign market entry strategies with their own brands.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.731-746
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• 2011

The successful and sustainable growth of SMEs depends on their ability of strengthen their competitiveness in quality and cost and service more than anything else as a fundamental of operation. Among these key competitive factors of SMEs, quality is the most critical factor in manufacturing business fields. Because quality strongly influence cost and service performance on this manufacturing business field. There are many different ways to improve the quality performance but it needs proper management decision to choose the best way what can maximize outputs with minimum inputs. And it needs effective measurement methods and some indicators to analysis the quality performance properly. The quality cost is one of the simplest key indicators to measure the quality performance and the effectiveness of quality related management decisions. The major purpose of this study is to diagnose the categorized current level of actual quality cost of local SMEs to maximize their quality management effectiveness through comparing their level with others what's expressed in early studies. In this study, through survey on local SMEs, we found that their average annual quality cost ratio versus turnover - Total amount of annual quality cost divided by annual turnover - is around 3.69% excluded some SME's performances what have different quality control measures with others. And we found some results what corresponded with the early studies on the correlations between those categorized quality costs factors and some discrepancies between some of the literature model and the early case study results as follows. There were negative correlations between the Prevention costs and the External failure costs, and the Appraisal costs and the External failure costs, and there was positive correlation between the Appraisal costs and Internal failure costs same as early studies. But, we couldn't found any strong negative correlations between the Cost of control - Preventive costs & Appraisal costs - and the Cost of Failure of control - Internal & External failure costs -. It reveals not only the lack of effectiveness on their preventive or appraisal activities but also it can reveal there were so many effective ways to prevent the failure costs properly such as some innovative investment on Factory automation includes Error Proofing and more preventive actions to improve the effectiveness of the typical management methods likes CE (Concurrent Engineering), APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning), FMEA (Failure Mode & Effect Analysis) etc.

• Korean small business review
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.1-25
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• 2021

As knowledge management is recognized as a core value of organizations, organizations are increasing their investment in policies and technologies for knowledge management. However, since SMEs have relatively few resources to support knowledge sharing, which is the core of knowledge management, there is a possibility that continuous knowledge management will be difficult. This study suggests the negative motivation(job burnout) on the knowledge hoarding of SME employees and the conditions to be improved at the organizational level (shared goal, knowledge sharing culture, and person-organization fit). In this study, a hypothesis was presented through a study related to transaction theory to explain the stress in the relationship between the organization and the individual. This study collected samples through a questionnaire targeting workers of SMEs with knowledge management policies. In addition, the hypothesis was verified by performing structural equation modeling. As a result of the study, shared goal and knowledge sharing culture reduced knowledge hoarding through mitigating job burnout. In particular, person-organization fit moderated the relationship between shared goal, knowledge sharing culture, and job burnout. The study presents academic and practical implications in terms of suggesting factors to mitigate the knowledge hoarding of employees for continuous knowledge management of SMEs.