• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.27-35
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• 2023

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) performance in the context of subcontracting buyer-supplier relation. Specifically, we seek to examine whether the power dynamics between buyer and supplier either support or hamper subcontracting SMEs' ability to effectively pursue EO for enhancing their performance. Research design, data, and methodology: We collected survey questionnaires from Korean SMEs that are certified with Inno-biz by the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 26 and AMOS to create an integrated model. Result: Based on the analysis, our findings indicate that the proactiveness and innovativeness dimensions of EO have a positive effect on the SMEs' performance. However, the risk-taking dimension of EO has a negative effect on performance. Additionally, buyer dependency exhibit both positive and negative moderating effects on different dimensions of EO. Conclusion: For SMEs that rely heavily on a particular buyer in terms of sale, pursuing innovativeness dimension of EO could lead to positive performance, while pursuing proactiveness dimension of EO had a negative moderating effect on performance.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.325-333
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• 2022

This study examined the influence of three elements of individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO), namely innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness on the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is worth noting that SMEs have experienced low productivity, low profit, and low performance during the COVID-19 pandemic era. Although several studies have shown that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a key factor of company performance, few have focused on IEO. This study employed a quantitative research design because all variables were measurable. It used a questionnaire to survey 384 SMEs in the service sector and employed structural equation modeling (SEM) in data analysis. The findings suggested that SMEs' performance was influenced by risk-taking and proactiveness. This could be related to the fact that SMEs have a less formal structure, allowing owner-managers to take risks and make quick decisions. Furthermore, high performance was ensured by being very sensitive to market trends and changes in the business environment. Innovativeness was not a significant factor in influencing the performance of SMEs. Perhaps it was rather difficult for SME owner-managers to be innovative due to the lack of various resources. This study successfully re-confirmed the effect of IEO on business performance and highlighted the importance of risk-taking and proactiveness in improving the performance of SMEs.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.245-256
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• 2022

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies focused on financial programs and SMEs' performance, but research on the relationship between non-financial programs, resilience, and SMEs' performance is still sparse. This study fills the gap by analyzing the role of local government in increasing SME resilience and performance by purchasing products (through civil servants) from SMEs and by facilitating online training to SMEs. This study also investigates the role of the local government in strengthening the relationship between resilience and SME performance. Data was collected using an online questionnaire distributed to SMEs in Malang Regency. As many as 410 questionnaires were received and eligible for statistical analysis using WarpPLS. The results show that resilience is positively and significantly related to the performance of SMEs. The local government programs have been proven to improve SME performance directly and indirectly through resilience. Local government programs are not proven to strengthen the relationship between resilience and the performance of SMEs, indicating that the role of government in developing countries such as Indonesia is more appropriate to be "rowing rather than steering" not "steering rather than rowing".

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.17-26
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• 2022

Purpose - In this paper, we aim to analyze to what extent entrepreneurial orientation (EO) can help overcome Korean SMEs' liabilities of foreignness in overseas markets. In this end, we examined three sub-dimensions of EO (proactiveness, innovativeness, risk-taking) and examine their individual effects on NPD performance of exporting SMEs. Research design, data, and methodology - We collected survey questionnaires from Korean exporting SMEs that are certified with Inno-biz by the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 26 and AMOS to create an integrated model. Result - As a result of the analysis, we found that proactiveness and innovativeness dimension of EO have positive effect on new product performance of exporting SMEs. Furthermore, technological uncertainty has negative moderating effect between innovativeness and new product performance of SMEs. Conclusion - While proactive attitude and innovativeness of EO positively affected the performance of new products of SMEs, the tendency to take risks and pursue opportunities with bold behaviors did not have a positive effect on NPD performance in foreign nations.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.101-109
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• 2023

This study examined the relationships among owner-manager characteristics, e-commerce adoption, and performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. Although the growth of e-commerce was encouraging in many countries, studies of e-commerce adoption among SMEs in developing countries such as Malaysia are insufficient. Furthermore, studies that investigated individual characteristics and e-commerce adoption are still low in number. This study specifically employed the technology-organization-environmental (TOE) framework to develop its research model. The sample was selected by using a non-probability judgmental sampling technique because the desired population frame was unavailable. A total of 111 owner-managers of SMEs were surveyed using online self-administered questionnaires. Subsequently, the data was analyzed through partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed significant relationships between owner-manager characteristics and e-commerce adoption, as well as between e-commerce adoption and the performance of SMEs. The findings suggested that owner-manager characteristics played an important role in determining e-commerce adoption among SMEs. Moreover, e-commerce adoption was crucial in affecting the performance of SMEs. This paper provided new insights into factors affecting e-commerce adoption and firm performance. It could further benefit the government and SMEs in strategizing e-commerce adoption and development, especially in the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) and the post-COVID-19 pandemic.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.55-75
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• 2011

Scant attention has been given to analyzing how knowledge sourcing strategies affect firm performance in SMEs and what are the differences between SMEs and large firms in the patterns of knowledge sourcing strategies adoption. This study attempts to advance the current literature by examining the impact of knowledge sourcing strategies on SMEs performance. The empirical segment of our work is based on data on knowledge sourcing strategies of SMEs and organizational performance from a sample of 166 Korean firms. Our results indicate knowledge sourcing adoption patterns of SMEs are different from large firms. In addition, the results confirm that substitutability between internal- and external-oriented, person- and external-oriented sourcing strategies. This study sheds new light on knowledge management (KM) research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies and SMEs performance.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.105-124
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• 2018

The usage level of SMEs' win-win payment system is still lower than originally expected. In order to find the answer, we studied SMEs' usage performance of win-win payment system and analyzed the influencing factors of SMEs' usage level of win-win payment system. This study found that the more SMEs utilize win-win payment system, the higher they achieve the desired performance in finance, customer, process, learning and growth perspective. And this study found that usage level of win-win payment system is high in order of large corporations' pressure, government policy, and SMEs' readiness. This study is expected to improve win-win growth by increasing usage level of win-win payment system between large corporations and SMEs, while establishing desirable ecosystems.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1-18
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• 2021

Purpose - In this study, we explore the relationship between the degree of internationalization (DOI) and firm performance (DOI-P) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector. Specifically, we investigate whether the costs and benefits dynamics concerning the internationalization of SMEs differ between high-tech and non-high-tech industries. Design/methodology - We extend the prior literature on this relationship by employing 5-year data on 589 Korean SMEs in the manufacturing sector and examining the moderating impact of the industry characteristics. Our findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between the DOI and SME performance. High-tech SMEs demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship, whereas non-hightech SMEs exhibit a U-shaped relationship. Findings - Our findings illustrate the importance of the industry factor in testing the performance impact of the internationalization of Korean SMEs. By incorporating industry dynamics, our results indicate that the DOI-P relationship depends on the context of the industry in which an SME operates. High-tech SMEs also display a higher DOI but are outperformed by non-high-tech SMEs for the entire internationalization path, which implies that high-tech SMEs face more challenges than non-high-tech SMEs while seeking internationalization. Originality/value - The findings strongly validate that significant benefits exist for SMEs undertaking internationalization. We also employ the contextual framework contributing to increasing the understanding of the intrinsic value of internationalization and resolving the mixed results issue on the DOI-P relationship, by illustrating that the industry factor leads to different dynamics of costs and benefits of SME internationalization; it also determines the shape and direction of the relationship.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.236-247
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• 2015

This study aims to examine the effects of industrial clustering and manufacturing flexibility on innovation capability and operational performance. This study follow a survey method to collect data pertaining to the phenomena of industrial clustering, manufacturing flexibility, innovation capability, and operational performance by utilizing a single respondent design. A total of 124 Indonesian manufacturing SMEs are taken to test the proposed theoretical model by utilizing covariance-based structural equations modeling approach. It was found that both industrial clustering and manufacturing flexibility was positively associated with operational performance and innovation capability as well. In addition, innovation capability may account for the effects of industrial clustering and manufacturing flexibility on operational performance. This implies that manufacturing SMEs have to reorient their production and operation perspectives, including agglomerate with other similar or related SMEs to develop and utilize their own resources. The SMEs also need to possess some degree of manufacturing flexibility in respond to the uncertain environment and market changes. In addition, the SMEs should put a greater emphasize to use industrial cluster and manufacturing flexibility benefits to generate innovation capability to achieve high performance.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.261-277
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether SMEs' technological capabilities and international marketing capabilities affect the export performance of the SMEs and to empirically test the moderating effect of the CEO's risk propensity on such a relationship. We obtained data from 190 SMEs located in Gwangju and Jeonnam Province in Korea through survey and performed a regression analysis for hypothesis testing based on these data. As a result of the analysis, it was found that SMEs' technological capabilities and international marketing capabilities had a significantly positive (+) effect on export performance, respectively. Also, the CEO's risk propensity was found to reinforce the relationship between technical competence and export performance, and the relationship between marketing capabilities and export performance was also found to be strengthened in the positive (+) direction. These results suggest that it is necessary for SMEs to continuously develop technological capabilities and international marketing capabilities to achieve successful export performance in overseas markets. Also, the CEO's propensity to promote these relationships may be important.