• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.7
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• pp.35-47
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• 2020

An economic downturn can occurred through unexpected events in various fields, such as the subprime mortgage crisis and the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). Trade credit is important for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially during a monetary contraction, as it is the last option for firms that lack bank credit. This study aims to determine whether trade credit is profitable for the buyer and supplier firms during and after a financial crisis. We use panel data consisting of all trade credit transactions and financial statements of 5,751 Korean firms during the period 2008-2012. It shows that trade credit is more profitable for both buyers and suppliers in the post-crisis period than during the crisis. Moreover, trade payable is more effective for unconstrained buyers than for constrained buyers. Finally, a mixed strategy is superior to an aggressive or passive strategy of SMEs. The results suggest less profitability of trade credit during a period of contraction and greater sensitivity of the buyer SMEs, emphasizing the idiosyncratic liquidity strategy of each firm. This study can be helpful to develop a strategy of profitable trade credit for SMEs and to establish a policy of managing liquidity for the authority.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.101-114
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• 2019

E-business enables SMEs to reduce transaction costs and maintain export competitiveness in rapidly changing overseas markets. It is required to raise the entrepreneurial awareness of e-business of exporting SMEs. This study examines the characteristics of enterprises that play an important role in the introduction and utilization of e-business by domestic export SMEs. It explores the mechanisms that search and exploit these opportunities in an entrepreneurial way, and examines the process leading to export performance. We conducted a survey for empirical analysis and analyzed the data from 316 companies using e-business in Korea. As a result, both the international entrepreneurial orientation and the IT competence tended to be significant for the perception of e-business entrepreneurs and showed a different pattern in terms of size of influence. In addition, cooperation and operation among e-business entrepreneurs' perceptions have a direct impact on the export performance of SMEs.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.84-99
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• 2022

Purpose - This study carried out an empirical study of the impact of sustainability - which has been gaining attention as challenges are arising in supply chains based on existing trade networks due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic - on SCM performance and financial performance of Korean SMEs. The study seeks to propose a measurement model to enhance the SCM performance and financial performance of Korean SMEs and to identify the relationship between sustainability, SCM performance and financial performance to suggest implications to SMEs, governments, and relevant organizations. Design/methodology - Our Analysis established hypotheses that economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and other factors related to sustainability have a positive impact on SCM performance and financial performance as well as SCM performance has a positive impact on financial performance, making empirical validations by utilizing Structural Equation Modeling based on data collected through survey from Korean SMEs. Findings - According to an empirical study, although environmental sustainability and economic sustainability among factors of sustainability had a positive influence on SCM performance, social sustainability did not have a statistically significant influence. Furthermore, it was learned that only economic sustainability had a positive influence on financial performance while SCM performance has a positive influence on financial performance. Originality/value - This empirical study explored the relationship between SCM performance and financial performance of Korean SMEs with a high tendency to depend on specific supply chains when the international trade network is in confusion and/or the global supply chain has collapsed. If Korean SMEs allocate management resources to the factors deducted from this study, they would be able to build more efficient supply chains and improve financial performance to improve sustainability.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.23-32
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• 2024

Purpose: Trade in small and medium businesses must improve innovation performance before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The requirement for rapid innovation is being able to compete and survive post-pandemic. This research attempts to investigate the influence of organizational forgetting, knowledge management, and business agility in distributing innovation performance improvementsto SMEs in Tasikmalaya, Indonesia. Research design, data and methodology: In this research, a structural equation modeling approach with SmartPLS was applied. This research used 221 Tasikmalaya SMEs as samples. The findings of this study show that SMEs are still underrepresented in technological advancement. Results: Organizational forgetfulness does not have a significant impact on innovation performance, nor does it have an indirect impact through knowledge management. Business agility, on the other hand, has a significant indirect effect on innovation performance. Knowledge management does not have a significant and direct impact on innovation performance, but business agility has a significant impact. Conclusions: Efforts to enhance SMEs' trade must be willing to challenge the status quo or abandon knowledge that is no longer relevant to current developments to improve business agility and innovation. Technology-oriented SMEs can quickly become agile by implementing organizational forgetting. SME owners must be willing to adapt to technological advances to adopt organizational forgetfulness.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.171-184
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of internationalized human capital on SME's export performance and to examine the moderating effects of export experience and export market diversification of SMEs that can affect the relationship between internationalized human capital and export performance of SMEs. The results of empirical analysis of 150 small and medium-sized enterprises located in Jeonnam province are as follows. First, the internationalized human capital of SMEs was found to have a positive (+) effect on export performance. Second, as a result of empirically analyzing the moderating effect of internationalized human capital on export performance, the export experience of SMEs was found to have a negative (-) moderating effect on the relationship between internationalized human capital and export performance of SMEs, and the export market diversification had a negative (-) moderating effect on the relationship between internationalized human capital and export performance of SMEs. This study provides meaningful theoretical implications in that this study identified the role of human capital by analyzing the relationship between internationalized human capital as an important source of competitive advantage of SMEs and export performance.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.77
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• pp.259-284
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants of the export performance of the most preferred trade exhibitions for SMEs. And the results are as follow. First, it is analyzed that the challenging entrepreneurship, the global orientation toward the overseas market, the quality of the excellent trade show, and the support system of the trade exhibition of the export related organizations all have a very positive effect on the export performance of the SMEs participating in the trade show. Second, the number and size of participating trade shows has no influence on controlling export performance. Third, there is a difference in export performance depending on participation frequency, participation size, participation method, and participating region. The implication of this study is that SMEs, which have a strong sense of entrepreneurship and a strong commitment to the global market, need to actively participate in trade exhibitions with relatively low barriers to entry. The policy implication is that organizers and export-related organizations need to understand the internal capabilities of participating companies in order to maximize the performance of participating companies. And Korea should also create an environment that can attract and hold excellent trade exhibitions held overseas. Therefore, the government and export-related organizations should expand the infrastructure for hosting global trade exhibitions. As well as an urgent need to build a system for attracting overseas buyers that can dramatically boost overseas buyer visits.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.285-304
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• 2016

e-Commerce in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises(SMEs) provides a platform for fair competition between SMEs and large enterprises, and brings economic benefits to SMEs. Thus in the recent years, the e-Commerce in SMEs developed rapidly. However, the overall proportion of e-Commerce in SMEs in China remains low, and many SMEs' decision-makers tend to feel that their business is relatively weak in terms of information construction of scale and financial management, thus they keep the 'wait and see' attitude about the e-Commerce development decisions. Therefore, SMEs are facing three puzzles about e-Commerce application. First, if the companies need to implement e-Commerce, what are the e-Commerce adoption decision factors. Second, what are the successful implementation factors of e-Commerce. And how about the relationship between them. The third is how to measure the implementation effect of e-Commerce. What is the performance evaluation factors of e-Commerce. In this paper, the theoretical and empirical exploration and research are conducted towards these SMEs. Considering the actual situation of SMEs, this paper builds a theoretical model, then puts forward relevant hypothesis. This paper analyzes present influencing factors based on enormous research papers, and finally discovers the critical successful factors in doing business with e-Commerce in SMEs by conducting Structural Equation Modeling. Five critical factors are verified by cases of enterprise by demonstration study. Lastly, we can draw a conclusion that the innovation ability of leaders, the IT support of leaders and e-Commerce strategies are the success factors of e-Commerce for Chinese SMEs.

• 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.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.60
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• pp.213-234
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• 2013

e-Trade 3.0 era which means the expansion of seamless e-Trade process into global business has been come. e-Trade is in the evolution stage with the reflection of time changes and IT development. Furthermore e-Trade marketing method of SMEs has been generalized. However, SMEs have not utilized e-Trade marketing very actively even if it has much benefits in exploring overseas marketing. In this regard this paper has cautiously suggested the strategic using plan of e-Marketplace and SNS along with policy improvement in order to promote extensive diffusion of e-Trade marketing. First of all, a comprehensive evaluation system has to be developed for the assessment of overseas marketing program and provide organized guideline including SMEs support system. Also e-Marketplace operation company is necessary to invent management system for supervising and detecting risk factors of participating firms and business model to share information which each e-Marketplace possesses through mutual connection. Finally, the effective supports such as short-term education and acting operation of initial account to use SNS strategically are needed and continuous contents development to adopt SNS is absolute.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.73
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• pp.111-128
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• 2017

The main objective of this study is to examine the required aptitudes for undergraduate students who want to join export-oriented Small & Medium Enterprises(SMEs). 178 Dataset from a survey of exporting firms in Gwangju, Korea, were used to analyze the study. The results of the study are as follows ; First, the most required aptitude is 'the capability related to build up human relationship'. So students should learn negotiation skills in the college. In addition to this, student also try to join informal club and cultivate teamwork capabilities. Second, finding out a job in export-oriented SMEs is needed to equip with problem-solving capabilities. To do it, students should learn various subjects related to trade theory. Additionally, having some certificates like 'international trade master' can be better. Third, communication capabilities including foreign language and international business skills will be also required for students who are preparing for joining export-oriented SMEs. However, capabilities related to information technology and basic statistic skills does not have statistically significant correlation to recruitment intention. As a result, students who have such above-mentioned four aptitudes may have better position to find out jobs in export-oriented SMEs.