• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.221-235
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• 2019

SMEs are experiencing difficulties in doing sales promotion due to the low awareness of the image of the company and the products produced by them in the global market. Therefore, the Government should seek ways to raise awareness of SMEs' image and products. SMEs have to carry out global innovation activities needed to develop new products or new technologies, but they are exposed to limitations of these innovative activities due to the limit of their available resources. Therefore, as a national project, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Small and Medium Business Corporation are doing project for fostering and constructing global shopping mall (independent mall) so that SMEs can strengthen their global innovation activities. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to succeeding in the project for fostering and constructing global shopping mall (independent mall) by studying the case of Zungle Incorporation which operates a global shopping mall and greatly increases exports by participating in this project, and identifying success factors of Zungle Incorporation in doing this project.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.193-208
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• 2020

In this study, we investigate the effects of technology innovation investments and employment on credit ratings of very small start-up businesses using the data period of 2009 till 2015 test two hypotheses: asymmetric information hypothesis or competence hypothesis. We use financial and non-financial data of 51,903 observations of 12,028 small businesses from a database of a commercial bank and fixed effects panel models and two-stage instrumental variable models. We find that in the short-run small size startups show lower credit ratings than non-startups, and that both technology innovation activities and employment capability improve their credit ratings. In the long-run, technology innovation investments do not improve their credit ratings of later years while employment capability improve their credit ratings of the subsequent year. In addition, the age of startups improves their credit ratings of the current year and until the subsequent two years while employee productivity, fixed ratio and ROA positively affect their credit ratings for up to three years. However, short-term and overall debt ratios, cost of borrowings and firm-size negatively affect their credit ratings for up to three years. The results of the study on credit ratings suggest that credit rating agencies seem to consider both technology innovation activities and employment capability in the credit ratings of small start-ups as 'competence factors' rather than 'asymmetric information factors' with inefficiency and cost burdens. The results also suggest that we must find ways to reflect properly the severe asymmetric information of the early-stage start-ups, and technology innovation activities and employment capability in the credit rating formula.

• 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.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2023

Purpose - This research paper aims to examine the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and government support programs (GSP) on new product performance in Korean Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME). We specifically focus on the interaction between these two factors and their influence on the new product performance of Korean SMEs. Research design, data, and methodology - We collected survey questionnaires from 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 new product performance. However, the risk-taking dimension of EO has a negative effect. Additionally, GSP exhibit both positive and negative moderating effects on different dimensions of EO. Conclusion - It is important to recognize that GSP are not a universal solution for all challenges faced by SMEs. Hence, it is crucial for policy-makers to have a clear understanding of SMEs' capabilities and the level of EO dimensions in order to identify types of GSP that could lead to positive outcomes, while minimizing the negative effects of GSP.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 2019

Among the government-sponsored projects supported by Ministry of SMEs and Startups(MSS), the financial support of the Consulting Research Institutes of our university is scheduled to be ended this year. In this regard, this study is to develop a profit model for R&D center of Consulting Research Institute that can cultivate the financial independence of R&D center of Consulting Research Institutes and foster technology convergence consulting manpower to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The profit model were derived from the current status of consulting industry and similar organizations, the current status of consulting graduate R&D centers, case studies of other universities, and focus group interviews. In order to select three high profit models and commercialize them, BMC (Biz Model Canvas) was used and business feasibility was examined. Therefore, three profit model of R&D center of Consulting Research Institute are: First, SCB (SME's Consulting Business: Total Solution Provider for SMEs through Technology Convergence Consulting), Second, SNB (SME's Network Business: Experts connection in Consulting Graduate School for Solving Problems and Problems of SMEs / Industry Consolidation) And third, SM (Sustainable Management: Financial independence through structural improvement of Consulting Research Institute), and the road-map was established. As an implementation plan, the company intends to seek financial independence by developing a profit model for R&D center of Consulting Research Institutes and by establishing business goals and strategies, manpower operation plan, organization, and investment plan for three years.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.1105-1117
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• 2017

Financial technology, also known as FinTech, is one of the fast growing global businesses in since its inception in 2008. Fintech is a new economic industry, comprised of companies that adopted the latest technologies to provide more efficient financial services than the traditional financial services. Fintech companies are generally small to medium sized startups trying to disintermediate existing financial systems. FinTech companies can be differentiated in several areas, based on its business solutions and target customers. In Korea, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending companies are the most prominent in the FinTech sector. P2P lending is a method of borrowing or lending money to individuals through online services without the use of an official financial institution as an intermediary. The P2P lending companies operate their services entirely online or mobile environment. Consequently, mobile P2P lending application users are dramatically increasing. Thus, it is worth evaluating the acceptance of the mobile apps of the P2P lending companies from a user's perspective. This paper discusses user acceptance of the mobile P2P lending apps, guided by the Technology Acceptance Model. We conclude that the users' acceptance of mobile P2P lending apps are significantly influenced by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and user satisfaction. These in turn influenced their attitude towards using mobile P2P lending apps and intention to use.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.135-147
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• 2016

Equity-based crowdfunding combines virtual technologies with traditional investing principles. Equity-based crowdfunding is a financing method for startups and small businesses to raise small amounts of capital from a "crowd" of investors. Small businesses can raise capital, advertise product or service, and receive feedback from crowds of investors in exchange for ownership equity in their business. This study examined the operational performance of equity-based crowdfunding in Korea. Data were collected from 125 success and failure equity-based crowdfunding of 75 firms. Results were as follows: First, success firms had a clear vision than failure firms in raising equity-based crowdfunding. Second, success firms had success experiences than failure firms in raising equity-based crowdfunding. Third, success firms had patents to technologies or products that are practical and that customers need. Fourth, success firms had three or more year long-term objectives than failure firms in raising equity-based crowdfunding. Finally, implications of the results were discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

Purpose: In 2020, the franchise industry accomplished a significant growth compared to the previous year, as the number of franchise companies increased by 9.0% while the number of franchise brands increased by 12.5%. Despite growth in size, the Korean franchise industry underwent many negative incidents, such as franchise ownership sales to private equity funds, that led to deterioration of businesses. From this point of view, this study aims to make various proposals to help policy makers develop franchise industry policies by analyzing trends of the current and previous presidential administrations' franchise policies and regulations using newspaper articles. Research design, data and methodology: A total of 7,439 articles registered in Naver API from February 25, 2013 to November 29, 2021 were extracted. Among them, 34 unrelated video articles were deleted, and a total of 7,405 articles from both administrations were used for analysis. The R package was used for word frequency analysis, word clouding, word correlation analysis, and LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) topic modeling. Results: The keyword frequency analysis shows that the most frequently mentioned keywords during the previous administration include 'no-brand', 'major company', 'bill', 'business field', and 'SMEs', and those mentioned during the current administration include 'industry' and 'policy'. As a result of LDA topic modeling, 9 topics such as 'global startups' and 'job creation' from the previous administration, and 10 topics such as 'franchise business' and 'distribution industry' from the current administration were derived. The results of LDAvis showed that the previous administration operated a policy based on mutual growth of large and small businesses rather than hostile regulations in the franchise business, whereas the current administration extended the regulation related to franchise business to the employment sector. Conclusions: The analysis of past two administrations' franchise policy, it can be suggested that franchisors and franchisees may complement each other in developing the Fair Transactions in Franchise Business Act and achieving balanced growth. Moreover, political support is needed for sound development of franchisors. Limitations and future research suggestions are presented at the end of this study.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.79-94
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• 2022

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine firm-level attributes related to Korean manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs') decisions to implement smart factories. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses the provided by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups of Korea and the Korea Federation of SMEs. Manufacturing SMEs' decisions to implement smart factories in 2018-2019 were analyzed using multinomial logit and ordered logit models. Findings - The findings of this study suggest that firms' decisions to implement smart factories were positively related to firm size, R&D intensity, international market scope, and transactional relationships with customers. However, smart factory implementation decisions were not related to firm age and CEO gender. Research implications or Originality - This study illuminates firm-level attributes that may drive organizational innovation in the era of Industry 4.0 and thus contributes to the innovation adoption literature. This study also contributes to growing research on smart factories by analyzing the actual, progressive decisions to implement smart factories, as opposed to perceived intentions to implement them.