• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.247-266
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• 2005

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of a firm's financial and non-financial factors on the relationship formation with its main bank in the industry of parts and material in Pusan-Kyungnam region. The results, out of accordance with the relation-banking or regional financial market perspective, do not support the hypothesis that regional financial institutions would be useful for decreasing the financial difficulties of the small and medium firms in the region. The analyses about the effects of non-financial factors on the formation of main bank relations show that while Kookmin Bank and Industrial Bank play important roles as main banks of small businesses other national banks put emphasis on the transaction lending. And the analyses about the effects of financial factors show that firms having main bank relations with non-bank financial institutions and Kookmin bank are more profitable and stable than firms having main bank relations with other banks including local banks. On the whole it seems that local banks are not making a commitment to the regional economy and their operational grounds are not strong enough.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.189-211
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• 2009

The importance of searching the weak signal has been increasingly recognized to cope with rapidly changing circumstances as an environmental analysis technique. This study proposed the NEST process for the searching for the weak signal. The NEST (New & Emerging Signals of Trends) is a micro environmental analysis process based on both quantitative and qualitative method. For this, the weak signal Searching Board is developed and traditional methods as global monitoring, trend analysis, brainstorming and delphi method are implemented to NEST. The NEST process is consists of three stage modules; the global monitoring stage in search of seeds information related to the environmental change, the weak signal analysis stage using the weak signal Tracking Board, and the delphi valuation stage for objectifying the final result. The NEST provides the weak signal of the promising technology which can bring new paradigm and the Up-Coming Trends which can lead new trend in the future. These outputs can be used to select promising technology from firm level to national level. The NEST system can be effectively operated as well as in small group so that small and medium innovative firms can develop and execute their own NEST process individually.

• Archives of design research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.425-436
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• 2004

A new design field called eDesign appears as if eBiz is an online related business in which an industrialized design creates the individual value added facing a digital revolution. The field of eDesign requires a special design process and management methodology regardless of the fact that human sensitivity will be satisfied through a dehumanized computer technique. However, it is the reality of eDesign that has been dependent upon a simple process or project management tool of general design. In this study, we develop an eDesign platform based on an eDesign process and template mainly focused on eBusiness in order to overcome the wrong situation. The template is a kind of document that has a standardization form. We aim to establish a general process through various case projects, store information using a necessary template, and use for the way of visual communication. We propose a standard of eDesign platform that can be widely applied to the field of design, medium and small enterprises focused on IT businesses or design-team through this project performed as an educational-industrial study. It makes it possible to get a detailed process methodology, which can be applied to many small design related companies that don't have their own process yet, and will be a scale for comparing their own process in which the company has a process of opened standard eDesign with it. In addition, it makes possible a systematic control of the own projects within and outside the firm, accumulating information for the firm through the database, and easy communication. Furthermore, it can be applied to check the process of the project as a checklist, and then it will reduce trial and error repeated for every project that has been done.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.545-552
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• 2015

This study One of the key elements of corporate competitiveness in the modern world of unlimited competition is human resource management. The reason that the world's leading companies are devoting a lot of investment and effort for good human resource development and management is that human resource can impact firm survival. In particular, there is little research on the internal and external environmental stimuli and job stress in the employee of small business which are often led to turnover, while they have suffered from chronic shortage of manpower. The purpose of this study is to determine the turnover factors in the small logistics companies and contribute to stable maintenance of workforce, facilitating human resource management and minimizing turnover. This study empirically analyzed the factors of the turnover in the organization of logistics companies from Busan Port, South Korea, which became one of the national infrastructure and the fifth world largest harbor. The conclusion proposed the development and direction of the human resource management which could promote the job environment improving the turnover factors and creating sustainable work condition through conducting preventive measures. The results indicated that the highest turnover rates was found in the category of field work, and the highest turnover group was from the 'less than one year', which implies that high turnover rates after and during job training might be greater cost to the companies than early turnover. The most common reasons for the high employee turnover were 'excessive workload' and 'dissatisfaction with wages'. Followed reasons including 'troubles with managers' and 'failure in organizational adaptation' can be understood in line with worse working conditions of the small logistic companies. It turned out that the preventive programs of the logistic enterprises had little effect through 'incentives system' and 'improving wage system' which are mainly conducted. The human resource managers appreciated the importance of 'wage raise' and 'benefits improvement'. This study is aimed at contributing to efficient human resource management through understanding of the turnover causes and human resource managers applying preventive measures. In particular, this can benefit small port logistics companies securing competitiveness and promoting persistent growth and development.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.127-156
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• 2006

This paper introduced successful case studies of the EIP (Entrepreneurship Intensive Programs) programs that are planed by 5MBA (Small and Medium Business Administration) and executed by Hoseo University and Jinju National University in 2004. Therefore, the illustrations and examples used in this paper are based on the EIP programs of those schools. Currently there are five graduate schools for Entrepreneurship educations that are originated from the EIP program models and those graduateschools are actively and successfully working. The purpose of this paper is to find out the diffusing strategies of the Entrepreneurship spirits and Entrepreneurship Education programs after careful analysis and review of the EIP programs. The main factors of the Success of the EIP are as follows. First, there were excellent modules of the education process. Second, there were firm and clear goals of the education. Three, there were differentiated contents of the entrepreneurship education programs. Four. each and every education performance was monitored. Five, during the programs, real start-up cases were actually handled and students had many opportunities to present their cases. However, there were some shortcomings to improve and change of the entrepreneurship education. First of all, it was very difficult to make proper education formation that is fit in the purpose of the program. Second, motivating students to find out their own business opportunities so as to turn them into real business was not satisfactory or easy. Third, there were some limitations in distributing and executing the EIP budgets. Therefore, to improve the efficiency of the Entrepreneurship education, following expanding strategies should be complemented. First, continuous redesigning of the entrepreneurship education programs is very important. Second, the specialization of the contents of the entrepreneurship education programs is essential. Third, there should be some discretionary room for the management of the entrepreneurship programs. Fourth, it is also important activating the entrepreneurship networks among schools of the entrepreneurship education. Finally, it is necessary to give some incentives and motivations based on the proper performance evaluation system.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.47-63
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• 2015

As knowledge is paid attention as a new production factor that generates added value, studies continue to apply knowledge management to business environment. In addition, as ICT (Information Communication Technology) was engrafted in business environment, it leads to increasing task efficiency and productivity of individual workers. Accordingly, the way that a business achieves its goal has changed to one in which its individual members are willing to take part in the organization and share information to create new values (Han, 2003) and studies for the system and service to support such transition are carrying out. Of late, a new concept called 'Enterprise 2.0' newly appears. It is the extension of Wen 2.0 and its technology, which focus on participation, sharing and openness, to the work environment of a business (Jung, 2013). Enterprise 2.0 is being used as a collaborative tool to prop up individual creativity and group brain power by combining Web 2.0 technologies such as blog, Wiki, RSS and tag with business software (McAfee, 2006). As Tweeter gets popular, Enterprise Microblog (EMB), which is an example of Enterprise 2.0 for business, has been developed as equivalent to Tweeter in business circle and SaaS (Software as a Service) such as Yammer was introduced The studies of EMB mainly focus on demonstrating its usability in terms of intra-firm communication and knowledge management. However existing studies lean too much towards large-sized companies and certain departments, rather than a company as a whole. Therefore, few studies have been conducted on small and medium-sized companies that have difficulty preparing separate resources and supplying exclusive workforce to introduce knowledge management. In this respect, the present study placed its analytic focus on small-sized companies actually equipped with EMB to know how they use it. And, based on the findings, this study examined their knowledge management strategies for EMB from the point of codification and personalization. Hypothesis -"as a company grows, it shifts EMB strategy from codification to personalization'- was established on the basis of reviewing precedent studies and literature. To demonstrate the hypothesis, this study analyzed the usage of EMB by small companies that have used it from foundation. For case study, the duration of the use was divided into 2 spans and longitudinal analysis was employed to examine the contents of the blogs. Using the key findings of the analysis, this study is aimed to propose practical implications for the operation of knowledge management of small-sized company and the suitable application of knowledge management system for operation Knowledge Management Strategy can be classified by codification strategy and personalization strategy (Hansen et. al., 1999), and how to manage the two strategies were always studied. Also, current studies regarding the knowledge management strategy were targeted mostly for major companies, resulting in lack of studies in how it can be applied on SMEs. This research, with the knowledge management strategy suited for SMEs, sets an Enterprise Microblog (EMB), and with the EMB applied on SMEs' Knowledge Management Strategy, it is reviewed on the perspective of SMEs' Codification and Personalization Strategies. Through the advanced research regarding Knowledge Management Strategy and EMB, the hypothesis is set that "Depending on the development of the company, the main application of EMB alters from Codification Strategy to Personalization Strategy". To check the hypothesis, SME that have used the EMB called 'Yammer' was analyzed from the date of their foundation until today. The case study has implemented longitudinal analysis which divides the period when the EMBs were used into three stages and analyzes the contents. As the result of the study, this suggests a substantial implication regarding the application of Knowledge Management Strategy and its Knowledge Management System that is suitable for SME.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.73-88
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• 2009

This study examines the characteristics of 24 Korean hidden champions such as key success factors, core competences, strategic problems, and desirable future directions. The study categorized them into 8 types with Danny Miller's four trajectories and top manager's decision making style(rationality and passion). Danny Miller argued in his book, Icarus paradox, that outstanding firms will extend their orientations until they reach dangerous extremes and their momentum will result in common trajectories of decline. He suggested four very common success types: Craftsmen, Builders, Pioneers, Salesmen. He also suggested common trajectories of decline:Focusing(from Craftsmen to Tinkers), Venturing(from Builders to Imperialists), Inventing(from Pioneers to Escapists), Decoupling(from Salesmen to Drifts). In Korea, successful startups appear to possess three kinds of drive: Technology-drive, Vision-drive, Market-drive. Successful technology-driven firms tend to grow as craftsmen or pioneers. Successful vision-driven and market-driven ones tend to grow as builders and salesmen respectively. Korean top managers or founders seem to have two kinds of decision making style: Passion-based and Rationality-bases. Passion-based(passionate) entrepreneurs are biased towards action or proactiveness in competing and getting things done. Rationality- based ones tend to emphasis the effort devoted to scanning and analysing information to better understand a company's threats, opportunities and options. Consequently this study suggested 4*2 types of Korean hidden champions: (1) passionate craftsmen, (2) rational craftsmen, (3) passionate builders, (4) rational builders, (5) passionate pioneers, (6) rational pioneers, (7) passionate salesmen, (8) rational salesmen. These 8 type firms showed different success stories and appeared to possess different trajectories of decline. These hidden champions have acquired competitive advantage within domestic or globally niche markets in spite of the weak market power and lack of internal resources. They have maintained their sustainable competitiveness by utilizing three types of growth strategy; (1) penetrating into the global market, (2) exploring new service market, (3) occupying the domestic market. According to the types of growth strategy, these firms showed different financial outcomes and possessed different issues for maintaining their competitiveness. This study found that Korean hidden champions were facing serious challenges from the transforming economic structure these days and possessed the decline potential from their success momentum or self-complacence. It argues that they need to take a new growth engine not to decline in the turbulent environment. It also discusses how firms overcome the economic crisis and find a new business area in promising industries for the future. It summarized the recent policy of Korean government called as "Green Growth" and discussed how small firms utilize such benefits and supports from the government. Other implications for firm strategies and governmental policies were discussed.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.171-191
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• 2018

Purpose Corporate technology leakage is not only monetary loss, but also has a negative impact on the corporate image and further deteriorates sustainable growth. In particular, since SMEs are highly dependent on core technologies compared to large corporations, loss of technology leakage threatens corporate survival. Therefore, it is important for SMEs to "prevent and protect technology leakage". With the recent development of data analysis technology and the opening of public data, it has become possible to discover and proactively detect companies with a high probability of technology leakage based on actual company data. In this study, we try to construct profiles of enterprises with and without technology leakage experience through profiling analysis using data mining techniques. Furthermore, based on this, we propose a classification model that distinguishes companies that are likely to leak technology. Design/methodology/approach This study tries to develop the empirical model for prevention and protection of technology leakage through profiling method which analyzes each SME from the viewpoint of individual. Based on the previous research, we tried to classify many characteristics of SMEs into six categories and to identify the factors influencing the technology leakage of SMEs from the enterprise point of view. Specifically, we divided the 29 SME characteristics into the following six categories: 'firm characteristics', 'organizational characteristics', 'technical characteristics', 'relational characteristics', 'financial characteristics', and 'enterprise core competencies'. Each characteristic was extracted from the questionnaire data of 'Survey of Small and Medium Enterprises Technology' carried out annually by the Government of the Republic of Korea. Since the number of SMEs with experience of technology leakage in questionnaire data was significantly smaller than the other, we made a 1: 1 correspondence with each sample through mixed sampling. We conducted profiling of companies with and without technology leakage experience using decision-tree technique for research data, and derived meaningful variables that can distinguish the two. Then, empirical model for prevention and protection of technology leakage was developed through discriminant analysis and logistic regression analysis. Findings Profiling analysis shows that technology novelty, enterprise technology group, number of intellectual property registrations, product life cycle, technology development infrastructure level(absence of dedicated organization), enterprise core competency(design) and enterprise core competency(process design) help us find SME's technology leakage. We developed the two empirical model for prevention and protection of technology leakage in SMEs using discriminant analysis and logistic regression analysis, and each hit ratio is 65%(discriminant analysis) and 67%(logistic regression analysis).

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.93-120
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• 2007

To promote the commercialization of high technology based start-up company, it is essential to activate technology trading for the Innovative Small & Medium companies which eager to acquire technology competitiveness through technology trading and facilitate financial system which provide Small & Medium companies with technology commercialization money. This study focus on enhancing credibility of technology valuation solutions through the improvement of the existing technology valuation solutions. The existing technology valuation solutions in practice have deficiency in reasonable valuation because of subjective technology factor's calculation. And the commercialization risk of high technology based start-up companies cannot be fully reflected in the existing valuation solutions. The high risk of technology commercialization acts as a hurdle in the facilitation of providing money for the start-up companies. The improved new model will have more acceptable objectivity and reasonably reflect the commercialization risk of start-up companies. The new model has two distinctive features compared to existing solutions. The new model newly adopts commercialization success factor which reflects the risk of high technology based start-up company. And the new model excludes technology factor which is controversial among interested parties. The exclusion of technology factor will improve the objectivity of technology valuation and the adoption of commercialization success factor will solicit investor and capitalist who concern the high risk of technology based start-up companies. In conclusion, the improved new model is expected to activate technology trading and facilitate the money market through which high technology based start-up companies raise commercialization money.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.49-62
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• 2016

Technology-based start-ups have great economic ripple effect such as economic growth and job creation. Therefore, a strategic approach is required in order for such start-ups to continuously grow. However, many technology-based start-ups do not survive the Death-Valley and are being eliminated from the market. This is an empirical study on influencing variables that have impact on their performance. This study presents growth intention and influencing variables that have impact on performance (financial performance, technological performance) based on previous research on technology-based start-up. Also, this study examines the relationship between entrepreneurial competence, team commitment and growth intention, and finds the effect of controlling business-network. Structural equation modeling was performed in order to test the research hypothesis. Survey was conducted on the firms that have been certified by Youth Startup Academy of Small and Medium Business Corporation. A total of 306 samples were collected from the survey. An empirical test was conducted on the research hypothesis using SPSS 21.0 and Amos 22.0. The result of hypothesis test shows that growth intention has positive influence on both financial and technological performance, and entrepreneurial competence (technological competence, strategic management competence, creative competence and team commitment) has positive influence on growth intention. Also, the research proved that business-network has regulation effect between human resource trait and growth intention. The result of our study will provide practical insight to future start-ups for continuous growth and successful running of their firm.