• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.345-356
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• 2013

The purpose of this study includes: the relationships between corporate entrepreneurship(innovation, proactiveness, risk-taking) and firm performance(non-financial performance, financial performance) and the mediating effect of the self-efficacy on the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance. In order to verify the relationships and mediating effect, data were collected from 368 individuals in employees working in small and medium-sized firms at Gyeongnam region to test theoretical model and its hypotheses. All data collected from the survey were analyzed using with SPSS 18.0. This study reports findings as follows: first, the relationship between the corporate entrepreneurship(except innovation) and the employee's self-efficacy is positively related. Second, there was also a positive correlation between the employee's self-efficacy and firm performance. Third, the relationship between the corporate entrepreneurship and the non-financial performance is positively related. The relationship between the corporate entrepreneurship(except innovation) and the financial performance is positively related. Finally, the employee's self-efficacy played as a partial mediator on the relationship between risk-taking and firm performance. The employee's self-efficacy played as a fully mediator on the relationship between proactiveness and non-financial performance. The employee's self-efficacy played as a partial mediator on the relationship between proactiveness and financial performance. However, there was no empirical evidence for the mediating effect of employee's self-efficacy on the relationship innovation and firm performance. Based on these findings, the implications and the limitations of the study were presented including some directions for future studies.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.65-91
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• 2016

Although the success of industrial clusters largely depends on whether clustering firms can achieve economic performance, there has been less attention on investigating factors and conditions contributing to the performance enhancement for clustering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Along this vein, we adopt the theories of social capital and organizational learning as those success factors for clustering SMEs. This study thus aims at examining what effect social capital accrued in the relationships among actors within clusters has on firm performance of clustering SMEs and what role organizational learning plays in the linkage between social capital and firm performance. For the empirical analysis, we operationalized the variables and their measures to develop questionnaires through the theoretical reviews on literatures. As a sample of 227 clustering SMEs, our collected data was analyzed by hierarchical regression analysis. The results confirmed that a high level of social capital, represented by network, trust, and norm, has positive effect on firm performance of clustering SMEs. We also found that clustering firms presenting high organizational learning, represented by absorptive and transformative capability, achieve better performance than those placing less value on organizational learning. Furthermore the significant relationship between social capital and firm performance is mediated partially through organizational learning. These findings imply not only that the territorial agglomeration of industrial cluster does not guarantee the performance creation of clustering SMEs but that they need to develop social capital among various actors within clusters, facilitating their knowledge diffusion. In order to absorb and mobilize the shared knowledge and information into strategic resources, the firms should improve their capability associated with organizational learning. These expand our understanding on the importance of social capital and organizational learning for the performance enhancement of clustering firms. Differentiating from major studies addressing benefits and advantages of industrial cluster, this study based on the perspective of firm-internal business process contributes to the literature advancement. Strategic and policy implications of this study are discussed in detail.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.83-93
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• 2019

Responding to the prior studies' call for further investigating the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance, this study proposes a partially mediated model of entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial knowledge position, and firm performance. Survey responses from 3,324 small- and medium-enterprises in South Korea are analyzed to identify a partially mediating role of an organization's entrepreneurial knowledge position. A firm's innovativeness both directly affects its innovation performance and knowledge position in positive ways. On the other hand, risk-taking firms only positively affects knowledge position, whereas a firm's proactiveness positively affects its performance while negatively affecting its entrepreneurial knowledge position. Neither autonomy nor competitiveness show any statistically significant relationships to either entrepreneurial knowledge position or firm performance. A firm's knowledge position is strongly and positively related to its performance. The findings of this study contributes to the research stream of entrepreneurial orientation by delineating the partially mediating role of a firm's knowledge position.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.345-352
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• 2021

Guided by a resource-based theory, this study is the first one that takes a quantitative approach to identify determinants of competitiveness of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The study employs time series data of Vietnamese SMEs extracted from the Vietnam Small and Medium Enterprises Survey conducted biennially from 2005 to 2015 in ten Vietnamese provinces. Firm competitiveness hereby is indicated by revenue, market share, profitability, and export volume. The research reveals a number of determining factors, of all, research and development, labor skills, business environment, technology investment are the most important factors, followed by capital and headcount. It is indicated that the determining factors have different influences on competitiveness obtained by different measurements. Therefore, it is based on specific targets and situations to make wise business decisions. The authors also make comparisons among groups of women-owned enterprises divided by their firm age, location, ownership, export, age, and educational background of business owners. The findings serve as critical empirical evidence and provide policy recommendations for improving the competitiveness of women-owned SMEs in Vietnam. The recommendations range from technology support, education and professional support for female entrepreneurs, access to capital and human resources to business environment improvement.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.25-33
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• 2018

Purpose - In this study, we consider and examine relationships between reasons for business switch or liquidation (BSL), and the demographics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea. The related five variables are occupations, administrative districts, age of employer, firm age and foundation motivation. In addition, eleven levels in association with reasons for BSL visualize the corresponding demographics by measuring their similarity on the dimensional planes assuming that the association exists between variables under consideration. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is done by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2016 and examines 20,307 small and medium enterprises. For examining the distinct relationships among variables under consideration, both chi-squared test and correspondence analysis as main statistical tools are used. Results - The results show that among levels of reasons for BSL the three levels -weakening profitability, poor sales and economic depression- are main ones for the five demographics variables mentioned above, and we can obtain the detailed associations between attributes of corresponding variables by inspecting the two dimensional plane. Conclusions - This study suggests reasons for BSL are closely associated with the five different demographics variables - Administrative districts, Firm age, Occupations, Age of employer and Foundation motivation-by looking over results.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 2018

Purpose - to examine the theories related to the internationalization of multinational corporations as well as theories related to internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises. Research design, data, and methodology - traditional theories, e.g. eclectic paradigm and behavioral theory and product life cycle etc. were examined and recent advances theories - network theory, entrepreneurship - were also examined to outline the theory of internationalization of firm. Results - the main schools of international researches are divided into two; one is the economics school, the other is the behavioral school. The economics school has considered internationalization as a pattern of investment in foreign markets explained by rational economic analysis of internalization, ownership, and location advantages. Apart from the economics approach, a theory relevant to smaller firms highlights slow and incremental overseas market commitment. Recent research on the network perspective is fast emerging and it can be applied and well explained on the internationalization of smaller firms, focusing on firm behavior in the context of a network of interorganizational and inter-personal relationships Conclusions - Small medium-sized enterprises have been recently rising, however, there has still been little consolidation of literature in internationalization and most of the relevant theories have been still focusing on explaining the globalization of multinational corporations. Little studied on the internationalization in the context of smaller firms which are distinctly differentiated from larger firms including international new ventures, which the motivation to study strongly calls for more information and studied on small medium-sized enterprises.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.19-44
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• 2015

This paper examines the effect of the global financial crisis on corporate investment in Korea. Specifically, the crisis was considered to have possibly constrained firm-level investment as the negative shock to the credit supply dramatically unfolded. As Duchin et al. (2010) demonstrated, if a negative supply-side shock is evident during a crisis period, larger cash holdings before the crisis will lead to fewer constraints to corporate investment, or vice versa. In order to investigate the supply-side effect of the crisis, we use firm-level financial data, including firms listed on the Korean stock market as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. We find that corporate investment declined significantly after the crisis, even if we control for factors associated with the demand side, such as contemporaneous capital productivity and cash flow. More importantly, the decline is positively and significantly related to cash holdings before the crisis, implying the negative effect of a credit supply shock. Small and medium enterprises experienced relatively sharp investment declines compared to those of larger firms, and the relationship between pre-crisis cash amounts and the degree of investment decline is greater than that in large firms. Additionally, we examine whether the negative effect persists up to the present, finding evidence that the cash-investment relationship continues in small and medium-sized enterprises.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.163-172
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• 2005

Since the financial turmoil in 1997, both the national and local governments have initiated a variety of policy measures to support small and medium-size firms to strengthen the national and regional economies. It is no doubt that such policies contributed to establish better business environment for them. However, many analytical reports and academic studies in recent years diagnose that the economy conditions for the small and medium-size firms are in crisis because many policy measures are made based on the supply-side approach rather than demand-side consideration. In order for the governments' efforts to be more realistic and effective, it is necessary to see what the policy target groups(that is. the small and medium-size entrepreneurs) want. This study surveyed entrepreneurs in Hwaseung city, Kyonggi-do, which has more than three-thousands of small and medium-size firms. It finds that in spite of locational advantages and a variety of policy supports from the provincial and local governments, they need more financial supports, more effective mass transportation system for commuting workers. less bureaucratic barriers, and so on.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.65-89
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• 2012

Recognizing the significance of inter-firm cooperation for firm's sustainable competitive advantage in today's business environment, this study investigates the effects of inter-firm cooperation and knowledge sharing on firm competitiveness based on 327 Korean small and medium sized enterprises. We also examines a mediating effects of knowledge sharing on the relationship between inter-firm cooperation and firm competitiveness and moderating effects of environmental factors on this relationship. The environmental factors are conceptualized by intensity of market competition and technological change. The main findings of the study are as follows: First, the paper found that inter-firm cooperation was positively associated with firm competitiveness while there was also a positive relationship between knowledge sharing and firm competitiveness. Second, it also shows that knowledge sharing partially mediated the relationship of inter-firm cooperation and firm competitiveness. Third, we also found that technological change had negative moderating effects on the relationship between inter-firm cooperation and firm competitiveness. This study suggests that understanding of inter-firm cooperation with consideration of environmental characteristics are required for better firm competitiveness.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.155-176
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• 2023

This paper employs datasets from the Enterprise Survey conducted by the World Bank to examine the relationship between four types of innovation defined by the Oslo Manual (OECD, 2005): product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, organization innovation, and the firm performance in the selected developing ASEAN economies. The main objective of this paper is to understand the characteristics of innovation activities at the firm level and how various innovation types affect firm performance. The empirical results from ASEAN manufacturing firms reveal that product innovation positively affects firms' performance, while non-technological innovations are negatively related to the performance of firms. The further employed quantile regression provides more insights into the roles of innovation types on different levels of firm performance: while product and process innovations actively contribute to the small and medium-size firms (below 25^th quantile and median), organizational and marketing innovations negatively affect them. Interestingly, the role of process innovation decreases when firm performance grows.