• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.179-190
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• 2019

To alleviate financing difficulties of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the government and municipal governments are providing a variety of SME policy funding programs. This study introduced the policy funding program of Gangwon-do and quantitatively analyzed the financial performance of companies supported by the Gangwon-do SME policy fund in the year 2014. Specifically, we compared the financial ratios for three years, from 2013 to 2015, between funded firms and non-funded firms. In addition, we applied a regression analysis to see if the policy funding program contributed to profitability (the operating profit growth and return on equity), stability (the interest coverage ratio and debt-to-equity ratio), and growth (the asset growth and sales growth) of the funded firms. The empirical results show that the firms that received the policy funds did not show any improvement compared to non-funded firms in terms of profitability, stability, and growth. This suggests that Gangwon-do should improve the policy funding program, that currently provides only an interest amount of 2-4% of the corporate loan principal, without any strategic selection criteria for the target funded firms, and without any follow-up management system, after support.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.65-79
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to research how emotional factors affect decision-making on the maintenance and abandonment of a patent, and to present new criteria for patent policies. The types of Korean patent abandonment were analyzed according to the patent holding period, and a questionnaire survey was carried out to verify whether there are differences among patentees in terms of sunk cost bias, endowment effect, and coupling or not. Individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises showed relatively greater emotional bias toward sunk cost and endowment effect than large companies, and the sunk cost effect decreased as decision-making experience increased. In addition, the reduction in the payment cycle of the patent renewal fee has a positive effect on the increase in the willingness to use the patent right, and the individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises has a greater synergistic effect than the case of large companies, in particular. This study are expected to play a part in establishing policies to minimize wasteful factors of patent assets based on the propensity of the patentees.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to investigate various factors affecting the efficiency of China IC industry, reflecting the resource utilization and overall development level of China IC industry. In this paper, three input indicators (R&D Expenditure, Cash paid to and for employees, Total fixed assets) and two output indicators (Net profit, Sales revenue) were selected for 17 listed companies in the IC industry with operating profit of less than 1 billion yuan in 2018 and applied the technology efficiency theory and DEA analysis method to analyze the relative efficiency of the output base. The study found that one of the 17 companies analyzed was efficient, two were inefficient on an inadequate scale, and the rest were inefficient due to insufficient production technology, scale and management level. This study argues that enterprises should reduce resource input appropriately and strengthen scientific and technological innovation management to maximize resource utilization efficiency. Therefore, this study has important practical significance for improving the efficiency of IC enterprises. The Malmquist method will be used to study the total factor productivity of small and Medium-sized companies in IC industry.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.177-205
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• 2022

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have strong incentives to engage in open innovation to enhance innovation efficiency and effectiveness due to their 'liability of smallness.' Previous research examined the performance effects of various open innovation practices, but whether coupled open innovation practices positively affect SMEs' firm performance is somewhat controversial. To resolve the issue, this study examined the effects of coupled open innovation activities on SMEs' firm performance using Heckman's two stage model to control endogeneity of the firms' self-selection bias in open innovation engagement. This study used the Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) 2020 collected by the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), and tested the effects of SMEs' coupled open innovation activities, R&D and non-R&D cooperation, on their innovative and financial performance indicators. The results showed that SMEs' R&D cooperation positively affects the new-to-market (NTM) product innovation only. Moreover, SMEs' non-R&D cooperation has positive effects on the product innovation, business process innovation, new-to-the-market product innovation, and new-to-firm (NTF) product innovation. However, the results showed that both R&D and non-R&D innovation cooperation activities have no significant effects on SMEs' financial performance indicators. This study contributes to research on SMEs' open innovation and provides insights for SMEs' managers and policymakers.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.235-246
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• 2021

This study analyzed the effects of SMEs' open innovation capabilities and organization capabilities to lead these innovations on corporate performance. For this purpose, an empirical analysis was conducted targeting 250 small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) employee. The empirical study results are as follows. Absorptive capability, relational capability, CEO's innovativeness, employee's innovativeness, and decision-making openness had a significant positive (+) effect on the non-financial performance of SMEs. It was analyzed that multiplicative capability did not significantly affect non-financial performance. On the other hand, absorptive capability, relational capability, CEO's innovativeness, and decision-making openness had a significant positive (+) effect on the financial performance of SMEs. It was analyzed that multiplicative capability and employee's innovativeness did not significantly affect financial performance. Decision-making openness and absorptive capability were analyzed as factors that have an most important influence on a company's financial and non-financial performance. Based on these research results, academic and practical implications were presented.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.42-49
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• 2018

In steel industries, cold-rolled sheet manufacturing is one of the links between the front and rear important industries for national competitiveness and high value-added production. In particular, in small and medium-sized enterprises, one of the major problems is the carbonization phenomenon of the steel sheet during the annealing process. Carbonization occurring on the surface of the coil help reduce steel production. After conducting various experiments to identify the cause of carbonization on the surface of a cold-rolled steel, the following results were obtained: (1) An analysis of the rolling oil, which is used in the field, revealed it to contain approximately 40 ppm carbonized material. (2) A comparison of the thermal denaturation characteristics of the fresh rolling oil and using rolling oil by FT-IR analysis showed that thermal denaturation had occurred, as shown by the significant decrease in the relative intensity of the 2900 and $1750cm^{-1}$ peaks. (3) The thermal decomposition of the rolling oil took place for the rolling oil at approximately $220^{\circ}C$. Furthermore, annealing experiments at $200^{\circ}C$ showed that the carbonization phenomenon of the sample was not observed. On the other hand, carbonization was observed at temperatures higher than $240^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.252-261
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• 2019

In this study, we analyzed the factors affecting the introduction of Smart Factory by domestic SMEs through AHP analysis and tried to provide implications for the introduction of Smart Factory. It was confirmed that the manufacturing and introduction group, the non-manufacturing introduction group, and the already introduced group had the highest weight in the cost reduction in the first hierarchy standard. At this time, it can be seen that the weight for cost reduction is relatively high in the manufacturing introduction group and the introduction group, and the weight for the productivity improvement is relatively high in the non-manufacturing introduction group. It can also be seen that the portion of marketing enhancement does not have a significant impact on smart factory choices. It was confirmed that image enhancement is the highest in the manufacturing introduction group and the non-manufacturing introduction group in the first hierarchy standard, and the marketing has the highest weight in the introduction group. In the two - tiered standard, customer - friendly and proper inventory maintenance weights were relatively high in all the introduced groups, except for the high rankings.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.96-104
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• 2013

Study of human-robot Interaction gets more and more attention to expand the robot application for tasks difficult by robot alone. Developed countries are preparing for a new market by introducing the concept of 'Co-Robot' model of human-robot Interaction. Our research of direct teaching is a way to instruct robot's trajectory by human's handling of its end device. This method is more intuitive than other existing methods. The benefit of this approach includes easy and fast teaching even by non-professional workers. And it can enhance utilization of robots in small and medium-sized enterprises for small quantity batch production. In this study, we developed the algorithms for creating accurate trajectory from repeated inaccurate direct teaching and GUI for the direct teaching. We also propose the basic framework for direct teaching.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.229-245
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• 2023

Purpose This study aims to understand the inclinations of young job seekers towards "hidden champions" - small but competitive companies that are emerging as potential solutions to the growing disparity between youth-targeted job vacancies and job seekers. We utilize machine learning techniques to discern the appeal of these hidden champions. Design/methodology/approach We examined the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises using data sourced from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and Youth Worknet. By comparing the efficacy of five machine learning classification models (i.e., Logistic Regression, Random Forest Classifier, Gradient Boosting Classifier, LGBM Classifier, and XGB Classifier), we discovered that the predictive model utilizing the LGBM Classifier yielded the most consistent performance. Findings Our analysis of the relative significance of preference determinants revealed that industry type, geographical location, and employee count are pivotal factors influencing preference. Drawing from these insights, we propose targeted strategic interventions for policymakers, hidden champions, and young job seekers.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.747-753
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• 2020

This study aims to interpret the meaning of a successful entrepreneur from the perspective of women entrepreneurs in Malang, Indonesia. This research offers a phenomenological approach using purposive sampling. Data was collected by in-depth interviews using structured questionnaire with registered women entrepreneurs in Malang obtained from MSMEs (micro small and medium-sized enterprises) entrepreneurs. The 'continually developing' is one of the meanings of a successful entrepreneur. This study also found that success is when what women do can be useful to others. Besides, the meaning of success has two criteria, i.e., when they can meet their needs (individual satisfaction) and social performance as a goal to be achieved by entrepreneurs. The motivation of women entrepreneurs to establish their venture was not only financial returns, but also personal satisfaction, which was also the indicator of entrepreneurial success for women. This study has several limitations. First, our sample size is too small and consists of entrepreneurs that have an average age above 40 years. Hopefully, further research will be able to generalize our findings to a broader sample in various industries outside the city of Malang. As our research shows, the criteria and meaning of success may be different for a larger sample of entrepreneurs.