• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1-20
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• 2023

This study attempted to identify the relationship between the investment determinants of accelerators and investment performance through empirical analysis. Through literature review, four dimensions and 12 measurement items were extracted for investment determinants, which are independent variables, and investment performance was adjusted to the cumulative amount of subsequent investment based on previous studies. Performance data from 594 companies selected by TIPS from 2017 to 2019, which are relatively reliable and easy to secure data, were collected, and the subsequent investment cumulative attraction amount, which is a dependent variable, was hypothesized through multiple regression analysis three years after the investment. As a result of the study, 'industrial experience years' in the characteristics of founders, 'market size', 'market growth', 'competitive strength', and 'number of patents' in the characteristics of products and services had a significant positive (+) effect. The impact of independent variables on dependent variables was most influenced by the competitive strength of market characteristics, followed by the number of years of industrial experience, the number of patents, the size of the market, and market growth. This was different from the results of previous studies conducted mainly on qualitative research methods, and in most previous studies, the characteristics of founders were the most important, but the empirical analysis results were market characteristics. As a sub-factor, the intensity of competition, which was the subordinate to the importance of previous studies, had the greatest influence in empirical analysis. The academic significance of this study is that it presented a specific methodology to collect and build 594 empirical samples in the absence of empirical research on accelerator investment determinants, and created an opportunity to expand the theoretical discussion of investment determinants through causal research. In practice, the information asymmetry and uncertainty of startups that accelerators have can help them make effective investment decisions by establishing a systematic model of experience-dependent investment determinants.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2024

Recently, venture capital investment has been shrinking globally due to high interest rates and economic slowdown. Korea is no exception. Due to the downturn in the M&A and public markets, increasing economic uncertainty, and the aftermath of corporate bankruptcies, venture capitalists are facing many difficulties in raising funds. In the changed economic environment, the investment decision factors of venture capitalists have also changed. However, studies on VCs' investment decisions have focused on the general economic environment. This study examines how VCs' investment decision-making factors change during economic recessions and booms. To this end, we interviewed active investors who have experienced both economic recessions and booms to compare how VCs' investment decision factors change: 1) personal characteristics of founders, 2) experience of founders, 3) product/service, 4) market, 5) financial situation, 6) contract terms and 7) venture capital co-investment. The results showed that founder's personal characteristics, experience, and product/service were more important during the economic recession. Market is slightly more important during economic booms. The importance of financial situation and investment conditions increased sharply during the recession compared to the boom. Finally, venture capital co-investment did not differ significantly between recessions and booms. By understanding the investment decision-making factors of venture capitalists in the recent difficult venture investment environment, this study aims to help startups raise funds and survive in a difficult market.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1-14
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• 2021

Innovation and Scale-up of Start-up companies are becoming important national tasks. In the past, it was spread the start-up policy paradigm such as 'Start-up America', 'Start-up Chile', 'Start-up Britain' to overcome the recession globally. However as the economic recovery has become more visible recently in advanced economies, it is shifting from a start-up support policy to a scale-up oriented policy paradigm such as 'Scale-up America', Scale-up UK', 'Scale-up Denmark'. It is necessary to enter the scale-up phase beyond the start-up phase to increase the number of high-quality jobs and to continue economic growth. Therefore, it is necessary to grow the start-up into a strong medium-sized company and to lay the foundation for survival. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to consider the antecedent factors that influence the scale-up aspiration for the start-up firm to grow into a scale-up company, and empirically identifies the differences between the stages of economic development and entrepreneurs in the country. In order to accomplish the purpose, this study predicted scale-up by aspiration which is a predictor of scale-up behavior because it is difficult to achieve visible growth in a short period of time due to the characteristics of start-up companies. In order to empirically explore these relationships, the data were collected from nascent entrepreneurs who have less than 3.5 years of the Adult Population Survey(APS) among the subjects surveyed by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor(GEM) and the national economic development stage are divided into Innovation-driven, Efficiency-driven, Factor-driven type economies. For the test hypotheses, this study adopted the multi-level model analysis for comparison between national economic development stages and using the R 3.5.0 program. The results of this study are as follows. There is difference between the national economic development and the entrepreneur in the relationship between innovation orientation of entrepreneurs and scale-up aspirations. As the economy of the country develops, the innovation activity of the entrepreneur becomes more active. Since start-ups are heavily influenced by entrepreneurs, there is a difference in the degree of aspiration depending on how innovative an entrepreneur is in the same environment. In terms of the relationship between innovation orientation and scale-up aspiration, the fear of failure was found to differ between national economic development and entrepreneurs. The fear of failure differ from country to country, and this is one of the important factors affecting entrepreneurial activities. It is expected that the factors influencing the growth of the start-up companies which are identified through the results of these studies, will be used to create a suitable scale-up ecosystem according to the national economic development stage.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.97-110
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• 2019

This study analyzed various factors of influence affecting the will to start a business and established and empirically analyzed a research model to see which factors significantly affect the will to start a business. To this end, we investigated the general characteristics and experiences of individuals, conducted a study on the will to start a business, and analyzed the entrepreneurship passion for startups, the ability to find business opportunities, and the ability to connect with partner companies. The intent to start a business survey was investigated in a recertive style with a 7 point scale, and the reliability and feasibility review were analyzed through the PLS analysis method, which enables the implementation of a measurement model and a structural model. To collect valid data, the survey was conducted using an entrepreneurial curriculum class hours to collect and analyze 421 data. In summary, the results are as follows: First, college students have many opportunities to develop their capabilities through competitions held by universities and support institutions, and by utilizing them, they have no fear of starting a business. Second, the ability of students to discover product clients themselves has been improved by fostering entrepreneurship in the special lectures on startup in universities. Third, it can be seen that it has received various information on startups from support agencies to enhance its commitment to startups. The implications are as follows. First, they should foster entrepreneurship among college students by offering practical oriented courses that can broaden their understanding of startups. Second, it needs to be improved from entrepreneurial enthusiasm to a program that can grow into a company that can collaborate with partner companies and confirm its commitment to corporate establishment and product development and determine market opportunities. Third, it is necessary to establish an ecosystem of start-ups that can carry out systematic planning and performance management as it is weak to carry out projects with will to startups.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.237-258
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• 2022

As the global market environment changes, the domestic ICT industry has a growing influence on the world economy. This industry is regarded as an important driving force in the national economy from a technological and social point of view. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT industry are regarded as essential actors of domestic economic development in terms of company diversity, technology development and job creation. However, since it is small compared to large-sized enterprises, it is difficult for SMEs to survive with a differentiated strategy in an incomplete and rapidly changing environment. Therefore, SMEs must make a lot of efforts to improve their own capabilities, and the government needs to provide the desirable help suitable for corporate internal resources so that they can continue to be competitive. This study classifies the types of ICT SMEs participating in government support programs, and analyzes the relationship between resources and performance creation of each type. The data from the "ICT Small and Medium Enterprises Survey" conducted annually by the Ministry of Science and ICT was used. In the first stage, ICT SMEs were clustered based on common factors according to their experiences with government support programs. Three clusters were meaningfully classified, and each cluster was named "active participation type," "initial support type," and "soloist type." As a second step, this study compared the characteristics of each cluster through profiling analysis for each cluster. The third step carried out in this study was to find out the mechanism of R&D performance creation for each cluster through regression analysis. Different factors affected performance creation for each cluster, and the magnitude of the influence was also different. Specifically, for "active participation type", "current manpower", "technology competitiveness", and "R&D investment in the previous year" were found to be important factors in creating R&D performance. "Initial support type" was identified as "whether or not a dedicated R&D organization exists", "R&D investment amount in the previous year", "Ratio of sales to large companies", and "Ratio of vendors supplied to large companies" contributed to the performance. Lastly, in the case of "soloist type", "current workforce" and "future recruitment plan", "technological competitiveness", "R&D investment", "large company sales ratio", and "overseas sales ratio" showed a significant relationship with the performance. This study has practical implications of showing what strategy should be established when supporting SMEs in the future according to the government's participation in the startup program and providing a guide on what kind of support should be provided.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2014

Innopolis start-ups belong to the category of the research-based spin-offs, but in the meantime, has characteristics that separate them from the research-based spin-offs in terms of the process of technology commercialization. This study aims to assess the impacts of the foundation and management of the Innopolis start-ups in terms of expansion of entrepreneurship through entrepreneurial intention of researchers and economic achievements. A data set from 22 Innopolis start-ups and 200 researchers in 14 PRIs through door-to-door interviews and surveys is studied. Main findings are as follows: First, the foundation of the Innopolis start-up has a positive and strong impact on expansion of entrepreneurship through entrepreneurial intention of researchers. Second, technology transfer performance of researchers turns out to be major factor that affects entrepreneurial intention. Third, expansion of entrepreneurship, along with economic achievements characterized by sales, job creation and R&D investment, is a positive effect of the foundation and management of the Innopolis start-ups. The results of this paper provide an opportunity to test whether Innopolis start-up's strength in technology commercialization can be applied to actual management of the Innopolis startup and to examine the general direction in which the foundation and management of the Innopolis start-ups is heading.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.195-212
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• 2012

Most of the office-workers are worrying about their future and try to make diverse future plan. Fast shifting industry pattern make office-workers retire early and their remain life time are getting longer and many of them try to consider some kind of new start-up. In this article factors affecting entrepreneurial intention were discussed such as individual factors, psychological factors, environmental factors. Individual factors were economic situations and future life expectation were analyzed. Psychological factors were composed of risk taking tendency, self efficiency, career value, and entrepreneurial characteristics were discussed. Environmental factors were composed of recognition on social-economic risks and recognition on negative mind on start-up, and employment unstability. 340 sample questionaries were collected and 26 samples were excluded. Data were analyzed by SPSS Win 18.0 Version. The results of the study were as follows. Among individual factors life-expectation after retirement was positive impact on entrepreneurial intention. Among psychological factors risk taking factor has positive impact on entrepreneurial intention. Among Environmental factors negative recognition on start-up has negative impact on entrepreneurial intention. Based on the studies diverse understanding and implementation of policies were necessary to change negative social atmospheres on start-up.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.49-61
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• 2016

This study investigates the relationship between fear of failure of potential entrepreneur's psychological characteristics and entrepreneurial intentions using the mediation variables of planned behavior model. There are many existing prior research related to the entrepreneurial intentions, but they were mostly focused only entrepreneurial success factors. So in this study we focused on fear of failure of potential entrepreneur. To know the influence of the fear of failure related to entrepreneurial intention, we using the scale of PFAI (Performances Failure Appraisal Inventory). The purpose of this study is to examine an impact of fear of failure on entrepreneurial intention and add to mediating factors - attitude toward the acts, subjective norm, perceived behavior control - on the relationship between fear of failure and entrepreneurial intention. Also we examined entrepreneurial education as moderating effect in order to offset the fear of failure. In order to test research model, we collected data from 321 undergraduate students. To test the research questions and hypotheses, we employed SPSS 21.0 anf AMOS 18.0 for validity, reliability, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural model analysis. The results were as follows. First, the fear of failure negatively related to attitude toward the behavior and subjective norm. Second, attitude toward the behavior and subjective norm positively related to entrepreneurial intention in consistent with previous studies. Third, attitude toward the acts and subjective norm in TPB variables have full-mediation effects between fear of failure and intrepreneurial intention. Fourth, The moderating effects of entrepreneurial effect was not significant. The negative relationship between fear of failure and attitude toward the acts and subjective norm was even slightly stronger who have taken the entrepreneurial class group. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications, and provide suggestions for future research.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.189-209
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• 2017

Financial institutions around the world, including financially advanced nations, widely operate a credit information sharing system to ease off information asymmetry between financial institutions and financial consumers. This study analyzed the credit problem data that is actually being shared among financial institutions in Korea, and classified credit problem data into three categories; Frequency, Period, Amount. In survival analysis, this study analyzed how different types of credit problem influence on survival period of companies. Next, in comparative analysis, this study verified a difference between start-up companies and existing companies on classified conditions of the credit problems. After conducting a survival and comparative analysis of the credit information of 449,579 companies of 8 years' actual information sharing in Korea, it showed that the number of the frequency of accidents showed a positive(+) correlation with the survival period. This provides contrary evidence to the financial institutions' risk policies that the number of the frequency of accidents is a negative factor. Furthermore, since the start-up companies that are under 7 years old show more positive aspect in the survival period than existing companies, it draws a policy implication that the credit information sharing system need to be improved by taking account of characteristics of the start-up companies.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2020

In recent years, universities, with their intellectual properties and human resources, become main drivers for technology transfer. Universities in Korea have various organizations to support the technology transfer and commercialization. Among them, a technology holding company plays the critical role to successfully implement the task. Nonetheless, the performance of the technology holding company is well below the expectation of industry, government and universities themselves. The lack of expertises and experience together with the ill-suited government policies could be attributable to the observed under performance. More recently, however, the technology holding company acts as an accelerator or venture capital to search and fund promising start-ups. The university venture capital thus transforms a traditional university into an entrepreneurial university. Focusing on the role of the technology holding company as an accelerator or venture capital, the paper analyzes the characteristics of the university venture capital and the invested start-ups. The performance of the university venture capital is measured and the determinants of the performance are empirically tested. The results show that the co-investment of outside investors and the support of government program, known as Tech Incubator Program for Startup Korea, yields the highest performance. The result indicates that the coordination of the university venture capital, industry and government is the key to the success of early start-ups. The paper is the first to analyze the performance of the university venture capitals in Korea and thus contributes to the literature.