• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.131-144
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• 2021

The organizational ambidexterity is an organizational strategy designed to pursue exploration activities to seize new opportunities and exploitation activities to efficiently use resources. Most of these ambidextrous structures have been studied for large corporations with slack resources, and there are still not many studies on the necessity of an ambidextrous structure for startups with relatively low-level resources. However, recently, the startup ecosystem is being advanced globally, and the amount of VC investment is rapidly increasing. This is a time when a lot of venture fund is invested in startups and a startup-friendly environment for rapid growth is created. This is the time to discuss the necessity and applicability of an ambidextrous organizational structure for startups. Therefore, this study conducted a hypothesis test whether the importance and necessity of balance that startups solving market problems with new ideas and utilizing accumulated resources have. To conduct this study, we analyzed 140 startups data gathered from the survey and the moderation effect was also analyzed. As a result of the study, it was verified that the balance of startup exploration and exploitation had a significant effect on startup performance, and the moderating effect of environmental dynamics was found to have a significant effect on the relationship with non-financial performance. Therefore, for startups with insufficient resources, it was concluded that the surplus resources generated in the process of a firm's growth should be effectively utilized and the balance between exploration and exploitation should be balanced from the initial stage of searching for a new business. In other words, it was confirmed that it is important for continuous growth and survival to seek the structure of an ambidextrous organization in order to internalize a mechanism that enables startups to pursue both effectiveness and efficiency in the long term. This study suggests a strategic direction for the growth of startups from the perspective of organizational structure. We expect that this meaningful results on the relationship between the ambidextrous capabilities of startups and performance contribute to the growth of startups in the rapidly growing startup venture environment.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.17-29
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• 2021

Recently, as social distancing have been raised due to the re-spread of COVID-19, the number of serial entrepreneurs who are closing their business is rapidly increasing. Learning from failure is a source of success, but business failure can result in psychological and economic losses and negative emotions of the serial entrepreneur. At this point, it is very important to find a way to recover the negative emotions caused by business failures of serial entrepreneurs. Recently, a strategic model has emerged to deal with the negative emotions of grief caused by business failures of serial entrepreneurs. This study identified the recovery factors from the grief of business failures of serial entrepreneurs and analyzed Shepherd's(2003) three areas: loss orientation, restoration orientation, and dual process. To this end, individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 small business serial entrepreneurs who challenged re-startup to identify the attributes of recovery factors that were not identified with quantitative data. As a result of the study, first, recovery factors were investigated in three areas: individual orientation, family orientation, and network orientation. It was found to help improve recovery in nine categories: self-esteem, persistence, personal competence, hobbies, self-confidence, family support, networks, religion, and social support. Second, recovery obstacle factors were investigated in three areas: psychological, economic, and environmental factors. Nine categories including family, health, social network, business partner, competitor, partner, fund, external environment, and government policy were found to persist negative emotions. Third, the emotional processing process for grief was investigated in three areas: loss orientation, restoration orientation, and dual process. Ten categories such as family, partner support, social member support, government support, hobbies, networks, change of business field, moving, third-party perspective, and meditation were confirmed to enhance rapid recovery in the emotional processing process for grief. The implications of this study are as follows. The process of recovering from the grief caused by business failures of serial entrepreneurs was attempted by a qualitative study. By extending the theory of Shepherd(2003), This study can be applied to help with recovery research. In addition, conceptual models and propositions for future empirical research were presented, which can be discussed in carious academic ways.

• Korean small business review
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.1-36
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationships among purposes and contents of smart factory building and continuous utilization of smart factory. Specifically, this study identifies two types of purposes of smart factory building as follows: (1) improving productivity, (2) increasing flexibility. In this study, three aspects of smart factory building contents were suggested like this: (1) automation area (facility automation vs. work automation), (2) big data system focus (radical transformation vs. incremental improvement), and (3) value chain integration area (internal value chain integration vs. external value chain integration). In addition, we looked at how firm size moderates the purposes - contents - continuous utilization of smart factory relationship. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 151 manufacturing companies. More specifically, out of 151 companies, 100 are small-and-medium-sized enterprises and 51 large-sized enterprises. All questionnaires were targeted at companies with Smart Factory level above level 2. The analysis results of this study using Smart PLS statistical programs are as follows. First, the purposes of smart factory building including increasing productivity and flexibility had positive impacts on all of the contents of smart factory building. Second, all of smart factory building contents had positive impacts on the continuous use of smart factory except big data system for incremental improvement of manufacturing process. Third, the impacts of smart factory building purposes implementation on smart factory building contents varied depending on whether the purpose is productivity improvement or flexibility. Fourth, it was founded that firm size moderated the relationships of purposes - contents - continuous utilization of smart factory in such a way that large-sized firms tend to empathize the link between flexibility and smart factory building contents for continuous use of smart factory, while small-and-medium-sized-firms emphasizing the link between productivity and smart factory building contents. Most of the previous studies have focused on presenting current smart factory deployment cases. However, it is believed that this research has made a theoretical contribution in this field in that it established and verified a research model for the smart factory building strategy. Based on the findings from a working-level perspective, corporate practitioners also need to have a different approach to smart factory building, which should be emphasized depending on whether their purpose of building smart factory is to increase productivity or flexibility. In particular, since the results of this study identify the moderating effect of firm size, it is deemed necessary for firms to implement a smart factory building strategy suitable for their firm size.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.27-52
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• 2022

Objectives: The neighboring countries of South Korea and Japan in Northeast Asia have interacted in both positive and negative ways, at times as close partners and other times adversaries, throughout their long and thorny history of extensive dynamics. The controversial dispute over Dokdo is one of the most critical issues evoking harsh tensions and arguments asserting wholly opposite claims. Dokdo is a small island between two coastal states, but significant in terms of territorial, botanical, and marine resources, and thus ownership of the island has become a point of conflict accompanied by a troubled history. But why has Dokdo been a source of conflicts and how should the controversial Dokdo issue be addressed in a way that fosters positive influence and co-prosperity? Methods: This study provides comprehensive and critical insights from a wealth of previous research and strategic suggestions for the Korean government. It utilizes the three perspectives of historical documents and political context, international regulations and legal frames, and public diplomacy. Furthermore, it applies these resources to negotiation theories and strategies to propose reasonable solutions. Results: This study suggests that it is important for Korea and Japan to try to build mutual trust through more active communication and interaction in order to understand each other before attempting to create a formal resolution via negotiation. In addition to these efforts, Korea needs to be ready for the inevitable need to take decisive action in terms of negotiation, using analytic and efficient strategies. The study proposes three solutions: 1) Strong Action Strategy, 2) International Legal Strategy, and 3) Public Diplomacy Strategy. Conclusions: From the perspective of public diplomacy, the Dokdo issue needs to be converted from a symbol of conflicts between Korea and Japan into a symbol of peace and co-prosperity. In addition to promoting a positive relationship between the two states, it can also contribute to the security environment of the Northeast Asian region and global peace.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.27-40
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• 2024

This study empirically derives the factors affecting the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of venture firms in Korea from the perspective of Slack Resource Theory and the company's growth strategy, and provides implications for future expansion of venture firm's CSR activities. In Korea, venture firms have grown into important players in the national economy since the late 1990s through social contributions such as economic value creation, job creation, and technological development. As venture companies grow in status, positive relationships with stakeholders and responsibility for environmental and social values are required. Now, CSR is becoming an important strategic choice for SMEs and venture firms. However, until now, CSR-related academic research has mainly focused on large or listed corporations, and there is not much research on SMEs or venture firms. In particular, research on the factors that lead venture companies to make important business decisions of participating in CSR activities is not there yet. This study applied logistic multiple regression analysis using the '2023 Survey on Venture Firms' conducted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. As a result of this study, operating profit, which is an available resources of venture companies, and government support, which is a potential resource, have a positive impact on venture firms's CSR activities. Also, business relationships with large corporations and expectation for future cooperation also have a positive impact on CSR activities as the determinants. On the other hand, it was analyzed that in venture firms where ownership and management are not separated, the higher the CEO's shareholding ratio, the more negatively it affects CSR activities. This study contributes academically as the first empirical study on the determinants of CSR activities of venture firms in Korea and provides implications that government policy support and collaboration between large corporations and venture firms are important in order to expand CSR activities of venture firms.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2010

Corporate social responsibility has become a very important issue for researchers (Greenfield, 2004; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; McWilliams et al., 2006; Pearce & Doh 2005), and many consider it necessary for businesses to define their role in society and apply social and ethical standards to their businesses (Lichtenstein et al., 2004). As a result, a significant number of retailers have adopted CSR as a strategic tool to promote their businesses. To this end, this study sought to discover U.S. consumers' attitudes and behavior in ethical purchasing and consumption based on their subjective perception and evaluation of a retailer. The objectives of this study include: 1) determine the participants awareness of retailers corporate social responsibility; 2) assess how participants evaluate retailers corporate social responsibility; 3) examine whether participants evaluation process of retailers CSR influence their attitude toward the retailer; and 4) assess if participants attitude toward the retailers CSR influence their purchase behavior. This study does not focus on actual retailers' CSR performance because a consumer's decision making process is based on an individual assessment not an actual fact. This study examines US college students' awareness and evaluations of retailers' corporate social responsibility (CSR). Fifty six college students at a major Southeastern university participated in the study. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 26 years old. Content analysis was conducted with open coding and focused coding. Over 100 single-spaced pages of written responses were collected and analyzed. Two steps of coding (i.e., open coding and focused coding) were conducted (Esterberg, 2002). Coding results and analytic memos were used to understand participants' awareness of CSR and their ethical purchasing behavior supported through the selection and inclusion of direct quotes that were extracted from the written responses. Names used here are pseudonyms to protect confidentiality of participants. Participants were asked to write about retailers, their aware-ness of CSR issues, and to evaluate a retailer's CSR performance. A majority (n = 28) of respondents indicated their awareness of CSR but have not felt the need to act on this issue. Few (n=8) indicated that they are aware of this issue but not greatly concerned. Findings suggest that when college students evaluate retailers' CSR performance, they use three dimensions of CSR: employee support, community support, and environmental support. Employee treatment and support were found as an important criterion in evaluation of retailers' CSR. Respondents indicated that their good experience with a retailer as an employee made them have a positive perception and attitude toward the retailer. Regarding employee support four themes emerged: employee rewards and incentives based on performance, working environment, employee education and training program, and employee and family discounts. Well organized rewards and incentives were mentioned as an important attribute. The factors related to the working environment included: how well retailers follow the rules related to working hours, lunch time and breaks was also one of the most mentioned attributes. Regarding community support, three themes emerged: contributing a percentage of sales to the local community, financial contribution to charity organizations, and events for community support. Regarding environments, two themes emerged: recycling and selling organic or green products. It was mentioned in the responses that retailers are trying to do what they can to be environmentally friendly. One respondent mentioned that the company is creating stores that have an environmentally friendly design. Information about what the company does to help the environment can easily be found on the company’s website as well. Respondents have also noticed that the stores are starting to offer products that are organic and environmentally friendly. A retailer was also mentioned by a respondent in this category in reference to how the company uses eco-friendly cups and how they are helping to rebuild homes in New Orleans. The respondents noticed that a retailer offers reusable bags for their consumers to purchase. One respondent stated that a retailer uses its products to help the environment, through offering organic cotton. After thorough analysis of responses, we found that a participant's evaluation of a retailers' CSR influenced their attitudes towards retailers. However, there was a significant gap between attitudes and purchasing behavior. Although the participants had positive attitudes toward retailers CSR, the lack of funds and time influenced their purchase behavior. Overall, half (n=28) of the respondents mentioned that CSR performance affects their purchasing decisions making when shopping. Findings from this study provide support for retailers to consider their corporate social responsibility when developing their image with the consumer. This study implied that consumers evaluate retailers based on employee, community and environmental support. The evaluation, attitude and purchase behavior of consumers seem to be intertwined. That is, evaluation is based on the knowledge the consumer has of the retailers CSR. That knowledge may influence their attitude toward the retailer and thus influence their purchase behavior. Participants also indicated that having CSR makes them think highly of the retailer, but it does not influence their purchase behavior. Price and convenience seem to surpass the importance of CSR among the participants. Implications, recommendations for future research, and limitations of the study are also discussed.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2010

Green or an environmental consciousness has been a major issue for businesses and government offices, as well as consumers, worldwide. In response to this movement, the Korean government announced, in the early 2000s, the era of "Green Growth" as a way to encourage green-related business activities. The Korean fashion industry, in various levels of involvement, presents diverse eco-friendly products as a part of the green movement. These apparel products include organic products and recycled clothing. For these companies to be successful, they need information about who are the consumers who consider green issues (e.g., environmental sustainability) as part of their personal values when making a decision for product purchase, use, and disposal. These consumers can be considered as eco-sumers. Previous studies have examined consumers' purchase intention for or with eco-friendly products. In addition, studies have examined influential factors used to identify the eco-sumers or green consumers. However, limited attention was paid to eco-sumers' disposal or recycling behavior of clothes in comparison with their green product purchases. Clothing disposal behaviors are ways that consumer can get rid of unused clothing and in clue temporarily lending the item or permanently eliminating the item by "handing down" (e.g., giving it to a younger sibling), donating, exchanging, selling, or simply throwing it away. Accordingly, examining purchasing behaviors of eco-friendly fashion items in conjunction with clothing disposal behaviors should improve understanding of a consumer's clothing consumption behavior from the environmental perspective. The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide descriptive information about Korean eco-sumers who have ecologically-favorable lifestyles and behaviors when buying and disposing of clothes. The objectives of this study are to (a) categorize Koreans on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors; (b) investigate the differences in demographics, lifestyles, and clothing consumption values among segments; and (c) compare the purchase intention of eco-friendly fashion items and influential factors among segments. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. The questionnaire included 10 items of clothing disposal behavior, 22 items of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) characteristics, and 19 items of consumption values, measured by five-point Likert-type scales. In addition, the purchase intention of two eco-friendly fashion items and 11 attributes of each item were measured by seven-point Likert type scales. Two polyester fleece pullovers, made from fabric created from recycled bottles with the PET identification code, were selected from one Korean brand and one US imported brand among outdoor sportswear brands. A brief description of each product with a color picture was provided in the survey. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, marital status, education level, income, occupation) were also included. The data were collected through a professional web survey agency during May 2009. A total of 600 final usable questionnaires were analyzed. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 49 years old with a mean age of 34 years. Fifty percent of the respondents were males and about 58% were married, and 62% reported having earned university degrees. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify the underlying dimensions of the clothing disposal behavior scale, and three factors were generated (i.e., reselling behavior, donating behavior, non-recycling behavior). To categorize the respondents on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors, k-mean cluster analysis was used, and three segments were obtained. These consumer segments were labeled as 'Resale Group', 'Donation Group', and 'Non-Recycling Group.' The classification results indicated approximately 98 percent of the original cases were correctly classified. With respect to demographic characteristics among the three segments, significant differences were found in gender, marital status, occupation, and age. LOHAS characteristics were reduced into the following five factors: self-satisfaction, family orientation, health concern, environmental concern, and voluntary service. Significant differences were found in the LOHAS factors among the three clusters. Resale Group and Donation Group showed a similar predisposition to LOHAS issues while the Non-Recycling Group presented the lowest mean scores on the LOHAS factors compared to the other segments. The Resale and Donation Groups described themselves as enjoying or being satisfied with their lives and spending spare-time with family. In addition, these two groups cared about health and organic foods, and tried to conserve energy and resources. Principal components factor analysis generated clothing consumption values into the following three factors: personal values, social value, and practical value. The ANOVA test with the factors showed differences primarily between the Resale Group and the other two groups. The Resale Group was more concerned about personal value and social value than the other segments. In contrast, the Non-Recycling Group presented the higher level of social value than did Donation Group. In a comparison of the intention to purchase eco-friendly products, the Resale Group showed the highest mean score on intent to purchase Product A. On the other hand, the Donation Group presented the highest intention to purchase for Product B among segments. In addition, the mean scores indicated that the Korean product (Product B) was more preferable for purchase than the U.S. product (Product A). Stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the influence of product attributes on the purchase intention of eco product. With respect to Product A, design, price and contribution to environmental preservation were significant to predict purchase intention for the Resale Group, while price and compatibility with my image factors were significant for the Donation Group. For the Non-Recycling Group, design, price compatibility with the factors of my image, participation to eco campaign, and contribution to environmental preservation were significant. Price appropriateness was significant for each of the three clusters. With respect to Product B, design, price and compatibility with my image factors were important, but different attributes were associated significantly with purchase intention for each of the three groups. The influence of LOHAS characteristics and clothing consumption values on intention to purchase Products A and B were also examined. The LOHAS factor of health concern and the personal value factor were significant in the relationships with the purchase intention; however, the explanatory powers were low in the three segments. Findings showed that each group as classified by clothing disposal behaviors showed differences in the attributes of a product, personal values, and the LOHAS characteristics that influenced their purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Findings would enable organizations to understand eco-friendly behavior and to design appropriate strategic decisions to appeal eco-sumers.