• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.3-30
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• 2012

In the development process, small and medium-sized enterprises in China have shown their unique features and regularities which are closely related to China's national condition and economic characteristics. But in 2008, because of the global financial crisis which started in the USA, the rate of Chinese export and the rate of economic growth has evidently slowed. Due to shortage of funds, foreign orders fell, increase the value of RMB, lack of talented factors, Chinese SMEs are facing bankruptcy. In this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of domestic and international market environment, the government assistance for entering overseas market, entrepreneur characteristics, etc. on the global performance. Based on these, a research model and some hypotheses were set up and tested by the multiple regression analysis with total 317 effective survey data. The results of this paper are as follows. First, a positive effect relation on the financial performance was shown for the companies with high domestic and international market environment in the aspect of market environment. According to such analysis result, it was found that the market environment in which SMEs belong to is a very important factor. Second, in the aspect of government export assistance related to overseas, market development showed a positive effect relation on the both financial and non-financial performance. However, the direct financial assistance showed a positive effect relation only on the non-financial performance. Overall, it was found that the government assistance program on entering overseas market is having significant effects on SMEs, but direct financial assistance have not achieved the desired results. Third, the innovative-ness and progressiveness of entrepreneur showed a positive effect relation on the global market performance. However, the risk-taking of entrepreneur only showed a negative effect relation on the non-financial performance. Overall, it was found that the entrepreneurship of SMEs is an important and influential factor. This is a result implying that the propensity of taking too much risk is not desirable based on the uncertainty of the global environment market. To sum up, this study confirmed that the market environment, the government assistance and entrepreneur characteristics, which are the major prerequisites of global performance, have effects on global performance.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.151-163
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• 2021

Purpose - The break-even point refers to the point where total profit and total cost coincide, and from this point on, the entrepreneur's decision-making takes a different route. Strategic decisions can be made for more efficient operation and eventually for more likelihood for growth and sustainability if a startup figures out when it recoups the investment and switches to a net profit. Design/methodology/approach - 748 creativity and skill-based sole proprietors in manufacturing industry were examined to demonstrate the effect of the entrepreneur's entrepreneurial experience and education level, the business launch preparation time, or the self-financing on the achievement of break-even point. Findings - While the business launch preparation time lowered the likelihood of reaching a break-even point, self-financing increased the likelihood. As a result of further analysis by subdividing into subgroups according to skill level, only the business launch preparation time was statistically significant in the highly skilled industries. In the low skilled industries, in addition to the business launch preparation time, the CEO's education level and the self-financing were statistically significant. Research implications or Originality - The longer the business launch preparation time, the higher the start-up cost, which increases the burden of initial cost recovery, and the agile response to market changes is thereby delayed, resulting in the business idea losing its appeal. Self-financing not only provides stability and strong motivation for the business operation but also promotes careful spending which contributes to the achievement of break-even point. In particular, it is found that practical experience is more useful than theoretical knowledge in low skilled industries. Due to the limitation of secondary data based on the recollection, the time required to reach a break-even point, percentage of financing sources, etc. may include cognitive errors. In addition, variables are not included that explain the characteristics of creativity and skill-based sole proprietorship, so it is necessary to exercise caution with the actual application.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.57-65
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• 2023

This study examined the obstacles of important factors involved in the start-up decision process for prospective entrepreneurs and plans after graduation while attending hair and beauty colleges and analyzed them in a phenomenological way to establish countermeasures. The subjects of the study agreed to collect data from 10 prospective entrepreneur doctors and plans after graduation while attending hair and beauty college located in G, and were in-depth from December 15 to December 30, 2022. The collected data were analyzed using the Colaizzi method. The results of this study were extracted with 13 topics and two subject collections that represent the characteristics of the experience in the preliminary start-up process of the participants. Based on the results of this study, it is meaningful to examine the obstacles of the factors that are importantly involved in the start-up decision process and establish countermeasures accordingly. In conclusion, at a time when the market for start-ups is expanding and government support is increasing, the factors affecting the will of college students, who are potential professional managers in the future, and effective implications for enhancing the university's start-up infrastructure, start-up difficulties, and start-up motivation were obtained. Therefore, it is urgent to develop efficient performance counseling research or program counseling that can promote and support mental and environmental growth through career development required for the difficulties of the decision process of prospective entrepreneur hair college students and the situations they face. It is necessary to develop various measurement tools in consideration of the level of career development and development of a start-up decision-making process model that can fully grasp the status of start-ups of prospective start-ups.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.133-150
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to develop a female entrepreneurial competency model. For the purpose, two Focus Group Interviews (FGI) were conducted with seven outstanding female entrepreneurs, and three expert reviews were conducted. In addition, in order to verify the validity of the provisional female entrepreneur competency model derived from the FGI and competency modeling expert review, the female entrepreneur competency model was finally confirmed through a survey of 442 female entrepreneurs. The results were as follows. First, a female entrepreneur competency model consisting of 6 competency groups and 25 competencies of entrepreneurship, emotion, business management, relationship management, strategic management, and multitasking, and 75 behavioral indicators describing each competency was developed. Second, sensibility and multitasking are competencies that reflect the characteristics of female entrepreneurs. In particular, 'social sense', which is the ability to be considerate of others in the emotional competency group and the ability to respond well to subtle nuances, and the multitasking competency group's unique strengths are women's ability to perform various tasks at the same time. The 'work-family control ability' of a female entrepreneur who maintains a balance between 'multi-tasking' and work and family is a representative competency of only female entrepreneurs. Third, the developed female entrepreneurship competency model is meaningful in that it not only increases female entrepreneurial competency so that prospective female entrepreneurs can successfully run a business through entrepreneurship education, but it also makes it easy for existing female entrepreneurs to reflect and improve their competencies. If we provide appropriate training programs to female entrepreneurs based on their competency, it will be possible to effectively enhance the entrepreneurial competency, which is the key to strengthening the competitiveness of female entrepreneurs. The female entrepreneur competency model developed through this study can provide a basis for future research on competency diagnosis and education needs analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.2677-2687
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• 2013

Entrepreneurship of a founder and psychological characteristics are very important factors for the start-up success. To understand the importance like this, this study investigated effect relationships of the entrepreneurship and psychological characteristics on the start-up success. For this, 122 copies of the questionnaire were empirically analyzed for the youth entrepreneurs who entered the youth founder academy which is founded and managed by the Small and Medium Business Corporation. According to results of analysis, both the entrepreneurship consisting of proactivenss, risk taking and autonomy, and the internal locus of control, the psychological characteristics were found to have positive effects on the start-up success. Therefore, this study suggested theoretical and practical implications, as below, according to the results. Firstly, we must be aware of the importance of the entrepreneurship from the perspective of a successful establishment, and, prospective entrepreneurs, who are planning to the start-up, have to judge their entrepreneurship and, only then, make a decision. Secondly, we have to put our best efforts into developing more effective education on start-up, which deals with improving youth founder's entrepreneurship. Therefore, education institutions for start-up are needed in order to develop educational programs such as "Entrepreneurship Training Programs". Thirdly, we must recognize that the role of family is important because most entrepreneurship and psychological characteristics are formed in a person's childhood. Forth, the entrepreneur, themselves, must realize that they has to make an effort to improve their entrepreneurship. Lastly, youth founder's internal locus of control has to be enhanced. Thus, greater attention is required from both the entrepreneur themselves, and educational institutions for start-up.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.195-213
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that determine the performance of technological start-ups from resource-based view of firm. This study analyzed the correlation among the entrepreneur's competence, technology commercialization capabilities and business performance. This study is designed to examine (1)the effect of entrepreneur's competence, technology commercialization capabilities on business performance; and (2) the causal relationships and the mediator effects among the latent variables and business performance. Data for the study was compiled through surveys on entrepreneurs representing 125 technological start-ups. Empirical results of the hypothesis testing are summarized as follows : The results indicate that both two variable groups have positively influenced the outcome of business performance. Especially strategic competence was highly related to commercialization capabilities and business performance. The technology commercialization capabilities as a parameter had a significant influence on business performance.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.43-59
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• 2019

The promotion of social economy is one of the Korean government's top 100 initiatives. As of August 2019, there are 2,249 certified social enterprises in Korea, showing explosive growth with a 41-fold increase from 2007 when the Social Enterprise Promotion Act was first enacted. Currently, the discussion of the sustainability of social-economic organizations is lively, including the issue of changing the certification system to the registration system. Noting the unusual management structure of social enterprise - seeking both social and economic value, this study identifies factors affecting the performance of social enterprises. The study focuses on an empirical investigation of the relationships between characteristics of entrepreneurs' experiences in social economy, strategic competency, the extent to which they seek social value, and their performance. This study is unique in social enterprise research due to its approach to the hybrid management structure of social enterprise with a focus on entrepreneurs' characteristics. Accordingly, this empirical investigation focuses on how social-value seeking mediates the relationships between strategic competency emphasized in typical for-profit enterprises, the characteristics of experiences stressed in social-economic organizations, and the performance of social enterprises. The study findings suggest that, firstly, social entrepreneurs must seek social value as a top priority and improve economic performance using strategic competency to keep pursuing social value, and secondly, social-value seeking must be founded upon entrepreneurs' understanding and experiences in social economy. Practical implications of the study findings include concrete directions for training in social enterprises offered by relevant agencies and the establishment of competency models for current and future entrepreneurs.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.11-20
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• 2023

Purpose: 1) develop a learning model involving design thinking to develop creative economy innovation and the characteristics of digital entrepreneurs. 2) evaluate the impact of design thinking on creative economy innovation 3) evaluate the impact of design thinking on digital entrepreneurial ability. Research design, data and methodology: 1) develop a learning model involving design thinking in order to develop creative economy innovation and the characteristics of digital entrepreneurs. 2) Evaluating creative economy innovation involving design thinking. 3) Assessing the characteristics of digital entrepreneurs based on design concepts. Results: 1) the development of a learning model involving design thinking to develop creative economy innovation and digital entrepreneurial competency 2) The students who studied using the learning model involving a design thinking process had the highest overall scores in terms of creative economy innovation 3) The scores for the assessment of digital entrepreneurial activity for the students who studied by using the design thinking learning model were at a high level. Conclusions: The development of the design thinking learning model can encourage students to be able to develop creative economy innovations and to empower digital entrepreneurs' ability for distribution strategy. Educational institutions that would like to succeed in developing creative economy innovative and digital entrepreneurship characteristics with the support of design thinking.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.61-70
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• 2014

Entrepreneurship provides working opportunities to not only an entrepreneur himself but also many other people on the way its process. Boosting entrepreneurship, therefore, seems the most effective way for activating one's economy as well as creating jobs. This study examines factors that influence on entrepreneurial intention of Korean and Korean-Chinese's who will eventually be the potential entrepreneurs. This model tests various theoretical research hypotheses relating to individual psychological characteristics, and entrepreneurial motivation and entrepreneurial intention. Valid 247 questionnaires have been collected within about one month of 2013. Statistical processing of the data collected from this survey to take advantage of the statistical package SPSS 18.0 program through a process of data coding in the following ways: by frequency analysis, factor analysis, regression analysis. The result of hypothesis testing are as follows. The result of analysis shows that risk-taking propensity and desire for self-achievement is not a significant factor to entrepreneurial intention in both countries. But entrepreneurial self-efficiency and entrepreneurial motivation positively influence entrepreneurial intention both of the Korean and Korean-Chinese. At the last, the study examines moderate effect, that is, whether social support influences on entrepreneurial intention as a moderate variable. it is confirmed that the social support does play a positive role to entrepreneurial intention. Beside, discussion is made on the implications of the study for academicians and practitioners, the limitations of the study, and some directions for future studies.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.261-276
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• 2020

This study seeks to find an effective support plan through the success factors recognized in the early stages of startup and those recognized after success by grasping the success factors of successful small business entrepreneurs at each stage from the pre-start stage to the growth stage. To this end, a qualitative study through interviews was conducted with successful convenience store franchisees to derive success factors from the start-up preparation stage to the early stage and growth stage. The success factors of starting a small business were studied in consideration of the characteristics of franchise convenience store startups using the ERI model and the ERIS model applied in the study on the performance of startups. The success factors were studied using the multisite service firm life cycle of Sasser et al.(1978) reflecting the results. As a result of the study, the key factors of successful franchisees were the selection of the location of the first store, the selection of strategic additional stores, and the successful renewal of the contract. Depending on the characteristics of the founder, the enterprising franchisees took an active attitude in selecting strategic locations for additional stores and defending the commercial district, while the relatively conservative franchisees showed an active attitude toward store operation and renewal from a management perspective. In particular, the entrepreneur's mind is important in the preparation stage, and the importance of the entrepreneur's management strategy was discovered in the entire business cycle. Based on the results of this study, this study specifically sought out a start-up plan to effectively apply it to the future growth stage.