• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.181-208
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• 2010

In July 2007, Korean government has passed "The Capital Market and Financial Investment Services Act" to further develop the capital markets and the Act was to become effective in February 2009. Using a large sample of Korean firms, we have examined (i) the effect of underwriting activities on the firm value (bond spread) comparing commercial bank and investment bank, and (ii) the determinants of the firm value changes following underwriting activities of bank. To test our goal, we collected a wide range of samples of data for bond issuing activities executed by Korean firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange (KSE) between 2000 and 2003. Our paper is distinguished from previous studies on this subject in a way that we analyzed the effect of corporate bond underwriting activities with regard to commercial banking and investment banking. Initially, we set up a hypothesis that "Certification View" and "Conflict-of-interest View" are major driving forces behind cross-firm differences in performance following bond issuance. We find that, in general, underwriting by investment bank (securities company) brings a positive effect on the firm value (spread between bench mark rate and bond issuing rate). This result indicates that firm value has been negatively affected by the bank underwriting and provides the evidence for "Conflict-of-interest View" in Korea. Our studies have also revealed that any change in firm value following bond issuance is positively related with the firm size (total asset), operating performance, liquidity (cashflow), and equity ownership by foreign investors. Overall, our results support the view that bank underwriting activities can play an important role in determining firm value and financial strategies under "The Capital Market and Financial Investment Services Act" of 2007.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.227-244
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial characteristics of inter-firm linkages and innovation networks of firms which are located in Gyeonggi border regions. Through this analysis, this study aims at understanding the spatial characteristics of economic activities of firms in Gyeonggi border regions. More importantly, this study focuses on revealing how the spatial characteristics of economic activities of firms affect future growth potentials of firms and regional economic growth. The main findings of this study are as follows. According to the analysis of spatial material linkages, the firms in both footloose location and industrial complex are all proven to be strongly dependent on the Capital Region. Owing to the weak level of the local material linkages, the effects on regional economic growth are limited. But firms in industrial complex contribute more to regional economic growth. The analysis of spatial employment linkages shows that the local linkages are comparatively strong. But the differentiation of residences weaken the positive effects on regional economy. As a concluding remark, the harmony with local linkages and non-local linkages is required to promote future growth potentials of firms and regional economic growth.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.120-131
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• 2012

Today, companies exist amid unlimited competition and uncertain adminstration environment, so hands-on workers are being exposed to various job requirements and stress due to this. Especially, employees in the design firm are physically difficult because of heavy working intensity unlike other industrial field, and because the process is interrelated unlike working of a five-day workday of the other industry, it is difficult to guarantee periodic holidays and vacation. In addition, recently, while BIM is introduced in the construction industry, various changes in the individual role as well as organizational dimension such as business environment and scope & role, etc. are required, so it is the actual situation that the category and factors of job stress due to this are being also changed. Accordingly, this research has grasped important and weak sectors according to characteristics such as career, position, gender, education and existence/nonexistence of BIM template, etc. by confirming a job stress level and inducing factors of hands-on workers at the design firm. This research has a meaning in constructing a business environment of a design firm that is a main participant of BIM-based projects that are expected to have high utilization in the future.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.167-181
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• 2012

This study analyzed consumer's harsh complaining behaviors and firm's reactions toward consumers' harsh complaining behavior, and investigated the differences in the firms' reactions according to the characteristics of counselors and customer service centers. In addition, this study attempted to find a strategy and provide guidance regarding consumer's harsh complaining behaviors. The results of this study are discussed below. First, consumer's harsh complaining attitudes were expressed by crude language, violent language, threats, personal attacks, and claims of a high-ranking social position. Consumer's directive, complaining behaviors were repeated on the telephone, and threats of prosecution or disclosure to the public, exposure of habitual product returns, and requests for interviews with superiorsat the representative firm were made. Second, a firm typologies according to its reaction style toward a consumer's harsh complaining behaviors were as follows: Group 1, having a neutral attitude toward consumers and preparation thoroughly regarding their demands; Group 2, having a negative attitude toward consumers and some degree of preparation toward consumers' demands; and finally, Group 3, having a positive attitude toward consumers but offering insufficient reparation regarding consumers' demands. Third, female counselors, counselors having a certified counselor's license, and those much experience working in labor work were more likely to be in Group 3. Male counselors, part-time counselors, and those having experience of many years were more likely to be in Group 2. Group 1 were more likely to have large number of workers at customer service centers, male counselors, and to have large numbers of educational training programs related to the reactions of consumers in the form of dissatisfaction, complaints, how to offer compensation for injuries to consumers, and issues related to PL(product liability). In addition, Group 1 also had more firm level welfare policies related to hight stress levels of consumer counselors and extra types of support regarding harsh consumers. However, Group 2 members were more likely to provide excessive compensation and rewards to harsh consumers. Finally, to react to consumer's harsh complaint efficiently, it was suggested that firms should not treat consumers as harsh consumers, should react to consumers' complaints sincerely, and should take precautionary management efforts as regards consumer dissatisfaction based on better quality control of products. In addition, it was deemed necessary to formulate a management strategy to train competent consumer counselors with a high quality of counselor skill, having standardized and consistent reaction guidance toward consumer complaints and thorough knowledge of compensation rules for consumer injuries and subsequent guidance.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.373-396
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• 2015

This study analyzed the determinants of high-growth firms using the technology appraisal data of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation. This study is differentiated from previous studies for three reasons. First, it analyzed the determinants of firms that will grow into high-growth firms in the future, not the characteristics of current high-growth firms. Second, it analyzed high-growth firms by dividing them in two aspects: sales and employment. In other words, they were divided into three types: the case in which a firm achieves high growth in both sales increase and creation of jobs, the case in which a firm achieves high growth in creation of jobs but low growth in sales increase, and the case in which a firm achieves high growth in only sales increase but low growth in creation of jobs. Third, this study applied the technology appraisal indicators of Kibo Technology Rating System(KTRS) by the Korea Technology Finance Corporation as the explanatory variable. As a result of analysis, it was found that a firm achieved high growth in both sales and employment if the position in the technology life cycle was appropriate and the technology readiness level was high. However, it turned out that the management system of technical manpower had conflicting effects on high growth of employment and sales. In other words, a firm that had well managed its technical manpower achieved high growth in terms of employment, but rather showed low growth in terms of sales. This result suggests the inference that firms showing high growth in employment may appear mainly in the high-tech industry where management of technical manpower is important. Accordingly, as a result of adding dummy variables that represent whether or not firms are in the high-tech industry, it was found that the result supported the inference, as firms in the high-tech industry were highly likely to achieve high growth in employment.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.431-457
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• 2007

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the determinants of innovation in the medium core firms that belong to components and materials industry. For this purpose, we introduce the Schumpeterian hypothesis as a theoretical background at first. According to the Schumpeterian hypothesis, large firms in concentrated markets are likely to have more innovative activities. That means, firm site and market structure are the main determinant of innovation. Then, we propose other economic factors that have been considered to have effects on firms' innovative activities in previous studies. Those factors are export, profit, growth rate, R&D expenditure and capital intensity. In order to analyze the determinants of innovation, we estimate whether firm size, market structure, export, profit, growth rate, R&D expenditure and capital intensity affect to the possibility of creating innovation in medium core firms. In order to do this, our study uses survey data from 'Korean Innovation Survey(2005)' conducted by STEPI as well as utilizes the probit model as an analytical method. According to the empirical results, firm size has a positive relationship with innovative activities of medium core firms but market concentration does not. We find the negative correlation between market concentration and innovative activities in this study. Thus, was have to say that we do not fully support the Schumpeterian hypothesis in this case. Among other variables, profit and R&D expenditure are estimated to have positive relationship with innovative activities, while export and capital intensity are estimated to have negative relationship with innovative activities. In case of growth rate, we do not find any significant relationship with innovative activities. In conclusion, larger firm size, higher market competition, more access to the financial market and additional R&D investment would facilitate innovative activities of medium core firms. However, we have to review the relationship between export and innovative activities that has been estimated in this study. While the estimated effect of export on innovative activities can be explained by the own characteristics of medium core firms that produce and supply capital goods to final manufacturer, we have address this issue in the future.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.95-105
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• 2018

This study empirically test the roles of network closure and structural hole on radical innovation in technological knowledge exchange network in Gumi cluster. In doing so, we build 2,550 firm network, transforming association*firm(2-mode) to firm*firm(1-mode) network data. In addition, in order to investigate firms' attributes, we conduct survey for 101 firms in Gumi cluster using random sampling, and finally collect 86 firm samples. For analysis, we use ridge regression since network density and efficiency, indices of network closure and structural hole respectively, has a high level of multicollinearity. The findings show that structural hole has a significant and positive impact on radical innovation, but network closure has a significant and negative impact on radical innovation. This study contributes to present an empirical evidence of debate on network closure and structural hole based on past conceptual discussions and literature review and further goes a long way towards strategy formulation to establish social capital in accomplishing radical innovation. Further research is required that pays closer attention to features of technological knowledge, innovation types and interaction between network closure and structural hole, directing efforts to structural characteristics of various networks.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.99-125
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• 2013

Renewable energy industry not only has a promising future but also has more risk than conventional energy industry because of its characteristics. Therefore, in this study, an analysis of domestic renewable energy company risk has been performed. The risk of domestic wind and photovoltaic energy companies has been analyzed by using time varying beta model. The model has been constructed based on risk factors like firm size, firm diversification index, domestic installation, and so on. The principal result of analysis can be summarized as follows. First, risk factors affect domestic renewable energy companies have been discovered. Variables like firm size, growth rate of debt ratio, firm diversification index are statistically significant. I found that large firms are less riskier than small firms. It is also confirmed that companies with high diversification index and high debt ratio have high risk. Second, I got the result that policy factors like domestic renewable energy installation and government R&D expenditure could decrease risk of domestic renewable energy company. Third, relative sensitivity of each risk factor have been discovered. The effect of each variable gets bigger in this order: growth rate of domestic installation, firm size or diversification index, growth rate of debt ratio, growth rate of government R&D expenditure.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.3363-3372
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• 2009

Continued jobless growth in economy, coupled with the current economic recession, is aggravating the situation of job market. In order to create more jobs and reduce the economic gap in a society, an independent creative firm of a sole entrepreneurs is suggested as an alternative mean. Understanding entrepreneurial motivations of a sole entrepreneur will be helpful in developing educational programs on starting an independent creative firm and in establishing a relevant government policy. This study, therefore, proposes a new model on entrepreneurial motivations in the independent creative firm and performs case study. The results of the study show that the personal environment and the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs have much effects on motivation of starting the independent creative firms. Among the personal environments, entrepreneurs' educational backgrounds, work experiences, and personal networks have great influences on entrepreneurial motivations. The processes of sustained entrepreneurship involve: (a) the determination of business ideas and goals, (b) the inception of a new business and managerial activities, (c) the entrepreneur's assessment of both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of business performances, and (d) the adjustment of business ideas and goals in accordance with the results of the assessment. The results of the study could be applied in developing educational programs and consulting guidelines on independent creative firms and in establishing government's supportive policies on the firm.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.1-22
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• 2022

Purpose - This paper empirically investigates the effect of a rise in the global value chain (GVC) on the industry-level efficiency of resource allocation (based on plant-level inefficiency measures) in Korea, with a focus on various channels through which a rise in the GVC can increase competition among firms and thus induce resources to be allocated more efficiently across firms. Design/methodology - We empirically investigate the relationship between the industry-specific importance of GVC and the industry-level allocative inefficiency that is measured as the dispersion of the plant-level marginal revenue of capital (MRK) as in Hsieh and Klenow's (2009) influential model. We compute MRK dispersion for industries sorted by various characteristics that are closely related to firm/industry sensitivity to the GVC. In other words, we compute the average industry-level MRK dispersion for industries sorted by industry-specific importance of GVC and compute the difference between the two groups of industries (higher vs. lower than the median GVC); we also calculate the difference between industries sorted by industry-specific export (import) intensity. This is our difference-in-difference estimate of the MRK dispersion associated with the GVC for the export (import)-intensive industry versus the non-export (non-import)-intensive industry. This difference-in-difference estimate of the MRK dispersion conditional vs. unconditional on firm-level productivity is then calculated further (triple-difference estimate). Findings - A rise in GVC is associated with a decrease in the MRK dispersion in the export-intensive industry compared to the non-export-intensive industry. The same is true for industries that rely heavily on imports versus those that do not (i.e., import intensive vs. non-intensive). Furthermore, the reduction in the MRK dispersion in the export-intensive industry associated with an increase in the GVC is disproportionately greater for high-productivity firms. In contrast, the negative relationship between GVC and MRK dispersion in the import-intensive industry is disproportionately smaller for high-productivity firms. Originality/value - Existing studies focus on the relationship between GVC and aggregate output, exports, and imports at the country level. We investigate detailed firm/industry-level mechanisms that determine the relationship between GVC, trade, and productivity. Using the plant-level data in South Korea, we investigate how GVC is related to the cross-firm MRK dispersion, an important measure of allocative inefficiency, based on Hsieh and Klenow's (2009) influential economic theory. This is the first study to provide plant-level evidence of how GVC affects MRK dispersion. Furthermore, we examine how the relationship between GVC and MRK-dispersion varies across export intensity, import intensity, and firm-level productivity, providing insight into how GVC can affect firms' exposure to competition in the global market differently depending on market conditions and thus generate trade-related productivity gains.