• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.425-435
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• 2017

Structural analysis is used not only for large enterprises, but also for small and medium sized ones, as a necessary procedure for strengthening the certification process for product delivery and shortening the time in the process from concept design to detailed design. Open-source solvers that can be used atlow cost differ from commercial solvers. If there is a problem with the input data, such as with the grid, errors or failures can occur in the calculation step. In this paper, we propose a pre- and post-processor that can be easily applied to the analysis of mechanical structural problems by using the existing structural analysis open source solver (Caculix, Code_Aster). In particular, we propose algorithms for analyzing different types of data using open source solvers in order to extract and generate accurate information,such as 3D models, grids and simulation conditions, and develop and apply information analysis. In addition, to improve the accuracy of open source solvers and to prevent errors, we created a grid that matches the solver characteristics and developed an automatic healing function for the grid model. Finally, to verify the accuracy of the system, the verification and utilization results are compared with the software used.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.693-705
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• 2012

It is increasing the necessity of technology cooperation between nations, in the world, more and more. The international cooperation for the technology development have the dissipating effect of costs and risks and encourage efficient use of the knowledge and eventually help the firms better access overseas market easily. The S&T diplomacy of Korea is, at present, on international S&T cooperation to secure technologies to strengthen base of science, technology and innovation. This tendency is closely related with the governance issue in international S&T cooperation. And This international S&T cooperation is connected with the internationalization of firms. But it is getting more difficult for a firm, especially smaller firm like Korean SME to sustain the technological advantage over any significant period. The small and medium sized enterprises as Korean SME, internationalization of R&D is difficult just to think in terms of one framework with the limited accumulation of informations and experiences. So against that situation, this paper shows a new concept 'SME co-ordinator' as the role client(or player) reinforcing international S&T cooperation, sustaining the technological advantage for Korean SME. And 'SME co-ordinator' leads Korean SME to progress 'open innovation' not 'close innovation' as well as serving adequate information about appropriate partners and capable employer to help manage the international S&T cooperation for Internationalization of Industrial R&D for Korean SME.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.58
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• pp.215-236
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• 2013

It is quite true that the more Korean contractors receive overseas contracts, the more they need guarantees. The top market for them is the Middle East countries, consisting of more than the half of the total amount awarded last year and the trend is increasing as well. The problem, however, is that employers in these countries are reluctant to use international rules for guarantee such as URDG or ISP98 and easily make unfair callings. However, Korean contractors(applicants), especially small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) tend to hurriedly enter a contract without looking into its contents as well as guarantees. They do not realize the importance of the guarantees until they receive callings from the employers(beneficiaries). Being independent from the underlying contracts, guarantee is the equivalent to cash in that it usually does not require any proof of demand when calling and the guarantor should make a payment within usually 5 business days after the request. It is often observed these days that several Korean SMEs go bankrupt due to liquidity risks after receiving unfair callings from employers in the Middle East countries. In retrospect, some cases could be obviated if contractors were a little more careful in checking the contents of a guarantee at the time of concluding a contract. For example, there is one case where the underlying contract includes a reduction clause in the Advance Payment bond and the guarantee does not have that clause. In the end, the Korean contractor had to take the whole burden of the bond amount though it had finished 81% of the project. Nobody could argue that contractors should take a full responsibility if they fail in their obligations. However, the employer's wrongful callings need to be prevented in the first place, if possible. As there shouldn't be a case where one party is at a disadvantage against the other like the case mentioned above, useful insight is being sought to minimize unfair calling risks for the benefit of the applicant. First, the applicant should carefully look into every detail of the potential guarantee before signing a contract, heeding especially that there is a reduction clause in the AP bond. Second, the governing principles for guarantee should be the ones that are internally used such as URDG758 that is objective in terms of callings given that, for example, it specifies that the requirement for a supporting statement when making a demand is a default rule. It is also recommended that the form of guarantees be the standard demand guarantee. Third, parties involved in issuing guarantees are advised to understand international rules for guarantee like URDG758 and ISP98 and to play a key role in guiding SME contractors in Korea so that they can protect themselves from possible wrongful callings, particularly from employers in the Middle East countries. I hope this study would give a wake-up call for Korean SMEs wishing to do business in the Middle East countries and remind them of the importance of guarantee itself and its governing principles.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.11-25
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• 2022

In this study, we want to verify the factors that affect the intention to switch to a supply chain management information system applied with blockchain. To this end, variable selection and research model were constructed through the review of previous studies, and empirical analysis was conducted using the TOE framework and PPM model. The effects of Push and Pull factors on the intention to switch to the block chain system and the moderating effect through the switching cost which is a Mooring factor, were verified. The hypothesis was verified using a structural equation model using a sample of 320 response data by conducting a questionnaire survey on small and medium-sized enterprises located in Korea. As a result of the study, social influence, which is a push factor, and management's will to innovate, which is a Pull factor, had a significant effect on switching intention. And the moderating effect between the groups with high and low switching cost recognition was confirmed. This study is significant in that it presents the concept and research direction of SCBM (supply chain & blockchain management) that can enhance the competitiveness of a company through the implementation of a blockchain-based supply chain management information system.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.70-81
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• 2019

The garment industry is one of the most labor-intensive manufacturing industries, with its sewing process relying almost entirely on manual labor. Its costs highly depend on the efficiency of this production line and thus is crucial to determine the production rate in real-time for line balancing. However, current production tracking methods are costly and make it difficult for many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to implement them. As a result, their reliance on manual counting of finished products is both time consuming and prone to error, leading to high manufacturing costs and inefficiencies. In this paper, a production tracking system that uses the sewing machines' energy consumption data to track and count the total number of sewing tasks completed through Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifiers is proposed. This system was tested on two target sewing tasks, with a resulting maximum classification accuracy of 98.6%; all sewing tasks were detected. In the developing countries, the garment sewing industry is a very important industry, but the use of a lot of capital is very limited, such as applying expensive high technology to solve the above problem. Applied with the appropriate technology, this system is expected to be of great help to the garment industry in developing countries.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.213-227
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• 2013

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of SMEs' technological competitiveness and technology marketing on commercialization performance. For this, we conducted a survey targeting 204 people who are in charge of new product or technology development in SMEs which possess corporate R&D center authorized by the government on technological competitiveness, technology marketing and commercialization performance. The paper studied the effects of technological competitiveness on technology marketing and commercialization performance, technology marketing on commercialization performance. Empirical analysis shows follow results. First, technological competitiveness which includes technology innovation capability, technology commercialization capability and R&D intensity (investment on R&D personnel) have a positive effect on technology marketing. Second, technology commercialization capability have a positive effect on commercialization sales performance & commercialization non-sales performance, R&D intensity (investment on R&D physical) have a positive effect on commercialization non-sales performance. Third, high core technology and enabling technology on technology marketing result in better commercialization performance. As a result, technology-centered SMEs need to make continuous efforts to elevate technological competitiveness factors such as technology innovation capability, technology commercialization capability and R&D intensity.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.99-145
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• 2003

Quasi-fiscal activities (QFAs) refer to those activities that public corporations carry out to achieve policy objectives of the government. QFAs often lead to the understatement of the government involvement in the economy and the overstatement of its financial balance, thereby lowering fiscal transparency and hiding fiscal risks. Central banks, as public corporations, perform various QFAs in many countries. I define QFAs in this case as those activities that are not directly related to the intrinsic function of central banks, whose responsibility lies in the administration of monetary policy and the provision of banking services for the government and commercial banks. In Korea, the Bank of Korea (BOK) has been an active source of QFAs. Of particular importance are the policy loans to commercial banks to promote their lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises and others. The outstanding stock of policy loans increased rapidly in the aftermath of the recent economic crisis, and stood at 7.6 trillion won (20 percent of the reserve money) at the end of 2002. Another important QFA by BOK stems from the transfer of part of its profits to the central government. The accumulated transfer during 1998-2002 amounted to 9.9 trillion won. My calculation shows that if these and other QFAs had been carried out by the government as explicit fiscal activities, the consolidated central government financial balance would have been below the actual balance by about 0.5 percent of GDP in each year since the economic crisis. It is suggested that the QFAs by BOK be reduced in coming years not only to enhance fiscal transparency but also to expand the flexibility of BOK's reserve management. Abolishing policy loans and minimizing transfers to the government would be the first step in this direction. BOK should also consider paying interest on the government deposit held in BOK.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.341-366
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• 2013

The term, Mittelstand, has no exact english translation for the definition, but, today, Mittelstand refers to small and medium-sized enterprises(SME), mostly family-owned firms in Germany. The Mittelstand is called the backbone of the German economy because it drove the economic miracle after World War II. During the global recession and the euro zone's debt crisis in recent years, in which european businesses have faced the near-collapse of competitiveness particularly in manufacturing, the German exports are booming and exceeded exports of China in 2012. Most importantly, the Germany economic performance has been widely attributed to the strength of the Mittelstand. Many of countries, even some leading public companies are seeking to emulate the success of the Mittelstand. Investors evaluate that many of Germany's investable "hidden champions" are Mittelstand companies. The purpose of this study is to present some of answers to the following questions: Firstly, what makes the German Mittelstand so successful? Secondly, what does the success of the German Mittelstand mean for the Korean SMEs in global competitiveness? Thirdly, what Korean government has to do improve the global competitiveness of the Korean SMEs? Some discussions in this study mention the managerial implications for Korean exporting SMEs particularly in manufacturing. Several factors that account for the success of the German Mittelstand are technological excellence and the tradition of family-owned management, concentration on niche market and globalization, and institutional supports. There are some of important lessons to be learned from the German Mittelstand. If the purposes of Korean SMEs want to remain in the sustainable competitive advantage and withstand unforeseen economic turbulences in the future, they must be able to meet the followings: 1) Technology that meets the global standard or exceeding it 2) Competitiveness in price in the global market 3) Active involvement in the globalization process, utilizing various entry modes Innovative products at globally competitive price are a crucial point for Korean exporting SMEs to achieve their competitive edge over others in the target markets abroad. It is time for Korean SMEs to cultivate a core competence in manufacturing in order to position Korea as a global manufacturing hub with SMEs leading.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.459-490
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• 2012

The performance of FTA has a close relationship with the application of FTA by exporting companies. However, most existing literatures focus on the study of policies and economic results of FTA. Moreover, these researches based on a presupposition that exporting companies could make good use of FTA. Actually, these assumptions are clearly contrary to the reality of FTA application of exporting companies in Korea and the results are significantly differ from the performance of FTA. Based on the investigation of utilization of FTA, applied by export companies in Korea, this study tries to find out the most efficient strategies of the application of FTA. And the objective of this study is to propose some practical suggestions for export companies based on the case an alysis which will help them to improve performances of Korea-ASEAN FTA application. As the prior investigation of CEO's characters, application of FTA, and the implement of FTA, we got the fact that among lots of marketing strategies, Korea-ASEAN FTA is used extensively by large export companies. However, most of small and medium-sized export enterprises would like to choose conventional tariff, such as Lower tariffs and zero tariff as the main marketing strategies. In other words, because of lacking of human resources and infrastructure, the application of Korea-ASEAN FTA strategy is hard to achieve.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.261-271
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• 2021

This study was conducted to empirically analyze the effect of the physical work environment of SMEs on work satisfaction and work performance. For the research, the physical work environment was subdivided into Focusing on Personal Working space, co-working space, and amenity space to establish a research model. For empirical analysis, a questionnaire survey was conducted targeting small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) workers. 250 valid copies were taken for analysis. Hypotheses were tested by multiple regression using SPSS 24. The study results were as follows. Focusing on Personal working space, co-working space, and amenity space all had a significant positive (+) effect on job satisfaction of SME employees. In addition, Focusing on personal working space, co-working space had a significant positive (+) effect on job performance. Amenity space was not tested for a significant influence on job performance. The contribution of this study was to identify the causal relationship between the physical work environment and the employee's job satisfaction and job performance in the absence of studies. In future research, it is ultimately necessary to identify the relationship with the business performance of a company.