• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.58-73
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• 1999

The venture firms originating from the government-financed research institutes of Taeduk Science Town play a dominant role in Taejon. Those venture fm have the following characteristics. First, they are innovative in the growth stage, although not so innovative in the beginning stage. Second, they still largely depend on the domestic market because of their import-substitution strategy. Third, they mostly lack administrative capabilities. Finally, the infrastructure of venture firms is not good in spite of many supporting government policies. The efficient management of the existing business incubators, the establishment of special venture capital, and continuous supports by the incubating organizations should be warranted to encourage the spin-offs from the government- financed research institutes.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.23-35
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• 2014

In developing countries where many of these institutions exist in relatively weak form, the investment pattern of VCs in developing countries may differ from one of VCs in developed countries. Given this situation, the research question of this study is how venture capitals invest new technology based ventures in developing countries. To address the research question, our study employs insight from signaling theory and examines two ways. First, what are the internal value of new technology based ventures and the identity of endorsing organization signaling to venture capitals' investment in developing countries? Second, Do venture capitals play a pivotal role for the growth of new technology based ventures in developing countries? This study then tests these hypotheses using the new technology based ventures in Korea which is regarded as an example of developing countries in Northeas tern Asia. Entrepreneur's prior work experience in a related industry in the human capital variables and collaboration with business groups and certification of venture company in the endorsement variables result in obtaining venture capital's investment and superior new technology based venture's growth whereas entrepreneur's educational level has no effect on venture capital's investment and firm's growth.

• 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.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.75-97
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• 2014

Entrepreneurial financing, such as publicly initiated venture capital or grant schemes, serves as an important policy instrument that aims to bridge the financing gap facing young, innovative businesses, a gap that is mainly due to higher risk and growing uncertainty, and to strategically promote the creation of new ventures through the revitalization of their venture capital industries. This study examines public venture capital initiatives in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, and discovered that all three countries actively foster their venture capital industry through the formation of funds or the provision of tax incentives. It is notable that the majority of financing initiatives heavily depend on supply-side measures rather than demand-driven policies that focus on stimulating private investment in technological innovations and discoveries. This paper discusses in-depth the policy impact of public financing initiatives and their subsequent side-effects raised in the process such as overlapping in funding structure across the country, lack of monitoring and evaluation for feedback, fragmentation across the government ministries and agencies, and competition with the private sector, which may cause inefficiency as a result of public intervention. Financial constraints may arise for many reasons, partly resulting from the lack of investment readiness of young entrepreneurs. This signals a policy shift towards the creation of market-driven demand away from the traditional supply-push approach, and is a grand challenge to policymakers in entrepreneurial financing. Attention is leaning towards the efficiency and effectiveness of these public-financing initiatives in terms of their policy roles. It is worth noting that policy should focus on generating synergy so available resources can be channeled into the early, risky stage of new ventures, working as facilitator to the achievement of an intended policy goal.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.12
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• pp.195-210
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• 2020

This study describes the structure of the capital markets for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startup companies in Korea, which is an emerging market that has experienced drastic changes. The overall capital market can be divided into private and public capital markets. In the private capital market, most of the demand for capital comes from non-listed private firms, including startups and SMEs. In the case of SMEs and startups, the KOSDAQ, the Korea New Exchange (KONEX), and primary collateralized bond obligations (P-CBOs) are part of the public capital market. SMEs and startups are generally incapable of raising sufficient capital owing to their low credit ratings, and they largely have limited access to primary markets to issue shares and borrow money. The Korean government has developed a systematic financial aid program to provide funds to these companies. The fund for SMEs has significantly contributed to the development of the venture capital market. Many Korean banks provide substantial lending to SMEs, but this lending is available only because of the Korean government's loan recovery guarantee. Furthermore, SMEs can issue corporate debt in the form of primary collateralized bond obligations through government guarantees, but such debt issuances have placed increasing pressure on public guarantee institutions.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.101-120
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• 2021

Purpose - As the research of Chinese unicorn companies is still in early stages, this paper aims to investigate the factors that influence the success of Chinese IT unicorns. Design/methodology/approach - This study is conducted as a single case study and used various sources such as interviews, internal data, press releases, IR data, etc. to enhance the reliability and validity. Findings - First, the characteristics of the start-up team, social capital, and strategies as internal factors affect the success of unicorns. Among them, the more Guanxi in social capital factors, the greater the possibility of growing into an IT unicorn company. Second, the role of venture capital and geographical location have been identified that two factors affect the success of unicorns. In the role of venture capital, it has been confirmed that the world's top-level venture capital company or a company that has been invested by "BATJ" is more likely to grow into a unicorn company in China. Research implications or Originality - This paper distinguishes between internal and external factors to explain the factors that affect the growth of unicorn companies, which lays the foundation for future research, such as the exploration of the unicorns and the development of new variables.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.21-51
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• 2010

This paper examines the knowledge transfer effect in Korean venture systems. Existing literature has provided rich evidence of the effect of knowledge transfer, but we do not have micro mechanisms inherent in the process of knowledge transfer. This paper argues that knowledge transfer effects vary depending on the knowledge types, sources, and legacy. This paper also tests role of the two important pillars in knowledge transfer of Korean venture startups; venture capital and government. This paper also examines the role of absorptive capacity in the knowledge transfer process. With 1,862 sample of Korean venture firms, this study employed three methods depending on 3 different types of dependent variables: hierarchical regression, logistic regression, and survival analysis. Main findings include that 1) knowledge characteristic itself and its alignment with industry influence the knowledge transfer effects, 2) government support has a negative effect on financial performance of venture firms, but does not have significant interaction effect on knowledge transfer, and 3) the absorptive capacity of each firm moderates the knowledge transfer effects. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.19-35
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to survey and analyse the technical information flow and the status of information use of end user in the venture capital. The survey by questionnaire was used to collect data for the study and the SPSS program was used for analysiso of descriptive statistics. As the results of the study, the researchers of the venture capital thought that their research activities were important for the improvement of their company. They also suggested their opinion that the technical information was essential on research activities. The researchers wanted the manpower to take charge of gathering and managing technical information.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.27-36
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• 2016

Venture companies, which can commercialize various kinds of new ideas and creating added value, are amid of great attention. Since most of venture companies in initial development stages cannot finance its capital sufficiently all by their own, investments from outside investors are key factor to their survival. However, they have lots of difficulties in financing from outside investors because of their typical uncertain but favorable investment characteristics. Moreover, even though they had successfully financed from outsiders, problems related to their stakeholders, such as interrupting in management and types of investments, cause contrary results to firms. Therefore there are various kinds of systems for startups like angels, venture capitals and governmental supports. Even so, investments and supports for venture companies are still not sufficient. 'Accelerator', which is a brand-new investment type started from Silicon Valley in United States during the mid 2000, is growing attention these-days. It mainly supports startups financially in the initial development stages, however, it also supports the firms by providing mentoring, education and networking services. On the other hand, difference between existing investment types and performance of the investment is still in controversy. Therefore this study compared investment behavior between accelerator and venture capital. As a result, we found that the difference in investment behavior of accelerators and venture capital.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1408-1418
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• 2015

As the CEO`s of game companies should be ready for the rapid change of technical environment of game industry, highly skilled employees and the social capital become very important factors in doing game business. 2013 Korea Game White Paper shows that many game companies prefer employees with job experience. The social capital and network help game companies get industrial information easily. This study empirically examines the relationship among CEO`s related business experience, corporate performance and social capital based on 134 Korean game companies. CEO`s characteristics are measured by using demographic characteristics including age, amount of education, and prior job experience and psychological characteristics, but this study focuses on related business experience. The results of this study show some significant relationship between the related business experience of CEO and nonfinancial performance of the firm. Secondly, this study verifies the moderating effect of the social capital between the related business experience of CEO and non-financial performance of the firm. The results of the moderating effect of the social capital show that social capital increases the non-financial performance.