An Empirical Study on the Korean Photonics Industrial Cluster Effects : Focusing on Absorptive Capacity and Corporate Performance

광주 광산업 클러스터 효과에 관한 연구 : 조직의 흡수역량과 기업성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 실증연구

Cluster industries are geographically concentrated and inter-connected by the flow of goods and services, which is stronger than the flow linking them to the rest of the economy. Photonics industries are one of the fastest growing high-tech industries in the world today. Especially, the city of Gwangju(South Korea) industrial cluster, a specialized complex in photonics industry, produced remarkable results in developing high-quality technologies since it launched the cluster program in 2005. Gwangju photonics industrial cluster will be ranked top level of the world photonics industry. In this sense, this study is aimed at proposing a new research model in which corporate performance influence factors of photonics industrial cluster (i.e., business environment, cooperative relationship, and industry-university-research institute partnership) affect absorptive capacity positively, leading to corporate performance eventually. This study developed a research model to explain the Korean photonics industrial cluster effects, and collected 91 survey responses from photonics based company managers in industrial cluster complex. To prove the validity of the proposed research model, PLS analysis is applied with valid 91 questionnaires. By employing PLS technique, the measurement reliability and validity of research variables are tested and the path analysis is conducted to do the hypothesis testing. In brief, the finding of this study suggests that corporate performance influence factors of photonics industrial cluster affect absorptive capacity positively, and corporate performance as well.