• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.103-120
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• 2009

As business incubation centers (BICs) have been operating for more than 10 years in Korea, many early stage startups tend to use the services provided by the incubating centers. BICs in Korea have accumulated the knowledge and experience in the past ten years and their services have been considerably improved. The business incubating service has three facets : (1) business infrastructure service, (2) direct service, and (3) indirect service. The mission of BICs is to provide the early stage entrepreneurs with the incubating service in a limited period time to help them grow strong enough to survive the fierce competition after graduating from the incubation. However, the incubating services sometimes fail to foster the independence of new startup companies, and raise the dependence of many companies on BICs. Thus, the dependence on BICs is a very important factor to understand the survival of the incubated startup companies after graduation from BICs. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence the firm's dependence on BICs and to characterize the relationships among the identified factors. The business incubating service is a core construct of this study. It includes various activities and resources, such as offering the physical facilities, legal service, and connecting them with outside organizations. These services are extensive and take various forms. They are provided by BICs directly or indirectly. Past studies have identified various incubating services and classify them in different ways. Based on the past studies, we classify the business incubating service into three categories as mentioned above : (1) business infrastructure support, (2) direct support, and (3) networking support. The business infrastructure support is to provide the essential resources to start the business, such as physical facilities. The direct support is to offer the business resources available in the BICs, such as human, technical, and administrational resources. Finally, the indirect service was to support the resource in the outside of business incubation center. Dependence is generally defined as the degree to which a client firm needs the resources provided by the service provider in order to achieve its goals. Dependence is generated when a firm recognizes the benefits of interacting with its counterpart. Hence, the more positive outcomes a firm derives from its relationship with the partner, the more dependent on the partner the firm must inevitably become. In business incubating, as a resident firm is incubated in longer period, we can predict that her dependence on BICs would be stronger. In order to foster the independence of the incubated firms, BICs have to be able to manipulate the provision of their services to control the firms' dependence on BICs. Based on the above discussion, the research model for relationships between dependence and its affecting factors was developed. We surveyed the companies residing in BICs to test our research model. The instrument of our study was modified, in part, on the basis of previous relevant studies. For the purposes of testing reliability and validity, preliminary testing was conducted with firms that were residing in BICs and incubated by the BICs in the region of Gwangju and Jeonnam. The questionnaire was modified in accordance with the pre-test feedback. We mailed to all of the firms that had been incubated by the BICs with the help of business incubating managers of each BIC. The survey was conducted over a three week period. Gifts (of approximately ₩10,000 value) were offered to all actively participating respondents. The incubating period was reported by the business incubating managers, and it was transformed using natural logarithms. A total of 180 firms participated in the survey. However, we excluded 4 cases due to a lack of consistency using reversed items in the answers of the companies, and 176 cases were used for the analysis. We acknowledge that 176 samples may not be sufficient to conduct regression analyses with 5 research variables in our study. Each variable was measured through multiple items. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to assess their unidimensionality. In an effort to test the construct validity of the instruments, a principal component factor analysis was conducted with Varimax rotation. The items correspond well to each singular factor, demonstrating a high degree of convergent validity. As the factor loadings for a variable (or factor) are higher than the factor loadings for the other variables, the instrument's discriminant validity is shown to be clear. Each factor was extracted as expected, which explained 70.97, 66.321, and 52.97 percent, respectively, of the total variance each with eigen values greater than 1.000. The internal consistency reliability of the variables was evaluated by computing Cronbach's alphas. The Cronbach's alpha values of the variables, which ranged from 0.717 to 0.950, were all securely over 0.700, which is satisfactory. The reliability and validity of the research variables are all, therefore, considered acceptable. The effects of dependence were assessed using a regression analysis. The Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables, measured by interval or ratio scales. Potential multicollinearity among the antecedents was evaluated prior to the multiple regression analysis, as some of the variables were significantly correlated with others (e.g., direct service and indirect service). Although several variables show the evidence of significant correlations, their tolerance values range between 0.334 and 0.613, thereby demonstrating that multicollinearity is not a likely threat to the parameter estimates. Checking some basic assumptions for the regression analyses, we decided to conduct multiple regression analyses and moderated regression analyses to test the given hypotheses. The results of the regression analyses indicate that the regression model is significant at p < 0.001 (F = 44.260), and that the predictors of the research model explain 42.6 percent of the total variance. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 address the relationships between the dependence of the incubated firms and the business incubating services. Business infrastructure service, direct service, and indirect service are all significantly related with dependence (β = 0.300, p < 0.001; β = 0.230, p < 0.001; β = 0.226, p < 0.001), thus supporting Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. When the incubating period is the moderator and dependence is the dependent variable, the addition of the interaction terms with the antecedents to the regression equation yielded a significant increase in R2 (F change = 2.789, p < 0.05). In particular, direct service and indirect service exert different effects on dependence. Hence, the results support Hypotheses 5 and 6. This study provides several strategies and specific calls to action for BICs, based on our empirical findings. Business infrastructure service has more effect on the firm's dependence than the other two services. The introduction of an additional high charge rate for a graduated but allowed to stay in the BIC is a basic and legitimate condition for the BIC to control the firm's dependence. We detected the differential effects of direct and indirect services on the firm's dependence. The firms with long incubating period are more sensitive to indirect service positively, and more sensitive to direct service negatively, when assessing their levels of dependence. This implies that BICs must develop a strategy on the basis of a firm's incubating period. Last but not least, it would be valuable to discover other important variables that influence the firm's dependence in the future studies. Moreover, future studies to explain the independence of startup companies in BICs would also be valuable.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2004

In this study, evaluation factors for effective operation are classified to goal-operation strategy, human and physical resources, incubating services, and networking program in business incubator. And, the success strategies of supporting these are classified to construction of industry-academy-laboratory networking system, specification and specialization, finance independence, and appointment of special operation staff in business. We are also presented the priority of success strategy based on the results of analysing by enterprises in business incubator, enterprises graduated form business incubator, and director of business incubator by applying the evaluation model using AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) technique proposed in this paper. Finally, we are suggested the concrete propelling schemes of success strategy.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.7-18
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• 2012

So many researchers have been interested in key success factors of technological start-ups. However, even previous studies have focussed on key success factors, as their findings have not been consistent. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of technological start-ups' performance. The first aim of this study is intended to explores impact of entrepreneurs' characteristics, technological capabilities and network on firm performance. The second aim is to examine the causal relationships among latent variables with firm performance and with the use of path analysis. For this study, information has been gathered through surveys from entrepreneurs of 701 Korean technological start-up companies. As for analysis of the data, SPSS 18.0 OK for Windows and AMOS 4.0 were used for testing of hypothesis. Results of the hypothesis testing are summarized as follows: First, it was found that entrepreneurs' characteristics, technological capabilities and network had statistically significant influence on firm performance. Second, entrepreneurs' characteristics had significant influence on technological capabilities and network. Third, network did not have significant influence on technological capabilities. The major contributions of this study are (1) identifying the determinants on firm performance of technology-based start-ups by means of structural equation model, (2) verifying effects on firm performance of technology-based start-ups by the variables.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.37 no.sup
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• pp.87-121
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• 2015

To attract more FDI inflows, the Korean government has designated several special economic zones (SEZs), offering various advantages and support to the FDI. There is, however, a shared acknowledgement that those efforts have gained little reward. In this regard, this paper empirically analyzes company-level performances of labor productivity, operating profit ratio, propensity to invest and innovate, etc. and then conducts regression analysis and PSM analysis to see whether these performances are meaningfully different between foreign-invested firm and domestic firm and between foreign-invested firms. The main findings of this paper are as follows. First, in the aspects of labor productivity and operating profit ratio, no empirical evidence was found to support the hypothesis that foreign-invested firm outperforms domestic firm in efficiency and profitability, Second, in the aspects of propensity to invest, foreign-invested firms in foreign investment zones outperformed domestic firms. Third, in the aspect of R&D investment, overall, foreign-invested firms showed a stronger propensity to invest than domestic firms, but there is no empirical evidence that high propensity to invest was driven by the policy on special economic zones. In the aspect of investment in educational training, empirical evidences were found that the role of foreign-invested firms outside the special zones turned out to be the strongest and that among firms inside special zones, it was those in the free economic zone that outperformed domestic firms. Lastly, foreign-invested firms showed a stronger propensity to employ than domestic firms, but there is no empirical evidence that high propensity to employ was driven by the policy on special economic zones.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.313-320
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• 2018

The purpose of the study is to suggest ways to reduce the difference in occupancy rate and cost of incubation centers and surveyed 262 business disclosures of KBIA. the region, the subject of management, and the technology field are set as independent variables among the management disclosure items, and the occupancy rate, cost, and assigned grade are defined as dependent variables. As a result of the correlation analysis, it was found that about 19.4%($R^2=0.194$) and about 7.0%($R^2=0.059$) explain the cost of the operation, Respectively. finally Costs are high in metropolitan areas, public organizations and technology-intensive centers are inexpensive, occupancy rates are high in government and universities, and low in large cities. In order to resolve the gap, $5,720won/m^2$ is appropriate, and the center operates as a technology-intensive specialization center.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.373-393
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• 2008

The object of this thesis is to evaluate performance of Industry Complex of Rural Areas Policy and to suggest solutions to solve problems of the policy and development plans for Industry Complex of Rural Areas in Korea. The Industry Complex of Rural Areas Policy has contributed to increase of income and growth of industries in farming areas. Since business environment has been changing rapidly and competition has been getting fierce, Korean small business in rural are as need to develop new strategies to strengthen their competitiveness. Therefore, this thesis will suggest public programs to support for development of Korean small businesses in rural areas. The suggestions are as below 1) plans to form funds to provide financial aid to small business in rural areas. Specific plans to raise funds for public programs that would be executed by National Industry Complex of Rural Areas Association are included. 2) plans to improve abilities of SBCs to develop technologies 3) plans to establish marketing channels for SBCs in rural areas. 4) plans to create systems to promote restructuring in Industry Complex of Rural Area.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.71-94
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• 2020

Korea's innovation cluster policy has been implemented since 2005 with the goal of balanced regional development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the sustainability of innovative cluster tenants by using Pangyo Techno Valley as an example. Pangyo Techno Valley was established under the leadership of the local government (Gyeonggi-do) rather than the central government and it is called "Silicon Valley of Korea" and "Asia Silicon Valley" and is becoming more representative. The growing number of companies in Pangyo Techno Valley decreased in 2017 compared to 2016. This is because Pangyo Techno Valley's business ecosystem will change from 2019. In this paper, quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted to investigate the influencing factors. Quantitative research was conducted based on the survey and qualitative research was applied through interviews. The quantitative research examined the factors affecting the sustainability of Pangyo Techno Valley, and the qualitative research examined the specific reasons and additional factors for the quantitative research results. The quantitative results showed that factors affecting sustainability in terms of changes in corporate internal conditions, human and physical infrastructure, cooperation and synergy, and occupancy patterns. The specific reason for the impact appeared in the qualitative research process. The support category of local governments did not show any significant factors in quantitative research. In addition, qualitative research suggested 'Good image of Pangyo Techno Valley' as the category that has the greatest impact on sustainability. It is shown that companies are passive and expect the role of local governments in activating cooperation network in Pangyo Techno Valley. In this paper, based on the results of the study, Pangyo Techno Valley is presented with a realistic plan based on real estate issues and an ideal plan with a long-term perspective.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2000.10c
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• pp.290-292
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• 2000

본 시스템은 1995년에 추진된 지역정보화 사업의 추진과제인 $\boxDr$공단중심의 지역정보시스템$\boxUl$을 확대 발전시키고 시스템 운영의 효율화를 도모하고자 DB를 통합하여 확대 재 구축함으로써 서비스 수준을 한 단계 높이고 인터넷을 통한 웹 정보 이용 활성화 차원에서 추진되었다. 기 구축되었던 $\boxDr$공단중심의 지역정보시스템$\boxUl$은 정보화를 통한 지역경제 발전에 일익을 담당하고자 관. 산. 연이 참여한 지역정보화 사업이다. 이번에 확대 개발된 $\boxDr$과학산업정보서비스시스템$\boxUl$은 연구개발정보센터와 광주광역시, (주)광주광역정보센터가 매칭펀드에 의한 대응자금으로 구축한 시스템으로 크게 10개 산업단지 기본정보, 입주기업체정보, 기업지원정보, 전문인력정보, S/W패키지정보, 장비/설비정보, 기술개발결과정보, 지역소장 도서정보 등을 중심으로 구성하였다. 특히 650여개 지역 기업체 홈페이지를 각각 개별적으로 특성 있게 구축하여 지역기업활동 지원 및 수출진흥을 도모하고 지역경제 활성화에 기여토록 하고자 한다.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.10-19
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• 2020

Port Gyeongin was developed as a multi-functional port equipped with container and general port facilities and could be linked with nearby tourist attractions. However, it has experienced difficulties from the limitation of being a small port, duplicating functions, and lacking an interlink with nearby ports. Nonetheless, resident companies that need logistics facilities in Port Gyeongin or nearby ports process specific import and export goods such as wood, steel, and industrial products through Port Gyeongin because of the characteristics of the port. From this perspective, it is critical to establish a measure to promote Port Gyeongin through utility analysis of the stakeholders in Port Gyeongin. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to analyze the preference of stakeholders in Port Gyeongin using conjoint analysis and propose a difference in the preference of the stakeholders. Study results show that the terminal group, shippers, and tenant companies considered the berthing capacity, incentive scale, and port logistics cost as the most critical matters, respectively. The stakeholders in Port Gyeongin should recognize the difference in critical matters, and be equipped with shipper discovery and institutional arrangement according to the characteristics of Port Gyeongin such as cooperation with related institutions and inter-collaboration between operating companies to promote Port Gyeongin.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.701-708
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• 2014

This study is aimed to obtain the influence of port hinterlands on container cargo volumes of Incheon port using System Dynamics(SD). Also, macro economic index such as exchange rates(US dollar), balance of current account, capital balance, Japan trade, China trade, export unit value index, import unit value index, total turnover of Incheon port were used as the factors that influence container cargo volumes of Incheon port. Moreover micro index regarding port hinterlands' operating companies such as total sales, rental fee, number of employees were introduced in the simulation model. In order to measure accuracy of the simulation, this study implemented MAPE analysis. And after the implementation, the simulation was decided as a much more accurate model because MAPE value was calculated to be within 10%. This study respectively examined factors using the sensitivity analysis. As a result, in terms of the effects on cargo volume in Incheon Port, the factor named 'cargo volumes of port hinterlands' operating companies' is most significant. And increasing the rental fee of hinterland was resulted in decreasing the cargo volumes of Incheon port.