• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2014

This study examines the performance of the successful small and medium size firms in their early stage. No sign of widespread chasm or the death valley among the sample firm is identified. More than half the sample firms had made reasonable forecast on the uncertainty of their future business before they were incorporated. Overall results of empirical studies carried out in this article allow us to assert that the difficulties experienced in the early stage are mostly manageable within the organization. This implies that the Government support for start-ups in early stage should be discouraged. Empirical investigation across different periods reveals, however, that the Government may have significant roles to play when it comes down to controlling the macroeconomic shocks.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.137-154
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• 1998

To facilitate a better understanding of the benefits, problems, and issues associated with the use of Internet and (World Wide) Web in business, we conducted an exploratory study on the use of Internet and Web by Small and Medium Enterprise(SME) using the Action-Audience Model. The Action-Audience model categorizes business use of the Web: to provide information (Informational Web), to carry out business transactions (Transactional Web), and to support business activities (Operational Web). The model also recognizes different audiences of the Web. The study shows that SMEs are in the early stage of Web use.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2014

This article studies the types of financing and the liquidity of small and medium size firms in their early-stage. The sample firms distinguish themselves from the established firms in the second year after foundation in that they rely heavily on external equity financing. However, they use the internal financing the most in the fourth year and do not show distinguishing feature any more. In the mean while, they do not show any serious liquidity problem either in the second year or in the fourth year. The empirical results imply that early-stage lasts rather short after the foundation for successful Korean firms, and that a distinguishing feature of early-stage firm can be found only in financing, not in liquidity. They also allow us to assert that Government-lead financial aid programs should be limited to two- or three-year-old firms and focused on helping their financing investments rather than easing their liquidity problem.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.294-301
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• 2022

Background: In the early stage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, small- and midsized enterprises (SMEs) may be an important transmission consideration. The study aimed to identify the pattern of COVID-19 prevention measures during the outbreaks in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do at the early stage of COVID-19. Moreover, we investigated whether SME size and past experiences affected the preventive measures implemented in the region. Methods: A survey detailing the general characteristics and implementation of 12 preventive activities was conducted in 122 SMEs in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do. The survey was analyzed by size and operation period. Results: The study subjects consisted of 53 (43.4%) workplaces with 1-5 employees, 50 (40.9%) workplaces with 6-30 employees, and 19 (15.6%) workplaces with 31-49 employees. The lowest three items among those surveyed were 'symptomatic workers to stay home for 3-4 days' (17.2%), 'work remotely' (18.9%), and 'video meetings' (20.5%). There were significant differences in the rate of several preventive measures implemented. The larger sized SMEs, the higher the number of implementations (p < 0.01). The operation period had no significant relationship with the implementation of preventive measures. The same pattern was observed in multiple generalized linear regression with covariate adjustment. Conclusion: Preventive measures among SMEs with fewer than 50 employees were identified. Even within SMEs, a gap in preventive measures according to size was confirmed. To prevent the spread of infection and protect workers' right to health, different support for different sized SMEs is necessary.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.387-398
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• 2010

Recently SMEs(small and medium enterprises) in Korea have experienced severe labor shortages. In particular, college graduates avoiding SMEs are widely spotted. According to previous studies, the main causes of the evasion by college graduates are the inferior working environment and low wages. Some studies also state that SME workers experience discrimination. However, most studies have focused only on unemployment issues of the young graduates. In this research, the results of follow-up surveys on the employment status and job conditions of recent college graduates was linked as a panel data, and the performance of the graduates was analyzed. Based on the analysis, we found college graduates who are employed SMEs are likely to have their initial career fixed to the SMEs. Second, the job separation records of the young SME workers does not show positive labor market performances such as upward movements or wage increases, and the process itself turned out to be entailed frequent separation. Third, the inferior wage level at SMEs and the fact that this effect is cumulatively amplified has been a key factor for evading SMEs. Thus, it is difficult to say that the early-stage careers in SMEs are constructive in future career development. On the contrary, the early careers at SMEs result in lower labor market outcomes, and frequent job separation.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.47-57
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• 2015

This study examines whether successful stand-alone firms have more difficulties than the successful firms affiliated to business groups in external financing. The easiness of external financing is measured by investment-cashflow multiple. Controlling the effects on the multiple of the past business performances and the expectation of future business performances, we investigate how the ownership type affects the multiple. The empirical results show that, when cashflows are positive, the stand-alone firms exhibit higher investment-cashflow mupltiples. When cashflows are negative, however, the opposite is true, even though the statistical significance of the result is rather low. These results do not support the general idea that stand-alone firms must have more disadvantage than subsidiary firms in raising funds from outside. If member firms of business groups have no big trouble financing externally, then the above results imply that stand-alone firms do not either identify external financing as a major difficulty in running business. Thus, if the government seeks to formulate the selective policies supporting only the promising start-ups, instead of the general policies benefiting random start-ups, then the start-up financing policy should have a lower priority.