• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.27-37
• /
• 2016

Startup teams should be prompt to seize an business opportunity and handle various business problems with which they has not been faced before. This research examines and compares the hypotheses about the processes of communication media usage, knowledge sharing and team agility by the level of task conflict. In order for detailed investigation, each of antecedent was divided into sub-dimensions: communication media usage into synchronous and asynchronous media usage, and knowledge sharing into speed and quantity of knowledge sharing. Team agility, the dependent variable, was proposed as an important success factor of startup teams. The research model describes that the communication media usage affects knowledge sharing and consequently team agility. The differences of media usage and relationships among variables were proposed as the level of task conflict in teams. 230 data points were collected from startup teams under 5 years and statistically processed to test research model and hypotheses. From the total sample analysis, the results indicate that the knowledge sharing speed is positively associated with the quantity, and the knowledge sharing speed and quantity have positive associations with team agility. Both synchronous and asynchronous communication media usage also has significant positive associations with knowledge sharing speed. On the other hand, media usage did not show significant direct association with knowledge sharing quantity. From the group comparisons of task conflict, it was found that the higher task conflict, the higher in media usage, knowledge sharing speed and quantity, and team agility. The process of media usage, knowledge sharing, and team agility were found to be different between the high and low task conflict. From these results, the authors discussed and proposed some implications for startup team leaders.

• Korean small business review
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.187-219
• /
• 2021

Startup accelerators, a new type of investment entity, have emerged as a way to solve the difficulties of early startups and existing investment methods with high risk. With the visible performances of these startup accelerators on the success of startups, medium and large accelerator companies have emerged, along with the increasing size of seed money they invest in. In addition, differences between small and medium&large accelerator companies are emerging. Therefore, startups need informations on what factors to prepare for attracting startup accelerators' investment. Accelerators also need determinant criteria to select startups as the amount of investment grows. However, the study on this subject is not currently being conducted. Therefore, we conducted the study through dividing the average amount of seed money into small and medium & large-sized investment groups and examined the differences in major investment determinants, investment purposes, and major accelerating programs. As the results of this study, small investment groups could be subdivided into 'consulting-oriented accelerators' and medium- and large-sized investment groups into 'investment-oriented accelerators'. In addition, major services and investment purposes and investment decision criteria vary depending on the size of the investment. I think these findings will be good standards for accelerator companies, startups in need of their help, and follow-up researchers.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2016

Startups in Korea are experiencing for themselves the laws of survival through competition in the local and international market, and are performing active business movements based on these. Korea's economic growth rate is 2.6% due to the slump in the domestic demand and reduced exports brought by the MERSC incident in 2015. The Korea Development Institute has estimated the economic growth rate in 2016 to be around 3.0%. South Korea's economy is facing the crisis of low-growth solidification due to the decrease in economic growth, and it is forecasted that growth without employment and polarization will worsen. Startups in the high-tech industrial generation of a particular field wherein the market environment is rapidly changing must maintain a competitive advantage with the capabilities and functions exclusive to them. It is very important that they maintain a competitive edge by utilizing the capabilities exclusive to startup companies. Likewise, the accumulation of resources is also crucial in determining the success of a startup business. In a poor local startup ecosystem, majority of the startup companies are performing their business activities while striving for survival, rather than success. About 80% are struggling to survive and are failing to overcome the "Death Valley" faced 3-5 years after establishing the company. Since majority of the startups fail to achieve results during the initial stages of foundation, the importance of research on business activities and achievement during the early stages of establishment is being raised. In accordance to this, this research has performed an actual analysis on how the activities of startups during their preparation phase and early stages affect their achievements. A survey was done on the CEOs or executives (people in a position to make decisions) of local small and medium-sized enterprises that are considered start-ups, and 203 valid data were collected and analyzed. Results showed that the discoveries and utilized activities necessary for the businesses of startups have a significant impact on their achievement through the entrepreneur resources and external partners' cooperation; additionally, the related implications were discussed.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.57-66
• /
• 2016

The study aims to examine the impact of Start-Up Business Incubator System on Performance of the Start-up Graduated from the Business Incubator. This has analyzed 813 startups which had supported by Seoul Metropolitan City in particular from 2009 to 2010. Empirical analysis has choosed business room for free, startup grant for operation, education & coaching support, consulting support by practitioner, promotion & new market opening support and collaboration support among startups in the business incubator as independent variables and also implemented startup success satisfaction degree as a depentent variable. The results shows that the degree of satisfaction on start-up activity support fund for entrepreneur and the degree of satisfaction on collaboration support among firms in the business incubator have statistical significant impact on start-up success satisfaction degree. The study has an implication that it provides a basic data on policy support strategies by central and local autonomous governments that facilitate entrepreneurs to achieve start-up business goals by understanding the factors that affect the business performance of entrepreneurs. In addition, the study offers new directions for entrepreneurs in a way that promotes the start-up performance by business room for free, education & coaching support, consulting support by practitioner, promotion & new market opening support which were investigated as statistical insignificant constructs, so that the author expects new studies about more effective business incubator system to enhance the performanc of start-up in business incubator.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.141-158
• /
• 2023

From the perspective of an entrepreneur, one of the most important factors for understanding the inherent limitations of a startup, reducing the risk of failure, and succeeding is the composition of the talent, that is, the founding team. Therefore, a common concern experienced by entrepreneurs in the pre-entrepreneurship stage or the early stage of startup is the choice between independent startups and co-founding start-up. Nonetheless, in Korea, the share of independent entrepreneurship is significantly higher than that of co-founding start-up. On the other hand, focusing on the fact that many successful global innovative companies are in the form of co-founding start-up, the success factors of co-founding start-up were examined. Most of the related preceding studies are studies that identify the capabilities and characteristics of individual entrepreneurs as factors influencing the survival and success of entrepreneurship, and there is a lack of research on partnerships, that is, co-founding start-up, which are common in the field of entrepreneurship ecosystems. Therefore, this study attempted a multi-case study through in-depth interviews, collection of relevant data, analysis of contextual information, and consideration of previous studies targeting co-founders of domestic startups that succeeded in opportunistic startups. Through this, a model for deriving the phased characteristics and key success factors of co-founding start-up was proposed. As a result of the study, the key element of the preliminary start-up stage was 'opportunity', and the success factors were 'opportunity recognition through entrepreneur's experience' and 'idea development'. The key element in the early stages of start-up is "start-up team," and the success factor is "trust and complement of start-up team," and synergy is shown when "diversity and homogeneity of start-up team" are harmonized. In addition, conflicts between co-founders may occur in the early stages of start-ups, which has a large impact on the survival of start-ups. The conflict between the start-up team could be overcome through constant "mutual understanding and respect through communication" and "clear division of work and role sharing." It was confirmed that the core element of the start-up growth stage was 'resources', and 'securing excellent talent' and 'raising external funds' were important factors for success. These results are expected to overcome the limitations of start-up companies, such as limited resources, lack of experience, and risk of failure, in entrepreneurship studies, and prospective entrepreneurs preparing for a start-up in a situation where the form of co-founding start-up is attracting attention as one of the alternatives to increase the success rate. It has implications for various stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.127-139
• /
• 2023

During the process of preparing for and initiating a startup, startup entrepreneurs allocate a significant amount of time to developing a business plan. Within this process, the documented business plan serves not only as a roadmap for the venture but also as a communication tool for capital acquisition and internal team collaboration. However, is the business plan, meticulously crafted by entrepreneurs, actually effective in generating startup performance? To answer this question, this study empirically analyzed the impact of a business plan on startup performance. Additionally, it examined how the relationship between the business plan and performance changes based on the satisfaction levels of entrepreneurs regarding the business plan. Through the analysis, the study validated the influence of the completeness of the business plan and entrepreneurial satisfaction on startup performance, and derived implications. To conduct the empirical analysis, a survey was conducted among 150 entrepreneurs. Regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and performance, and the sample was further divided into two groups: startups with less than three years of operation and startups with three or more years of operation, for secondary analysis. The analysis results revealed that the completeness of the startup's business plan has a positive impact on both financial and non-financial performance. Furthermore, it is observed that the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan had a moderating effect on the relationship between the business plan and financial performance. Moreover, for startups that are less than three years old, the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan exhibits a moderating effect on the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and non-financial performance. This study holds significance as it reaffirms the importance of business plan development as a means to achieve sustainable growth for early-stage startups and empirically validates its significance. It is expected that this study will provide valuable insights for future startup entrepreneurs to better understand the importance of business planning and contribute to reducing the failure rate of early-stage startups.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.1-16
• /
• 2021

Recently, crowdfunding has been receiving increased attention due to the variety of novel ways it provides for connecting funders and fundraisers. Concurrently, however, it has been criticized on the grounds of information asymmetry. We are interested in whether information collected from an asymmetric information source significantly influences crowdfunding success. Through this study, we would like to establish a social field of convergence pursued by Serve Science and to conduct practical research and practice together. First, we investigated the importance of interaction between funders and fundraisers within the crowdfunding platform. In the "comments" section, communication between funders and fundraisers reduces the degree of asymmetric information. In the aspect of presumable funders, they should make the best of the "comments" section to collect more solid information without losing return on their investment. Second, we analyze sentiment-based optimistic and pessimistic information from the "story" (asymmetric source) and "comments" sections. In conclusion, it shows that the optimistic and pessimistic information of the "comments" section has a great impact on crowdfunding success and that the influence of the "story" section is limited to pessimistic information under certain conditions. The crowdfunding platform is an innovative and productive way for startups and entrepreneurs to start a business, and since information an important role in the success of crowdfunding, It can be seen that it is essential to focus on establishing the best communication methods.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.308-338
• /
• 2020

The entrepreneurial journey is not short of challenges, and about 90% + tech start-ups experience failure (Startup Genome, 2019). The magnitude of the challenges varies across the tech start-up lifecycle stages, namely emergence, stability, and growth. This opens the research question, do the profiles of a start-up and its co-founder impact start-up success or failure across its lifecycle stages? This study aims to understand and identify the profiles of tech start-ups and their co-founders. We gathered primary data from 151 start-ups (Status: 101 failed and 50 successful ones), and they are across different lifecycle stages and represent six major start-up hubs in India. The chi-square test on status and start-up's lifecycle stage indicates a noticeable correlation, and they are not independent. The Kruskal Wallis test was used to distinguish statistically significant profile attributes. The parameters distinguishing success and failure are identified, and the need to deliver customer experience is emphasized by the start-up profile attributes: Product/service, high-tech nature of a start-up, investor fund availed, co-founder experience, and employee count. The importance of entrepreneurial experience is ascertained with entrepreneur profile attributes: Entrepreneurial expertise, the number of prior and current start-ups, their willingness to start again in the event of failure, and age of co-founder, which is a proxy to learning and experience. This study has implications for entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.235-252
• /
• 2015

The Korean government is building a virtuous cycle of startups and venture businesses for a dynamic, innovative economy. This ecosystem is made possible when a social environment that embraces tolerance and turn business failure into re-startups and challenging venture startups by outstanding entrepreneurs are present. Due to the government's efforts to promote start-ups and venture businesses, their number has been increasing annually, but the efforts to create a social environment for re-startups and establish a relevant institution have recently started. This study is aimed at providing policy direction for re-startups by getting policy implications after identifying the current status of domestic failed businessmen' re-startups based on previous researches on failed businessmen. This study also reviewed advanced nations' cases and made international comparison of re-startup policies. Before the startup culture that recognizes failure as the stage for success is formed as in the U.S., it is necessary to create a legal basis for continuously pushing for the rechallenge policy of EU's Small Business Act and establish and operate the private sector-driven revitalization council of SMEs in Japan. It is also necessary to consider the guarantee of failed businessmen' livelihood. If additional research and government policies are added to the conclusions made on the policy implications, this research will provide an in-depth insight for revitalizing domestic re-startup.

• Knowledge Management Research
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.1-25
• /
• 2020

This study analyzed key success factors of Korean car-sharing enterprises, Socar and Greencar, and the responsive strategies of Korean car-manufacturing company, Hyundai Motor Group, in the face of emerging sharing economy under the specific economic and regulatory system in Korea. The outcomes of the analysis are as follows. 'Timely market entry' in early startup phase and 'use of external resources' in early growth phase were key success factors common to both Socar and Greencar. However, the differences in the eventual business directions of the two companies also resulted in different key success factors in the expansion phase of their business. For Socar which focused on maintaining its independence and the external growth of B2C business, customer relation marketing and sufficient capital raising were key success factors. For Greencar which became a part of a business group and focused on improving the efficiency of business operations, timely market entry (B2B market) was key success factor. The use of external resources and cooperation with large corporations emerged as key success factors common to both companies in the rapid growth phase. The responsive strategies of the Hyundai Motor Group were collaboration, investment and direct management of DeliveryCar. The short-term goal of the responsive strategy was the operation of test-bed in collaboration with car-sharing company while the mid/long term goal was planning new mobility services by utilizing collected data. Securing opportunities for early market dominance for autonomous car industry was also found to be an important goal.