• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.140-159
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• 2010

The main purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the failures of venture companies. The study attempts to analyze the causes and the processes of venture failures and the different paths that led to such failures. For the research, 116 firms registered with the Korea Venture Business Association in 1997 were surveyed and traced in 2000. A questionnaire was sent to 105 companies that were operating at the time and 76 of them returned responses. In 2008, the 76 companies were re-traced, and it was found that 41 of them had failed while 35 survived. Through this process, a set of longitudinal data was gathered about the changes in strategies, environments, and organizational structures. Accordingly, t-test and ANOVA analysis were performed on the different causes and processes of venture failures, as well as the taxonomy according to the changes in circumstances. Empirical findings can be summarized as follows. Venture companies failed due to various reasons and there were very different failing processes. In addition, this study found that various failing paths existed among failed venture companies and different factors affected company failures. Considering these findings, this research is clearly advanced and can be distinguished from other existing researches in terms of the dynamic understanding of the failures of venture companies.