• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2021

The purpose of this research is to improve the investment success rate for startups in the water industry for the development of the entrepreneurial environment of the Korean water industry. In this research, we identified investment determinants through prior research and stratified them, and then surveyed the investor group at the beginning of the start-up using the FGI method, and determined the order of the investment determinants of investors. At the same time, we classified 41 start-ups related to the water industry into two groups: the group that received investment and the group that did not in the early stages of the start-up. Then we investigated the understanding of the investor's investment determinants, ranked them, and compared them by using the AHP technique. Through this, this research proposes five implications. First, it is important for start-ups in the early stages to receive seed investment to revitalize investment for startups in the water industry. For this, startups need to understand investors and prepare to attract investment with the perspective of angel investors rather than the perspective of VC investors. Second, Start-ups in the water sector should consider that the characteristics of the founder are important in order to receive seed investment, and also need to define their business at the industry and market level, and provide relevant rationale to meet the expectations of investors who value industry expertise and experience, and to increase the possibility of seed investment, which is important in the early stages of a startup. Third, institutions, such as K-water(Korea Water Resources Corporation), that support water industry startups need to conduct open innovation business opportunities discovery programs linked to startups so that startups currently participating in the startup support program could have business opportunities from the business infrastructure of platform-forming companies in the water industry. In particular, such institutions should help founders develop their industrial expertise and careers by supporting this type of start-up preparation process through the participation of in-house venture founders. Fourth, when K-water uses the government start-up support fund to discover and foster founders, it should increase initial contact with seed investors, conduct more thorough verification of business plans, and develop programs that use government start-up support funds to prepare a business suitable for seed angel investors. Fifth, K-water should support seed by connecting funds for initial investment among funds operated by itself. It is also necessary to develop a program that links the company receiving the seed investment with VC investment, not angel investment in cooperation with the VC fund operation entity participating as an LP so that companies that have attracted seed investment could attract follow-up VC investment.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.81-88
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• 2014

Purpose - Entrepreneurship promotion is emerging as an important economic growth agenda. However, in Korea, entrepreneurship has weakened because of the collapse of the venture bubbles of the 2000s and the global economic recession in 2008, which have induced the business community to choose stability over risk. The Korean government has been implementing several support projects to inspire and promote youth entrepreneurship through various means including financial assistance; however, the perpetuation rate of young entrepreneurship is still low as compared to advanced economies such as the US and EU. This case study focuses on the Youth Start-Up Business Support Program of the Small & Medium Business Corporation, and explores practical alternatives. Further, it aims to suggest managerial factors and a conceptual model for change management factors affecting the business performance creation of a startup company, based on the Small and medium Business Corporation's young venture startup fund. Research design, data, and methodology - Many studies examine the current progress and issues of startup firms, for example, a lack of systematic cultivation of entrepreneurship and startup business training, lack of commercialization funding for youth startup businesses, lack of mentoring, and inadequate infrastructure. From prior research, we address four factors, namely, personal managerial capabilities, innovative business model, sufficient cash flow, and social network, affecting startup companies' business performance. This study involved a sample survey of 200 young entrepreneurs to investigate casual relations between the four factors and business performance. A regression analysis was used to verify the hypotheses. Results - First, in relation to differences in the founder's personal characteristics, age, sales amount, and number of employees significantly impact business performance. Second, regarding the causal relation between the four factors for creating business performance, an innovative business model and social networking have supported the hypotheses, revealing that the more that a start-up founder has an innovative business model and social networking, the more the start-up firms are likely to have better performance (e.g., sales volume, employment, ROE, ROI, etc.). Although the founder's competency and sufficient cash flow have no significant relationship with business performance, the mean value was higher performance for high founder's competency and sufficient cash flow. Conclusions - This study provides basic data on policy support strategies of the Small and Medium Business Corporation, to help young entrepreneurs achieve their start-up business goals. It shows that young entrepreneurship startup firms should strive to explore ideas to satisfy customers' needs, and that changes in customer value and the continuous innovation of business model differentiation are required to actively respond to change management. Moreover, at the infant startup stage, they should activate social network programs to share information, thereby offsetting resource scarcity and managing business risk. Further, the establishment of a long-term vision and the implementation of training programs in related specific fields should be supported to strengthen founders' personal capabilities.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.31-44
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of CEO's self-determination on entrepreneurship, business performance (operational and financial performance). Also, this research provide some strategic insights for improving business performance. In the proposed model, self-determination consists of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and entrepreneurship consists of innovation, initiative and risk sensitivity, and proactiveness. More specifically, this study proposes a framework that entrepreneurship and operational performance will play mediating roles between self-determination and financial performance. Research design, data, methodology: In this study, an online survey was conducted on SME CEOs for analysis, and a total of 122 samples were used. In the analysis process for hypothesis verification and evaluation, frequency analysis was first performed to identify the demographic characteristics of the respondents, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement model. In addition, a structural model analysis was conducted to examine the structural relationships between CEO's self-determination, entrepreneurship, and business performance (operational and financial performance) using SmartPLS 3.0. Results: The findings and summary are as follows. First, the autonomy of self-determination has a positive effect on entrepreneurship. Second, the competence of self-determination affects entrepreneurship and operational performance. Third, it affects the innovation, initiative and risk sensitivity of the CEO's entrepreneurship, and ultimately, its operational performance. The results show that the business performance of Start-up also increases when self-determination can be a factor in increasing entrepreneurship in three sub-dimensionalities. Conclusions: The conclusion of this study is that in order for SMEs to develop into a sustainable company by securing competitiveness after start-up, external motivation such as external help and support from the state (local government) is important, but competence and relationship, which are components of self-determination. The intrinsic motivation of the CEO may be more important. To this end, CEO's should prioritize learning for competency development, and the government should pay attention to providing various educational programs through establishment of education policies and education systems to enhance the competency of start-up CEO's.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.183-190
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• 2023

This study is a study on the effect of university students' entrepreneurship education service quality on educational satisfaction and entrepreneurship intention. Although various entrepreneurship education is being operated at universities, there is not much research on entrepreneurial intentions. In this study, in order to analyze the factors for increasing the entrepreneurial intention, the effect of the service quality of entrepreneurship education on educational satisfaction and entrepreneurial intention was examined. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, questionnaires were distributed to university students in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and statistical analysis of 298 questionnaires that were faithfully answered was conducted using SPSS 22. TA is a result of multiple regression analysis on the effect of start-up education service quality on educational satisfaction, tangibility, responsiveness, certainty, and empathy had a significant effect, but reliability did not have a significant effect, and educational satisfaction had a significant effect on entrepreneurship intention. Recently, start-up businesses in Korea have been revitalized, and various programs such as start-up education, start-up support policies, and commercialization support are emerging. Since the quality of educational service for start-up at universities affects the will to start a business, service quality capabilities should be strengthened to increase educational satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.163-171
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine the current operation condition of fashion start-up companies and the characteristics of their founders in Fashion Creative Studio that is one of government programs supporting fashion start-up of rising fashion designer's brands in Korea and one of supporting facilities. For this purpose, this study surveyed 32 fashion start-up companies founders in Busan Fashion Creative Studio and analyzed the data based on the survey. The results are as follows. First of all, 82% of the founders have experience to start their business in 20s and 60% of founders with not more than 3 to 5 years of work experience related to fashion challenge to start a business. Secondly, major distribution channels of the fashion start-up companies are mainly on-line open-market consisting of 36% and SNS is up to 80% as the main promotion method. In addition, exports to China account for 71% of all exports. Lastly, 33% of businesses consider viral marketing by influencer and 50% of them make plan to export their items to East Asia. It is of research significance that this study can suggest the successful direction of establishing and operating fashion start-up companies through making good use of Fashion Creative Studio, the supporting program including facility.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.221-232
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• 2016

The impact of the recent small business start-up competition in the market, has become overheated. It is effected by early retirement of a generation of youth employment. This study is a study on the impact of SEMAS(Small Enterprise and Market Service) system operating of the funding system, education support programs, and consulting support system on the business performance of small business owners. It has surveyed 272 business owners, in Gyeongsangnam-province. The study includes specific support system for usage frequency and satisfaction and conducted from January 2013 to September 2015. In addition, it analyzes characteristic that motivation, business model, item, owner's experience, sales and demographic by small business owner. Analysis results, the management performance of small business that uses financial support system and consulting support system is shown to be high. But education support system is the opposite effect. As a result, the management performance is related to industry experience. Therefore education support system need to be reorganized to the support depends on the development stage. This study was conducted to help small business owners entered the start-up market and a decision-making person with a policy decision.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.190-200
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• 2020

This study examined the effectiveness of the 'Youth Technology Transfer Specialist Training Project' for students of natural sciences and engineering colleges implemented using a 2018 revised supplementary budget. The cause and effect research model composed of project satisfaction, results of employment, and start-up. Five factors were developed based on a literature review. A total of 2,363 questionnaires were collected through 66 Industrial-Academic Cooperation Groups participating in the Youth TLO (Technology Licensing Officer) program for an empirical test. SPSS 23.0 was used to analyze the obtained data empirically and verify the hypotheses. The result of the analysis showed that the following five independent factors were significant for the program satisfaction as well as the program satisfaction for the performance of employment and start-up: 1) project operation-related recruitment and selection, 2) training support, and 3) working conditions, 4) control of the project, and 5) activity support. This study verified the level of satisfaction with the program empirically using comprehensive data. In terms of practical implications, improvement of operational programs helps improve program satisfaction, and in turn, results in improvement of employment and start-up of youth to achieve the goals of government.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.107-124
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• 2023

As getting in 4th Industrial Revolution Times, Continuing Education Enrolled Students(CEES) trying to find loophole for jepordized current life and need job transfer have surged their interest significantly on starting new business to bring up their post career after retirement through self-improvement. Government and university have actively initiated diverse policies of promoting startup for CEES in kicking off entrepreneurship courses and programs. However, relevant main policy, 'The 2nd University Startup Education Five-Year Plan (draft)' have too chiefly focused on theoretical start-up education rather than practical courses, causing the problem of inappropriate support for implementing real startup and business (Ministry of Education, 2018). This study is brought to empirically investigate the effect of self-efficacy as perspective of the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention and behavior to come up with problem of poor entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurship education to CEES. As to empirical research, this paper deliver on-line survey to CEES from September to October 2022, collect 207 effective feedbacks, In order to verify the reliability of the scale, the Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient (Cronbach's α) was calculated, analyzed, and measured. For hypothesis test, this paper utilize the multiple regression analysis statistical analysis method and use the SPSS 22.0 statistical processing program. Empirical results show, first, it was found that self-efficacy had a significant effect on start-up education. Second, start-up education had a significant effect on the intention to start a business of adult learners. Third, start-up education had a significant effect on the start-up behavior of adult learners. Fourth, self-efficacy had a significant effect on the intention of adult learners to start a business. Fifth, self-efficacy had a significant effect on the start-up behavior of adult learners. Sixth, self-efficacy had a mediating effect in the relationship between entrepreneurship education and adult learners' intention to start a business. Seventh, self-efficacy had a complete mediating effect in the relationship between start-up education and adult learners' start-up behavior. This paper is brought three significant implications. First, main consideration developing entrepreneurship education tools for CEES need to falls on defining potential needs of CEES as segmenting as to coming up with diversity of CEES's characteristics such as gender, age, experience, education, and occupation. Second, as to design specific entrepreneurship education program, both practical training program of utilizing CEES's career field experience benchmarking best practice startup and venture cases from domestic and global, and professional startup program of CEES initiating directly startup from ideation to develop business plan with pitching and discussing. Third, entrepreneurship education for CEES should be designed to incubate self-efficacy to enhance entrepreneurial intention of implementing entrepreneurial behavior as a real, eventually leading solid support system of self-improvement for CEES' Retirement life planning.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.189-207
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• 2020

The government has achieved quantitative growth in university start-up education while supporting start-up education. However, it failed to systematize start-up education from an academic, policy, and practical perspective and to reveal the relationship between education and achievements in supporting start-ups. Therefore, there is a lack of interest and effort to promote effective education. In Europe, in-depth research has already been done over many years to establish an EntreComp system. Competences create values for others and attempt to apply them to education, viewing them as the people's lifelong competitiveness. On the other hand, it is urgent to improve the education system as domestic university start-up education is mainly focused on cultural level start-up skills and easy-to-access education from a business administration perspective. Based on this, the entrepreneurship competence-based start-up education system was designed. Next, eight EntreComp frames were drawn for university students through the Focus Group Interview (FGI) and Delphi survey methods, as well as domestic and international prior studies on EntreComp. In 2018, 919 start-up education programs of 42 start-up leading universities were conducted to derive the status of education by EntreComp. Prior studies of 25 entrepreneurship competences, including data from Bacigalupo et al.(2016), which studied EntreComp in the EU, were investigated and reflected the frequency of research and the importance of education and start-up perspectives. Based on the purpose of the university start-up education presented in this study, the entrepreneurship competence frame consisting of a total of eight, including spotting opportunities, value creation, self improvement, mobilising resources, technology application, strategic management, relationship, and learning through experience, was derived through expert verification. It also investigated the current status of education by competence, the degree of reflection of competence education, and the relationship with the results of support for start-ups that reflect the number of students enrolled in each university. Through this, it was suggested that future start-up education at universities could be improved from the EntreComp perspective. It has a differentiation in research in that it conducted a thorough survey using the data on start-up courses operated by leading startup universities for a certain period. However, it is difficult to generalize because the number of samples of leading startup universities is limited. Nevertheless, this study proposes the educational goal of advancing university start-up education from the perspective of entrepreneurial competence, cultivating future required competences, and fostering entrepreneurial talents that create value for others. In addition, it is meaningful in that it presents a clear direction for subsequent research by preparing a framework for research from a more essential perspective on the entrepreneurship competence frame.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.337-344
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• 2024

This paper is a study on the "Development of Assessment Index for Women's Entrepreneurship support programs." This research highlights the absence of specific assessment indicators for selecting women-led enterprises in women's entrepreneurship support programs, thereby illuminating the limitations of current evaluation methods. It emphasizes the necessity for effective indicators to more successfully select women entrepreneurs and enterprises. The study derives numerous success factors for women's entrepreneurial ventures from prior research and develops a more likely to succeed assessment index for women-led enterprises using the Delphi methodology and collaboration with expert panels. The result is a new assessment index reflecting the characteristics of women entrepreneurs, expected to overcome the limitations of existing selection methods and contribute to enhancing social support and policy development for women-led enterprises.