The researches dealing with small business start-up and on-going management in the Korean universities have been increasing since 1980s. Thirty seven universities are now opening 125 subjects, of which only 28.8% are concerned with the start-up of small/venture business. Thus the majority of the subjects are focused on the management of the existing small business. Even the increase of the number of the subjects regarding the start-up of small business is due to the recent boom of venture business in Korean economy. Though almost all of the Korean universities treat the small business education with a piecemeal approach by opening one or two subjects, the differentiation strategies of some outstanding universities focusing on the small business education are attracting our attention. We induced the following strategic indications from the case studies of the above prominent universities. Firstly, the systemic and climatic changes are required for the professors concerned with the small business education to do the practical experiences by starting up or consulting new businesses. Secondly, the establishment of independent department is necessary to prosper the small business education. Thirdly, it is much more effective to list the small business subjects also on the curricula of the evening graduate school for educating the corporate employees on the subjects. Finally, the support, encouragement, and defense of the top university managers, i.e., the so-called key persons are requisite to make the above mentioned conditions full-blown.

This paper examines whether the self-employed in Korea are more satisfied with their jobs than employees. Using data from the 1995 Korean Household Panel study and 1998 Korean Labor Panel Study, we derive three main conclusions. First, there is no evidence that the self-employed in Korea are more satisfied with their jobs than employees. Furthermore after the IMF crisis there is strong evidence that employees are more satisfied with their jobs than the self-employed. This is contrary to the results that most previous foreign researchers have found. Second, after the IMF crisis, job satisfaction of the self-employed has considerably decreased. This can be attributed to the increase in the own-account self-employed, who were fired during the economic crisis. Third, after the IMF crisis, many people become more sensitive to the industry and job categories factors.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Korean bank loan officers' decision models based on Carl Jung's Psychological Typology. According to the results of this study, decision making types of bank loan officers are either thinking/sensing type or thinking/intuition type out of Carl Jung's four types of decision making styles. These results imply the following two points. First, decision makers of thinking/sensing type basically depend on detailed and objective information for their decision, not on their intuition or their feeling. The order of information also influences this type of decision makers. Second, decision makers of thinking/intuition type heavily rely on their intuition and feeling. It implies that it is better idea to provide them a set of important information rather than providing all the information.

The purpose of this research is to assess the loan system for microbusiness in Korea and propose the ways how to improve the current system. In particular, the areas of the assessment include the process of screening for loan application, rationality for determining the applicant, terms and conditions of loan, and acceptance rate of application. This study suggests how to improve screening process, reduction of interest rate and extension of lending period, and how to increase the acceptance rate of application.

Since 1980s the credit scoring system has been widely applied by the commercial banks in Korea for a loan pricing. While there have been a number of attempts to derive credit scoring models, relatively few researchers have devoted specific attention to achieve in formulating or ing among the alternative models that might be used. This paper is to empirically develop a rational credit scoring model for a commercial loan pricing by Korean bank. The samples used in this study are taken out from companies examined by A bank in Korea. The results show that Logit model is better than Multiple Discriminant. Analysis for a credit scoring in the prediction accuracy. The major characteristics in the rational scoring model include age and type of company, transaction period and dishonor with bank, increasing rate of total assets and sales, liquidity ratio, turn-over rate of fixed assets, level of technical developments and the president's temperament of a company.

This paper compares the MEP(Manufacturing Extension Partnership) of the U.S. and the Public Technology Center(Kohsetsushi) of Japan as a technological system to enhance the technological capabilities of small and medium enterprises(SMEs). We develope a technological systems approach for SMEs, which is consists of technological infrastructure(TI), industrial organization, and traditional infrastructure(including institutional infrastructure and human capital infrastructure).
Several issues are addressed: how they get started?; how they have been evolved?; how have the actors and institutions within the system interacted?; what role has the government played in that process:; and who are bridging institution? Both systems are classified as a TI-led or government-led type and they have been evaluated as invaluable to their SMEs. However, they are not complete enough in terms of three components of the system to generate sufficient increasing returns to develop in a self-reinforcing way. Kohsetsushi System is more stable than MEP system in terms of financing, human capital infrastructure, and political cycle. MEP system is more innovative, flexible, and comprehensive network than Kohsetsushi system, supplying various kinds of technological capabilities to SMEs. Many other similarities and contrasts from both technological systems are discussed.
The policy implications or insights for Korean SMEs in terms of stability, flexibility, consistency, creativeness, and network are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurial environment and factors that influence the prevalence of entrepreneurial activity in Korea. The study mainly focuses on four research issues; 1)Does the level of entrepreneurial activity vary between countries and, if so, by how much? 2) Does the level of entrepreneurial activity affect a country's rate of economic growth? 3)What makes a country entrepreneurial? and 4) what are the features of Korean entrepreneurial activity and conditions? By joining the GEM(Global Entrepreneurial Monitor) in 2000, the authors find following results; 1) The level of entrepreneurial activity differs significantly between countries. 2) Entrepreneurial activity is strongly associated with economic growth. 3) Entrepreneurial activity is somewhat affected from entrepreneurial opportunity, entrepreneurial capacity, and social legitimacy. Especially, financial support is highly associated with the level of entrepreneurial activity. 4) Most start-up firms in Korea are operated by men with among those aged 25-34 in the service sectors. 5) Government program, educational infrastructure, and social legitimacy are pointed to prevail in Korean entrepreneurial activities. Policy suggestions to be suitable in Korean context have been developed and presented in the final section.

This paper intends to provide a better understanding of the influence of the suppliers' customer scope strategy on the performance. To achieve this objective, we estimate the determinants of profit rate such as number of customers, sales dependence on the main customer, under the assumption that profit function of supplier is inversely U-shaped with the increase of customer scope.
Findings from early studies showed that the profit rate of suppliers increases in proportion to the increase of the number of customers. From the empirical study on the suppliers in Korean automobile and machinery industry, we find that (1) the profit rate of suppliers increases in decreasing rate as the customer scope increase, (2) sales dependence of suppliers on the main customer is around the optimal level but (3) the customers of suppliers are fewer than optimal level.

In recent years, as the competitiveness of a firm has a close relationship with the construction of integrated LIS, many domestic firms make an effort to strengthen their competitiveness. In order to meet these requirements, many domestic firms consider progressive investment in LIS, basic logistics technology, and logistics management.
But what is more important is that logistics performance can be differed by the relationship among the firm's characteristics such as logistics strategic capacity, logistics organization, basic logistics technology level, and logistics management capability.
Therefore, this study examines the relationships among structural factors such as logistics management activities, logistics information technology, and performance of LIS.
This study suggests the practical implication to the business managers as follows.
First, the top/logistics managers have to make a commitment to the LIS because logistics performance is greatly influenced by LIS. Secondly, the introduction of innovative information technology such as EDI can be necessary to implement LIS successfully. Finally, the LIS can be more effective tool for the customer service improvement than the logistics cost reduction.

This study intends to find the difference between manufacturing industry and service industry in using information systems strategically(SUIS), Sixty firms in Korea are surveyed and analyzed to understand the empirical relationship between industry type and SUIS type. Then, the impact of that relationship on the strategic performance is tested.
SUIS types are derived from the theoretical models like strategic option generator, strategic opportunities matrix, value chain, and information weapon model. Strategic performance is measured using customer resource life cycle user functionality, value activity efficiency, and contribution to organizational performance.
Research result reveals the relationship between industry type and SUIS type. Also additional analysis shows that the strategic performance is influenced by the fitness between industry type and SUIS type.

This study is focused on the variables which affect relationship satisfactions with the partnerships between textile manufacturers and textile preparation companies. 46 textile manufacturers and 27 textile preparation companies which have had business relations with their counterparts responded to this survey questionnaire. Results indicated that trust has the most significantly positive effect on the perception about relationship satisfactions with business partnerships. In addition, results also revealed that the variable, 'influencing' had a marginally significant effect on the perception. However, the variable, 'being influenced' did not have.
Based on the findings of this research results, in order to enhance textile manufacturers' perception about satisfactions with business partnerships with textile preparation companies and vice versa, and further to improve their competitive advantages through partnerships, textile manufacturers and textile preparation companies should be focused on especially building up trust in each other.

This study investigates the effect of the domestic banks' BIS capital requirement imposed by the Financial Supervisory Commission(FSC) on commercial loans to small and medium size enterprises(SME). To accomplish this purpose, the study attempts to examine the above issue by using the cross-section and time-series data of the domestic banks over the period from 1994 to 1999. The results shows that with the government's restructuring announced, domestic banks sharply downsized their credit extensions to meet the 8% BIS ratio requirement as of the end of 1997. The decrease in domestic loans was mainly incurred by those banks with BIS ratios below 8%. On the other hand, those banks with BIS ratios over 8% recorded the loan growth rates of 11%, still much lower than 17.6% of 1997. The regression results suggest than loans to small and medium size companies are significantly and positively associated with BIS ratios and a further regression analysis shows that such a significant relationship between loans to SMEs and BIS ratios can be attributed to the 1998 subsample period. The results of this study indicates that the loans to SMEs are materially affected by the portfolio adjustments of the domestic banks, which are under liquidity pressure to significant increases in the corporate default rates and are required by the FSC to maintain the target BIS ratio of 8%. Although the Bank of Korea, facing a series of corporate failures, forced the domestic banks to extend credits to SMEs by expanding the supply of its low cost discount window funds as well as using window guidance, it appears that mounting corporate defaults rendered the banks to pursue their own interest for survival at the expense of SMEs.

We explored how the ownership level of foreign SMEs in Korea is affected by the relative bargaining power between Korean government and foreign companies. The bargaining power model of bringing two main perspectives in bargaining literature (resource-based and context-based view) into one framework was developed and tested with data from a survey of multinational firms subsidiaries in Korea. The results show that resource-based bargaining power resources are apparently more important in determining the ownership level of foreign SMEs than context-based bargaining resources.
The ownership level obtained by foreign SMEs in Korea has been related to the level of technology, advertising intensity, and availability of alternative firms. This study provided empirical evidence that the ownership level of foreign SMEs is affected by relative bargaining power.

This paper provides an empirical examination of the determinants of unlisted SME(Small and Medium Enterprise)'s debt maturity. Evidence generally offers support for the three hypotheses concerning the debt maturity structure: the contracting-cost hypothesis, the signaling hypothesis and the tax hypothesis. However, the variables representing firm's growth, regulation and credit were found to have a sign that is contradicting to the sign the theories suggest. An additional examination on the determinants of financial leverage is performed to investigate any effect of the SME specific characteristics on the debt maturity structure. It is found that the SME specific factors of entrepreneur and firm's age play an important role to change the signs in those three variables. SMEs that have more growth options, are large, and have less information asymmetries use more long-term debt. Also, when the yield curve has a positive slope, SMEs tend to have more long-term debt to take advantage of tax effect.

Mentoring is an important training and development tool for upward professional progression for both men and women in business organizations. This paper reviews the literature on mentoring and presents the result of a field study on mentor-protege relationships for women.
This study examined the mentoring experience of female bank managers through their career lives: who the mentors were, what the nature of their mentoring was, particularly on whether it mostly pertained to functional skills, human relations or setting career goals, and finally what the effects are on protege's career success. The extent of mentoring influence differs as the protege's career stage and the mentor's characteristics change. It is found that women who had one or more mentors, especially at their earlier career stage, report greater career success than women who did not have a mentor.
In male-dominated occupations, however, a number of perceptual and situational barriers inhibit women from establishing mentorships. It is suggested that organizations expand and develop the currently male-oriented mentoring framework to include the career training needs of women.