Jinjoo Lee

The relationship between an entrepreneur's background and performance in a new venture

Abstract This paper examines how an entrepreneurs background relates to the performance of a new venture during the early stages, which has been a controversial issue in entrepreneurship research. This research is based on the data collected from 48 new start-up firms in Korea. The results of the analysis show that the relative profit tends to be high when an entrepreneur has more education and experience in the line of business. On the other hand, the profitability tends to be low when the entrepreneur has only start-up, managerial and high-growth experience without an educational background. A similar effect is shown in the growth of the firm. The positive effect is on growth if an entrepreneur has a professional knowledge of the product, which is gained through previous work experience related to that product. If the entrepreneur has start-up, managerial and high-growth experience, but lacks a knowledge of business, this results in a rather negative effect on the growth. The implications are that a good understanding of the product is essential to the success of the venture, whereas starting a new business with only limited previous experience related to the management dimension can be dangerous and may lead a firm to be unsuccessful.

An exploratory contingency model of user participation and MIS use

Abstract A model is proposed of the relationship between user participation and degree of MIS usage. The model has four dimensions: participation characteristics, system characteristics, system initiator, and the system development environment. Stages of the System Development Life Cycle are considered as a participation characteristics, task complexity as a system characteristics, and top management support and user attitudes as parts of the system development environment. The data are from a cross-sectional survey in Korea, covering 134 users of 77 different information systems in 32 business firms. The results of the analysis support the proposed model in general. Several implications of this for MIS managers are then discussed.

Differences of organizational characteristics in new product development: cross-cultural comparison of Korea and the US

Abstract To ensure success in the current age of globalization, it is imperative for companies to understand the management practices of competitors both within and outside national boundaries. This study investigates the differences in organizational characteristics in the context of the new product development (NPD) process and the impact of these differences on NPD performance between Korea and the United States. The results show that a high degree of participation in decision making, R&D-marketing integration, top management support, project managers skill, project managers motivating ability, project managers authority from top management, and product champions influence is essential for NPD project success regardless of the country in which a company operates. This is consistent with previous studies and suggests there is a global formula for successful NPD. However, the results also show that the use of venture teams, authority concentration, organizational organicity, project managers participative style, and existence of the product champion had a different impact on NPD performance in Korea and the US. This implies that there could be country-specific factors that influence the success of NPD, therefore research results from one country should be applied with prudence to other countries. Furthermore, it was found that differences mainly stem from country-specific contexts surrounding NPD activities. With these findings in mind, we proposed an improved research model for cross-cultural study on the impact of organizational characteristics on NPD performance. The model suggests that in addition to a direct impact, the country-specific culture has an indirect impact which is mediated by institutional management systems such as the performance appraisal system.

Korea's entry into the computer industry and its acquisition of technological capability

Abstract With computers as the case in point, this paper examines how Korea acquired technological capability which enabled it to enter new technology industries and sustain phenomenal growth in both production and exports. The early formation of human resource stock, the public procurement policies, the pioneering role in R&D played by the public sector in the early years, together with the private sectors experience in consumer electronics and aggressive strategy and investment to assimilate and adapt foreign technologies, have facilitated the fast acquisition of technological capability in computers.

An empirical investigation into the utilization-based information technology success model: integrating task-performance and social influence perspective

This paper develops the utilization-based information technology (IT) success model by integrating key variables from IT acceptance and IT success literatures, and empirically validates it. The model shows relations among IT utilization, performance expectancy, social influence, and user satisfaction. A field study was undertaken to evaluate and test the relationships via structural equation modeling using LISREL. The path from performance expectancy and user satisfaction to IT utilization was positive and significant. While the path from implicit social influence to IT utilization was found to be significant, explicit social influence had no significant influence on users’ IT utilization. Implications and future research directions are drawn.

A process model of application software package acquisition and implementation

The main purposes of this research are to suggest a model of the application software package (ASP) acquisition and implementation process and show that the perceived quality of an acquired ASP will be increased if substantial managerial efforts are devoted to the process. An ASP acquisition and implementation procedure decomposed into three subphases and consisting of 25 activities was proposed. To investigate the effectiveness of such a procedure, hypotheses were established and statistically tested. The moderating effects of the level of structuredness of the task to be computerized was also investigated. Results show that the amount of effort devoted to the ASP acquisition and implementation process has a positive and significant correlation with the perceived quality of an acquired ASP, and such a relationship is stronger when the level of structuredness of the task to be automated is low.The main purposes of this research are to suggest a model of the application software package (ASP) acquisition and implementation process and show that the perceived quality of an acquired ASP will be increased if substantial managerial efforts are devoted to the process. An ASP acquisition and implementation procedure decomposed into three subphases and consisting of 25 activities was proposed. To investigate the effectiveness of such a procedure, hypotheses were established and statistically tested. The moderating effects of the level of structuredness of the task to be computerized was also investigated. Results show that the amount of effort devoted to the ASP acquisition and implementation process has a positive and significant correlation with the perceived quality of an acquired ASP, and such a relationship is stronger when the level of structuredness of the task to be automated is low.

An empirical study of communication patterns, leadership styles, and subordinate satisfaction in R&D project teams in Korea

Abstract The relationships between leader-subordinate interpersonal communication and subordinate satisfaction were empirically examined in conjunction with leadership for 199 researchers of small R&D project teams of six government-sponsored research institutes in Korea. The official communication was more positively related to showing consideration than initiating structure of leader behavior. The non-official communication was positively related to showing consideration but not significantly related to initiating structure. Subordinate satisfaction was differently related to the official and non-official communication according to the leadership types. Finally, several theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Innovation strategy of local pharmaceutical firms in Korea: a multivariate analysis

This article examines 37 local pharamaceutical firms in Korea to identify different patterns of innovation behaviour associated with four types of firms, which are categorized by two variables: the scale of operation and technological capability. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses support the hypotheses that these four types of firms exhibit different innovation strategies and in turn the level of performance they achieved. Specifically, large firms with high technological capability diversify their efforts, investing in their own R & D and tapping foreign capabilities, and as a result exhibit the highest degree of innovativeness, while large firms with low technological capability resort primarily to the transfer of foreign technology for short-term profitability. In contrast, small firms with high technological capability rely mainly on their own R & D efforts with the assistance from local R & D institutes and enjoy the highest growth rate, whereas small firms with low technological capability im...

Performance and Adaptive Roles of the Government-Supported Research Institute in South Korea

Abstract This paper analyzes the performance and adaptive roles of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). During the past two decades, KIST has made significant contributions to the scientific, technological, and industrial development of South Korea. Based on normative and descriptive analyses, this paper concludes that KIST should now shift its institutional position to that of a future-oriented multidisciplinary research institute, adapting to the growing need for indigenous research and development (R&D) directed toward core and original high-technology development, the increased need for collaborative research with industries, and role duplications among government-supported research institutes (GRIs) and private R&D institutions.

R&D project selection: Behavior and practice in a newly industrializing country

An empirical study is presented on the practices of research and development management with special emphasis on the project selection behavior in Korea. Based on a review of literature pertaining to the R&D project selection, a survey framework was first generated. The data were collected from 73 laboratories of Korean private companies through a structured questionnaire, via a mail survey supplemented by some telephone interviews. As expected, the usage of formal models in R&D project selection are considerably limited in Korea. The findings, however, suggest that the formal models utilized by the research laboratories are varied distinctively according to research types. Exploratory and supportive R&D projects are selected by using screening models, while high-risk, new business development projects are selected by using evaluation models. For the selection of exploratory and supportive R&D projects, the major decision makers are laboratory directors, and the important decision criteria are technical factors. On the other hand, the major decision makers for the high-risk new business development projects come from the top management of firms, and they consider the market factors important as well as strategic factors. Several aspects of idea generation and collection for the R&D project selection are also presented.