Resource Mobilization and Business Incubation : The Case of Korean Incubators

The rapid expansion of business incubators in Korea is one of the most important phenomena affecting the high-tech industries in Korea. This paper presents the current conditions of Korean incubators and proposes what factors are important for their continual development. First, we present how rapidly this new organizational model, business incubation, expanded in Korea after the IMF bailout crisis. Second, we explore factors that lead these incubators to perform better. We emphasize that better qualified technical, managerial, and administrative support of incubators are important success factors. However, we also argue that better networked incubators perform better. By better networked incubators, we mean the incubators that can provide the incubatees (start-ups) with effective internal networking (e.g., alliance among incubatees) and sufficient external networking as well (e.g., technical support from outside experts, professional assistance from outside consultants, support from the central and local governments, etc.). We agree to the earlier literature that encouraging networking among incubatees is an important success factor for incubators. In this paper, we also suggest that external networking and outsourcing are significant components in the case of Korea where most of incubators are not self-sufficient in providing services and support to incubatees.This research project was supported by the Research Support Grant from the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) of the David Eccles School of Business, the University of Utah

Traction: The Role of Executives in Localising Global Mining and Petroleum Industries in Papua New Guinea

This article presents interview data from corporate elites in Papua New Guinea's mining and petroleum sector and other members of the business community. It describes their world view, and in particular their belief that resource extraction and business will help bring development to their country in a way that its social-democratic government has not. The article uses this data to make three contributions to the existing literature. First, it argues that globe-spanning industrial capitalism is subject to description through ethnographic fieldwork. Secondly, it demonstrates that elites in Papua New Guinea gain 'traction' and thus make corporate projects possible because of - not despite - their particularistic ties and personal biographies. Finally, it argues that it is possible to study corporate elites in a disinterested way without being co-opted by their political agenda

Organizational attention and learning under regulatory intervention: Governmental investigation into auto engine quality

We examine the efficacy of government regulation on a firm's product. We draw on the behavioural approach of organization research in order to understand the micromechanisms whereby the regulatory intervention process affects corporate operation. We suggest that while government investigations may limit the improvements in product quality by distracting a firm's attention, this unintended outcome depends on the extent to which the firm engages in a substantive problem-solving process with the regulator during an investigation process. A longitudinal analysis of the US government's investigation into motor vehicle engine production offers overall support for our argument. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications that our findings present to learning theory and institutional literature

Foreign Monitoring and Audit Quality: Evidence from Korea

This study investigates the effects of both foreign majority shareholders and foreign investors’ participation in the board of directors on audit quality, as reflected by auditor size and audit fees. In addition, the study examines the moderating effect of an agency problem on the relationship between foreign investors and the monitoring of audit quality. Using 1574 non-financial firm-year observations listed on the Korea Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2003, we find that the presence of foreign investors such as foreign block shareholders and foreign outside directors increases audit quality. At the same time, the monitoring role of foreign block shareholders is more powerful than that of foreign external directors. Moreover, the foreign block shareholders in professional management-controlled firms exert a more profound influence on audit quality than do those in owner-controlled ones. These test results imply that foreign investors with independence, expertise, and monitoring incentives could play an important role in improving the corporate governance system in Korea, which in turn would not only enhance firm value, but also strengthen the sustainability of Korean companies