중소기업 성장 결정요인에 관한 연구

Abstract

This study identifies the determinants of firm growth, focusing on the differences across the size of firm. The survey results of 600 manufacturing firms including SMEs and LEs are used for the empirical test. The results show that the factors affecting firm growth differ not only between SMEs and LEs, but also among the groups of SMEs by size. Only a few firms have achieved continuous growth and start-ups have mostly accounted for the number of firms increased. Theoretically, established firms could live forever, and they could grow and shrink as necessary to meet competitive conditions. Over the last thirty years, researchers have carried out significant research relating to firm formation, growth, survival, decline, and closure. These small firm dynamic studies have taken three main paths : proportional growth, net job creation, and business survival. The important role played by firm size in the economy has been frequently studied in the economics literature. Additionally, the role of firm size dynamics has been the subject of extensive research, primarily framed as how firm growth rates depend on size, industry, age of establishments, firm and industry lifecycles, and so on. Regardless the development stage of economies, the overall distribution of firm size is highly skewed, with a small number of very large firms coexisting in the economy along with large numbers of smaller firms. This is especially true for the case of Korea which has very large numbers of small firms with a small number of larger firms. Such a distribution of firm size has been one of the chief obstacles to creation of stable jobs, export increase, and economic growth. Thus, the growth of established firm is full of significance for the applicable firm as well as the nation's economy. The relatively small body of business literature dealing with the reasons for small firm growth can be categorized into two schools of thought. The first adheres to an organizational life cycle perspective, which sees growth as a natural phenomenon in the evolution of the firm. The second school of though sees growth as a consequence of strategic choice. In either case the attributes of the business owner, organizational resources and environmental opportunity are crucial in expanding the firm or in overcoming the barriers to the evolution of the firm from one stage to the next. The theories discussed so far all recognized that the attributes and abilities of the business owner have an important impact on small firm growth and will be reflected in strategic choices and the ways in which he or she operates the business. Previous firm growth studies have found out that firm growth processes rely on a mixture of systematic factors and stochastic shock. In spite of the weak explanatory power of most of these studies empirical tests have revealed significant coefficient estimates indicating that systematic factors stimulate start-up growth. The explanatory factors included in these studies are entrepreneur-, firm specific and industry specific or related to the region. Most firm growth studies, however, have neglected the differences between small firms and larger firms. There are fundamental differences between small and large firms that it would not be appropriate to neglect. According to some of the studies, small firms do have different growth patterns from larger firms. The growth of larger firms is different in several respects. While small firms' survival depends to some extent on their growth, for large firms above the MES the objectives of survival, growth and profits become separated and may even conflict. The growth of small firms is often seen as a having a beneficent character, often being taken as a goal for policy intervention. We have classified the determinants of growth in three categories; a) business environment-factors that have a potential impact on both the decision making and the business activities; b) firm characteristics-variables traditionally encountered in the empirical studies of firm growth in the economic literature and factors that have a potential impact on the abilities and attitudes of the business owner or are indicators of entrepreneurial attitudes; c) firm strategies - factors reflecting the way the owner or entrepreneur operates his/her business. The hypotheses to be tested with regard to the determinants of growth are : Hypothesis 1 : The growth of firm will be affected by the factors of business environment. Hypothesis 2 : Firm characteristics may have substantial impact on the growth of firm. Hypothesis 3 : The Strategies of firm will exert an effect on the growth of firm. Hypothesis 4 : The types of factors affecting firm growth may depend on the size of firm. The results show that three determinants, business environment, firm's characteristics and business strategies, have shown to have significant effects on the growth of firm. However, when dividing the sample into three groups by the employment size, it has shown considerably different results. The determinants of growth are considerably different between SMEs and LEs as well as among SMEs by the size. As a result, all of four hypotheses are accepted. Among other variables, domestic business, CEO's capabilities and reputation of firms, export and brand, in particular, have significant impact on the firm growth. This is especially true for the case of relatively smaller size of firm. But for the case of larger firms, no determinants in the study shows a significant effect on the firm growth. It is supported according to the results that smaller firms are more sensitive to the fluctuation of business conditions than the larger firms are. It implies that for the smaller firms' stability and growth the government should pay more attention on the factors of macroeconomic stability. And also the results support that the strategies of firms themselves should be changed according to their size and it is suggested that the appropriate government policy measures should be developed according to the size of firm.