Association between business switch or liquidation, and the demographics of Small and Medium Enterprises in South Korea

Abstract

Purpose – In this study, we consider and examine relationships between reasons for business switch or liquidation (BSL), and the demographics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea. The related five variables are occupations, administrative districts, age of employer, firm age and foundation motivation. In addition, eleven levels in association with reasons for BSL visualize the corresponding demographics by measuring their similarity on the dimensional planes assuming that the association exists between variables under consideration. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is done by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2016 and examines 20,307 small and medium enterprises. For examining the distinct relationships among variables under consideration, both chi-squared test and correspondence analysis as main statistical tools are used. Results - The results show that among levels of reasons for BSL the three levels –weakening profitability, poor sales and economic depression- are main ones for the five demographics variables mentioned above, and we can obtain the detailed associations between attributes of corresponding variables by inspecting the two dimensional plane. Conclusions - This study suggests reasons for BSL are closely associated with the five different demographics variables – Administrative districts, Firm age, Occupations, Age of employer and Foundation motivation-by looking over results.