This dissertation investigates differentiations of management characteristics and innovative performance determinants between medium-size and small-size firms.
For this research I perform the empirical survey via questionnaire from 198 firms in the manufacturing industry in Daegu and Kyeungbook region.
The empirical research model comprised of six predictive variables - technological and market turbulence, entrepreneurship and the will of technology innovation, and technological innovative competency and R&D investment - in the three dimensions management characteristics - environmental, CEO, organization - and two dependent variables that included technology and market competitiveness
The results are as follows:
First, the management characteristics of small and medium firms have influence on the innovative performance, but excepts on environmental uncertainty. Especially the effects of technological innovative competency have the largest on the innovative performance in small-medium firms.
Second, only the ratio of R&D has the difference between small and midium companies that the volume of small firm's R&D are larger than that of midium.
Third, the determinants of products competitiveness were included negative technological turbulence positive technological innovative competency, and positive the will of CEO's technological innovation in small firms. And the determinants of market competitiveness composed of only positive the will of CEO's technological innovation.
Forth, only R&D investment has positive impact on the products competitiveness in medium firms. But the multi regression model explanation of market competitiveness was not significant.
The study has following implications. First, the technological innovative competency is the most important factor to promote the innovative performance in SMEs regardless of small and medium firms. Second, it requires the institutional policy for supporting competitiveness of small-size companies on multi dimensional approach comprised on environmental, CEO, and organizational characteristics. Third, it needs to focus on the R&D investment for promoting medium-size firm's product competitiveness.
Finally this study has some limitation in methodological and theoretical aspects. it has limits to generalize the empirical results due to small sample size numbers of medium firms only forty. So it requires to extend the sample size of medium firms in the future studies. Next this study has not included a lot of prior research reviewed variables in each dimensions - for example leadership of CEO, the background characteristics etc. In the future studies needs to explore these kinds of variables.