Korean government had used public ‘credit guarantee schemes’ (CGS) as a counter-cyclical measure. However, it is still controversial about the effectiveness of policy financing on the SMEs. Criticism on policy financing involves the argument that supporting enterprises hampers competition and innovation of SMEs by increasing their dependence on the government and delays the exit of marginal firms. In this paper, we investigate how to effectively build up the rationale of running public CGSs. At the same time, we propose the ways to coexist of public credit guarantee and market-based private finance system for SMEs.
First, CGS, as a counter-cyclical function, must coexist with the private financial system by compensating the market failure caused by pro-cyclical behavior of the private financial market. Second, CGS has the comparative advantages, compared to both the interest rate policy of the central bank and fiscal policy of the government. The credit guarantee is the symptomatic treatment that could revitalize the economy shortly by providing liquidity. Also, knowing that CGS is provided based on the leverage ratio defined by outstanding guarantee divided by capital fund, public ‘credit guarantee’ (CG) has an advantage that is free from the risk of government deficit. Third, the reason for existence of the CGS should be founded in supporting services for SMEs, available only in a public sector that is difficult to expect from private banks. In this regard, it is desirable to strengthen the publicness of credit guarantee over the support for start-ups, growing companies, the improvement of productivity, increase of exports, a long-term investment in facilities, the employment-creating businesses, and innovative enterprises.

Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Interpretation No. 48 (FIN 48), Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes: An interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109, requires firms to evaluate uncertain tax positions and disclose information on their liabilities for these positions, unrecognized tax benefits (UTBs). We analyze the FIN 48 disclosures for calendar-year-end Korean companies listed on NYSE and NASDAQ and examine the Korean firms’ tax aggressiveness utilizing the UTBs. The results suggest that stock exchange and firm size do not play a role in the Korean firms’ tax aggressiveness, contrary to the matched U.S. firms and that the Korean firm in the miscellaneous retail industry is more tax aggressive than the firms in the communications, depository institutions and business services. In addition, we find evidence that the Korean firms are less tax aggressive than the matched U.S. firms. We also examine the Korean firms’ tax avoidance tendencies using other measures of avoidance, leading to mixed results. Finally, we examine the association between the UTBs and other measures of tax avoidance and find a significant and negative association between the UTBs and the long-run cash effective tax rate.

This study examines the implications of special items (SI) for future earnings using quarterly Korean data over the period from 2011 to 2014. Due to the lack of identification of SI in Korea, I choose several items as special items if they are material and non-recurring items following prior studies. Then I regressed seasonally-differenced future earnings on positive and negative SI and found that their effects on future earnings were different. While negative SI are explained by inter-period expense transfer, positive SI are not well-described by traditional prototypes. Next, I regressed seasonally-differenced future earnings on negative SI sub-types as they are heterogeneous in nature and have differing implications for future earnings. While PPE impairments and intangibles impairments are partly explained by the inter-period expense transfer, unspecified loss of other loss items are not. Interestingly, these effects are attenuated or disappear in the Kosdaq market when the markets are divided into the Kospi and Kosdaq markets.

This paper analyzes the role of strategic fit, cooperation, and performance in small-sized subpart suppliers’ interactions with large businesses. For this purpose, this paper analyzes survey data from 90 first-tier suppliers of Samsung Electronics and evaluates how strategic fit and cooperative relationships affect their performance. Empirical analysis suggests that strategic fit positively affects small companies’ business and innovation performance. This finding aligns with theories arguing for strategies that accommodate specific business environments. In addition, strategic fit is crucial for innovativeness of SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises). With regard to forming relationships with large companies, findings also show that high quality technological and personnel cooperation boosts subpart suppliers’ productivity and efficiency as notably reflected in SMEs’ business performance. Moreover, such cooperation between small and large companies reinforces the benefits associated with strategic fit and innovation. This means that if the business environment of small-sized subpart suppliers is uncertain, harnessing differentiated strategies and pursuing collaborations with prime companies will produce innovative outcomes (e.g., increased patent publications). On the other hand, when degree of uncertainty is small, pursuing cost leadership strategies and collaborating with prime companies in areas, such as technology and personnel, will help small-sized subpart suppliers produce innovative outcomes. Based on these findings, this paper argues that choosing the right competitive strategy for a specific business context is intrinsically tied to (1) augmenting technological and human collaborations with prime companies, (2) improving the quality of these interactions, and (3) generating competitiveness among small subpart suppliers. Both competition and cooperation are necessary for strengthening the competitiveness of small companies.