Today’s Korean defense industry has drawn attention in terms of export than ever before. In the past, the industry was strongly perceived as domestic demand driven and focused on ground munitions, individual weapons, and relatively low level product...
Today’s Korean defense industry has drawn attention in terms of export than ever before. In the past, the industry was strongly perceived as domestic demand driven and focused on ground munitions, individual weapons, and relatively low level products rather than advanced weapons of high value-added. However, as a result of constant increase in its export volume, the Korean defense industry has shown keen interest in export based on its enhanced technology, leading to the rise of “New Growth Economic Engine of the Defense industry” in the previous government.
At the current stage when much emphasis is on export, the Korean defense industry is relatively a latecomer in the global defense industry market. Not only does it have to struggle for survival in the cutthroat market competition but also have to overcome constraints as a latecomer. In order for a corporation to survive under these circumstances, the tendency to accept new ideas, so called learning orientation, can play a significant role as an asset that can be a source of competitiveness. Learning orientation is comprehended as a wide range of organizational activities that acquire, crept, and use knowledge to gain and sharpen competitive edge.
Considering the defense industry’s entry to the new market as a latecomer in pursuit of new business opportunities entrepreneurial orientation can also be a key factor in securing competitiveness. As defined in various studies, entrepreneurial orientation refers to a propensity of an organization to innovate products, take risks, and respond proactively, overtaking its competitors. In addition, as some studies claim entrepreneurial orientation is a factor in determining organizational learning level that promotes knowledge acquirement and usage, this study on Korean defense industry examines learning orientation as well as entrepreneurial orientation.
The purpose of this study is to analyze how entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation effect Korean defense industries’ corporate performance. First, the concepts of defense industry, strategic orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and learning orientation were comprehended through theoretical investigation on precedent studies, and a survey questionnaire was created to measure these factors. Then, the questionnaires were distributed to the Korea Defense Industry Association(KDIA) registered defense industries and empirical analysis was performed based on 149 questionnaires collected. Study results revealed that first, only innovativeness in entrepreneurial orientation has positive effects on corporate performance. Second, it was confirmed that learning orientation in itself brought a relevant outcome to corporate performance.
As a result, this study’s major achievement is that it reveals a meaningful implication that innovativeness and learning orientation have significant effect on corporate performance in the Korean defense industry. Based on the analysis results, this study suggest Korean defense industries to establish corporate strategies to enhance innovativeness in entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation in order to improve corporate performance.
he purpose of this study is to analyze how entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation effect Korean defense industries’ corporate performance. Study results from empirical analysis based on 149 questionnaires collected from defense industries are as follows. First, only innovativeness in entrepreneurial orientation has positive effects on corporate performance. Second, it was confirmed that learning orientation in itself brought a relevant outcome to corporate performance. Based on the analysis results, this study suggests Korean defense industries to establish corporate strategies to enhance innovativeness in entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation in order to improve corporate performance.