Daegu Metropolitan City was the only city which recorded negative growth in 2016 among all the cities and provinces in Korea and thus raised concerns on regional growth. This paper sees the increase in regional export as a solution for such a result. ...
Daegu Metropolitan City was the only city which recorded negative growth in 2016 among all the cities and provinces in Korea and thus raised concerns on regional growth. This paper sees the increase in regional export as a solution for such a result. In particular, this research focuses on small and medium sized enterprises, which are considered highly important not only by accounting for 99% of all the enterprises but also by handling 88% of the entire employment in Korea. Therefore, regional growth driven mainly by small and medium sized enterprises is essential, and they need to gain competitive advantages for their continued survival and growth. In this research, the utilization of FTA, R&D capabilities (R&D intensity, learning function and external network function) and entrepreneurship (risk sensitivity, innovation and progressiveness) have been adopted as independent variables influencing export performance based on earlier studies. A multiple regression analysis found the following results: First, the utilization of FTA had a positive(+) influence on export performance. Second, R&D capabilities had a positive(+) influence on export performance. Third, entrepreneurship had a positive(+) influence on export performance. All the above research hypotheses accepted, those on the utilization of FTA and the external network function among sub-factors of R&D capabilities have been verified with the p-value less than the significance level of 0.001 and turned out to serve as the most influential variable. Such results imply the importance of securing human resources for the utilization of FTA and establishing a system which enables the maximization of capabilities and utilization of FTA through external consulting in the process of increasing export. Besides, they imply that small and medium sized enterprises which lack human and material resources need to preferentially consider innovations through technological cooperation with external corporations and organizations. The author expects the foregoing results to be used as the basis for the establishment of policies related to export and regional growth in Daegu Metropolitan City.