The Creative Economy Action Plan and Start-up Sustainability: How Government Strategies Influence South Korea’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Scholarly literature on entrepreneurship and policymaking is primarily focused on policy strategy proposals for entrepreneurial success, failing to include the actual impact of these policy initiatives on start-up ecosystems. In essence, research on the topic of policy implementation and entrepreneurship lacks insight into whether national governments are able to effectively intervene in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and foster the conditions for a sustainable start-up environment (Mason and Brown 2014, 27). Taking this under-explored research area into consideration, it is relevant to investigate the relation between government policies and the survival of entrepreneurial businesses. In the light of start-up economies, South Korea is presented as a forerunner in economic growth and innovation, as well as one of the main hubs for entrepreneurship in Asia (Millard 2014). However, only 39.9% of South Korean start-up companies manages to survive beyond five years (KOSIS 2018). This is...Show moreScholarly literature on entrepreneurship and policymaking is primarily focused on policy strategy proposals for entrepreneurial success, failing to include the actual impact of these policy initiatives on start-up ecosystems. In essence, research on the topic of policy implementation and entrepreneurship lacks insight into whether national governments are able to effectively intervene in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and foster the conditions for a sustainable start-up environment (Mason and Brown 2014, 27). Taking this under-explored research area into consideration, it is relevant to investigate the relation between government policies and the survival of entrepreneurial businesses. In the light of start-up economies, South Korea is presented as a forerunner in economic growth and innovation, as well as one of the main hubs for entrepreneurship in Asia (Millard 2014). However, only 39.9% of South Korean start-up companies manages to survive beyond five years (KOSIS 2018). This is in contrast to start-up survival rate in the Singapore where 52.7% of all start-ups manage to pass the crucial five-year mark (Kam, Ping, and Crystal 2017, 27). In order to provide an insight into the failure of the South Korean start-up ecosystem to secure entrepreneurial sustainability, this thesis will address the following research question: To what extent do the government policies promoted in the Creative Economy Action Plan target the conditions for entrepreneurial success, in order to effectively ensure a sustainable start-up economy in the Seoul Capital Area? With the aim of providing a comprehensible insight to this research question, this thesis conducts a three-part analysis on the Creative Economy Action Plan published by the Park administration in 2013, the opinions of 300 South Korean entrepreneurs regarding start-up survival in 2018, and the process of success or failure of three distinct technology start-ups in the Seoul Capital Area. This thesis argues that, although the government policies promoted in the Creative Economy Action Plan explicitly targeted three distinct factors for start-up success, the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Seoul Capital Area remains problematic regarding the success factors of monetary funding, market accessibility, and conductive entrepreneurial culture.Show less

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The Creative Economy Action Plan and Start-up Sustainability: How Government Strategies Influence South Korea’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem