A Study on Growth Engines of Middle Market Enterprise (MME) of Korea Using Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively review previous studies and discover implications for the sustainable growth engines of middle market enterprise (MME) of Korea using meta-analysis. Since Germany’s hidden champion companies are considered as benchmarking targets because their economic environment and size are similar to those of Korean MMEs, a meta-analysis was conducted on the previous studies of them. As a result of integrating the effect sizes of input and output factors according to the process of the Program Logic model from the viewpoint of dynamic capabilities, 198 in Germany and 229 in Korea were derived. It was found that, unlike Korean companies, the number of skilled workers, labor productivity, CEO experience, and Innovation activities within the firm had a significant impact on Germany’s hidden champion companies. In addition, industry and region-oriented innovation networks and family businesses were identified as important variables. Meta-analysis collects a large number of individual studies in order to integrate the results and statistically assess the data. As a result, it will be used as basic data for developing models for academic research in the future. In addition, it will provide implications for sectors in which Korean MMEs should concentrate their efforts in order to create an innovative ecosystem.