An Analysis on the Efficiency of University Start-up Support Programs Using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Model : Focused on Human Resources, R&D Abilities and Infrastructure
Kim-Sung Uk · The Journal of Internet Electronic Commerce Resarch · 2019
Universities play a significant role in implementing start-up support policies led by the government. This has led to a great number of college student entrepreneurs and a growing interest in starting their own business. However, there are still few promising student entrepreneurs. In order to take the university-based start-up support policies to a higher level, there is a need for in-depth discussion on the input of resources and the output of performance based on the analysis on the efficiency of start-up support programs. This study aims to establish the comprehensive direction to support start-up programs and ensure the successful investment of resources in order to improve the efficiency of the support programs at a national level. This study used data from the 2018 Higher Education in Korea(www.academyinfo.go.kr), and was conducted among 81 universities, with the exception of cases of asymmetric information. The results are as follows: According to the results of analysis on scale efficiency, 10 universities (12.2%) achieved CRS (Constant Returns to Scale), 15 (18.3%) achieved DRS (Decreasing Returns to Scale), and 14 (17.1%) achieved IRS (Increasing Returns to Scale). Geographical locations of universities and the types of establishment had more effect on efficiency than scales. Compared to universities in capital regions and national universities, those in non-capital regions and private universities had higher efficiency in the operation of start-up support programs, thus becoming a good reference. This study has the following implications. First, among the universities included in the sample, 45 universities had DRS lower than 20%, accounting for 54.8% of the sample. This means that a considerable number of universities do not conduct efficient operation of start-up support programs, and need to benchmark the successful operation and programs run by universities that achieved. Second, it should be considered that the scale of outputs relative to inputs may vary depending on the orientation of regional strategic and specialized industries. It will be difficult to expect the same scale of output from conventional manufacturing / production-based start-ups and knowledge-based one-man start-ups, which have drawn attention recently. Therefore, it will be a significant task to allocate and invest the appropriate volume of resources depending on the circumstances of each region and university. Third, a significant number of universities that achieved efficiency were private universities in the start-up policies and programs of those private universities showed rapid year-to-year changes, where many programs were removed or continued based on start-up trends and the direction of government policies.