A Study on the DX Support Policy for SMEs in Korea and Japan : Comparative Analysis through Cooper’s Four Dimension Model
동국대학교 일본학과 조교수, Jung Hyun Song · 비교일본학 · 2023
As society's digitalization progresses, companies' ability to utilize digital technology has emerged as one of the important factors that determine their competitiveness. However, in the case of SME that are difficult to invest their budgets in digital transformation, digital transformation is slower than that of large companies, which causes management deterioration of SMEs in the mid to longterm. Accordingly, countries around the world are making efforts to promote DX for small and mediumsized enterprises.Accordingly, this study compared and analyzed DX support policies for SME in Korea and Japan using Cooper's four-dimensional model and derived implications for Korea. The results of the study are as follows. At the Normative dimension, it was common that the KoreaJapan SME digital transformation support policy was introduced to improve SME’s productivity and strengthen manufacturing competitiveness against the backdrop of the widening digital gap between SME and large companies. On the other hand, in the case of Korea, goals such as job expansion and industrial accident reduction were pursued at the same time, and in the case of Japan, there is a difference in that a wide range of support policies such as management support and cybersecurity were established. At the Structural dimension, both countries have something in common that supports SME digital facility investment, but in Korea, a level check and consulting budget were set up separately, and in Japan, support for purchasing peripherals such as computers and tablet PCs was made. At the Constitutive dimension, both countries have something in common that the central governmentled digital transformation of SMEs took place, but in Korea, several government ministries were involved, and in Japan, a single ministry was involved. Another difference was that Korea's relatively emphasized the role of the state in the digital transformation of SME.At the Technical dimension, both countries have prepared indicators to evaluate the degree of digital transformation of SME. On the other hand, in Korea, government agencies quantitatively evaluated the performance of support projects, but in Japan, there was a difference that companies were encouraged to judge the degree of digital transformation themselves.