The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies (한국전자거래학회지)

Society for e-Business Studies (한국전자거래학회)
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Innovation Patterns of Machine Learning and a Birth of Niche: Focusing on Startup Cases in the Republic of Korea

머신러닝 혁신 특성과 니치의 탄생: 한국 스타트업 사례를 중심으로

  • Received : 2021.01.25
  • Accepted : 2021.07.10
  • Published : 2021.08.31
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Abstract

As the Great Reset is discussed at the World Economic Forum due to the COVID-19 pandemic, artificial intelligence, the driving force of the 4th industrial revolution, is also in the spotlight. However, corporate research in the field of artificial intelligence is still scarce. Since 2000, related research has focused on how to create value by applying artificial intelligence to existing companies, and research on how startups seize opportunities and enter among existing businesses to create new value can hardly be found. Therefore, this study analyzed the cases of startups using the comprehensive framework of the multi-level perspective with the research question of how artificial intelligence based startups, a sub-industry of software, have different innovation patterns from the existing software industry. The target firms are gazelle firms that have been certified as venture firms in South Korea, as start-ups within 7 years of age, specializing in machine learning modeling purposively sampled in the medical, finance, marketing/advertising, e-commerce, and manufacturing fields. As a result of the analysis, existing software companies have achieved process innovation from an enterprise-wide integration perspective, in contrast machine learning technology based startups identified unit processes that were difficult to automate or create value by dismantling existing processes, and automate and optimize those processes based on data. The contribution of this study is to analyse the birth of artificial intelligence-based startups and their innovation patterns while validating the framework of an integrated multi-level perspective. In addition, since innovation is driven based on data, the ability to respond to data-related regulations is emphasized even for start-ups, and the government needs to eliminate the uncertainty in related systems to create a predictable and flexible business environment.

코로나19 대유행으로 세계경제포럼에서 그레이트 리셋이 논의되면서 제4차산업혁명의 동력인 인공지능도 조명을 받고 있다. 그러나 인공지능 분야의 기업 연구는 아직도 희소하다. 2000년 이후 관련 연구는 기존 기업에 어떻게 인공지능을 적용하여 가치를 창출할 것인가에 초점이 맞춰져 있으며, 신생기업들이 어떻게 기회를 포착하고 기존 사업자들 사이에 진입하여 새로운 가치를 창출하는지에 대한 연구는 거의 찾아볼 수 없다. 이에 본 연구는 소프트웨어의 세부 분야인 인공지능 기반 신생기업들이 기존 소프트웨어 산업과 어떻게 다른 혁신패턴을 갖는가라는 연구 질문을 가지고 다층적 접근론의 종합적 틀을 활용하여 신생 기업들의 사례를 분석하였다. 대상 기업들은 창업 7년 내 의료, 금융, 마케팅/광고, 유통, 제조 분야에서 의도적으로 표집된 머신러닝 모델링 전문 신생 기업들로 벤처기업 인증을 받은 고성장 기업들이다. 분석 결과 기존 소프트웨어 기업들은 전사적 통합 관점의 프로세스 혁신을 이루어냈다면, 이들만의 혁신 패턴은 기존의 프로세스들을 잘게 해체하여 자동화나 가치창출이 어려웠던 단위 프로세스들을 식별해 내고 데이터 기반으로 자동화, 최적화하여 새로운 가치를 제공하고 있다는 것이다. 이 연구의 기여는 통합적인 다층적 접근론의 틀의 유효성을 검증하면서 인공지능 기반 신생 기업들의 탄생과 그들의 혁신 패턴을 제시했다는 데에 있다. 한편 기업 실무적, 정부 정책적 함의를 정리하면, 데이터를 기반으로 혁신을 이끌어내기 때문에 신생 기업일지라도 데이터 관련 규제 등에 대한 제도 대응 역량이 강조되며, 정부는 관련 제도의 불확실성을 제거하고 구체화하여 예측가능하고 유연한 사업 환경을 마련할 필요가 있다.

Keywords

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