Classification of Performance Types for Knowledge Intensive Service Supporting SMEs Using Clustering Techniques: Focused on the Case of K Research Institute

Abstract

In recent years, many small and medium-sized manufacturing companies are making process innovation and product innovation through the public knowledge services. K Research institute provides different types of knowledge services in combination and due to this complexity, it is difficult to analyze the performance of knowledge service programs precisely. In this study, we derived performance items from bottom-up viewpoints, rather than top-down approaches selecting those items as in previous performance analysis. As a result, 74 items were finded from 82 companies in the K Research Institute case book, and the final result was refined to 17 items. After that a case-performance matrix was constructed, and binary data was entered to analyze. As a result, three clusters were identified through K-means clustering as ‘enhancement of core competitiveness (product and patent),’ ‘expansion of domestic and overseas market,’ and ‘improvement of operational efficiency.’