Korea has achieved a high startup rate by promoting government-led startup policies for national economic and industrial development. However, as high as the startup rate is, the closure rate of startup companies can be judged to be insufficient for t...
Korea has achieved a high startup rate by promoting government-led startup policies for national economic and industrial development. However, as high as the startup rate is, the closure rate of startup companies can be judged to be insufficient for the qualitative growth of the domestic startup ecosystem. This study aims to investigate how to improve the survival rate of startups by overcoming the valley of death from a location environment perspective. It analyzes the effects of technology orientation and market orientation of start-ups on management performance and the moderating effects of economic, accessibility, and network factors that constitute the location environment. To achieve the research objectives, the empirical analysis was conducted on start-up companies that received corporate support projects from innovation intermediary organizations. The results show that R&D capability of technology orientation has a significant effect on management performance, and market information generation and market information response of market orientation have a significant effect on management performance. As for the moderating effect, accessibility, a sub-factor of the location environment, has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between technological innovation and managerial performance, and the location environment (economy, accessibility, and network) has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between market information generation and managerial performance. This study compared and analyzed previous studies on the success and failure of start-ups and identified common factors. In addition, this study provides policy implications for the sustainable growth of startups through empirical analysis and interview with stakeholders. For future research, it is necessary to compare and analyze start-ups in metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas. In addition, it is necessary to study startups that have moved out of the region and into the metropolitan area to find ways to develop the regional startup ecosystem.