Taewon "Theodore" Kim
Taewon "Theodore" Kim
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Ph.D Candidate, Jones Grad School of Business, Rice University
Does Institution actually work, operate, reach, the same way, in the first place?
Does Institution actually work, operate, reach, the same way, in the first place?
My dissertation looks at whether a bank's presence in a neighborhood actually means people get loans, whether a policy change meant to help everyone actually reaches everyone, and whether the people small business owners deal with day to day actually help them finish what they need to do.
Why small businesses
Why small businesses
Small businesses are less likely to have the size to absorb a bad loan officer, a slow permit office, or a confusing new regulation the way a large company can. They are likely to be exposed to exactly the parts of a system. That exposure raises a question: Does a system affect small businesses idiosyncratically, or in a patterned way? I set out to map where small businesses are positioned, and to find out whether the system reaches them differently for reasons that are structural, not just chance.
BIO
BIO
Theodore Kim is a Ph.D. candidate in Strategic Management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. His research examines how institutional arrangements shape entrepreneurial participation across communities, focusing on why institutions function inconsistently even within long-established systems like small-business lending. He holds an M.S. in Strategy & International Management from Seoul National University and a B.A. in International Studies, with a minor in Economics, from the University of Washington.
DISSERTATION RESEARCH
DISSERTATION RESEARCH
>In the Neighborhood, Out of System [Job Market Paper]
Having a bank or a business support office in a neighborhood doesn't mean African American entrepreneurs there actually get to use it. I look at about 240 U.S. metro areas to ask why some communities get real support and others don't, even when the same programs exist on paper everywhere.
How I studied it: U.S. Census and FDIC data across those metros, focused on African American-owned businesses. Before I ran a single regression, I kept learning more from the African American History Research Center at the Gregory School.
>Institutional Conveyance and Policy Reform Transmission
When a rule changes, it often produces greater realized change in some communities than in others, even when every eligible actor faces the same revised rules. I first suspected a Matthew effect. And I learned about tendency that is built in infrastructure.
How I studied it: A decade (2010–2019) of SBA loan data across U.S. census tracts. Since I'd never taken out a business loan myself, I visited four different banks and had loan officers walk me through what actually happens when someone applies.
>Practice Support Capability and Institutionalized Practice
With the emergence of fintech platforms, I questioned whether access to a lender also means access to support. Even with kiosks at McDonald's, some people still struggle to order food. AI customer service sometimes leaves us stuck in a loop. I theorized that the difference usually came down to how much help a bank or intermediaries actually gave them.
How I studied it: PPP loan data, plus conversations with banks about what happened on their end, and with local communities about their own experiences.
I am happy to share the Gov Data Note (work in progress) as well.
Institutional Theory — Entrepreneurship — Economic Sociology — Social Stratification
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