The Martial Arts Business Arena: Investment, Politics, Profit

H. Richard Friman, Ph.D. is Eliot Fitch Professor for International Studies, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Center for Transnational Justice at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His current research focuses on the intersection of the licit and illicit global economies. He earned his Ph.D. in government from Cornell University. Dr. Friman has over forty years trying in the martial arts in both the United States and Japan. During 1994-95, he was a visiting Fulbright Scholar with the National Research Institute of Police Science of the National Police Agency in Tokyo, Japan. Yong-jae Ko, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of the sport management program at University of Florida. He has been involved in numerous research projects that relate to consumer behavior and event marketing in the context of sport and martial arts. He routinely serves on various committees and advisory boards in national and international sport organizations. He has over twenty-eight years of teaching and coaching experiences in taekwondo and holds a 5th-degree black belt degree. Andrew Tharp, Ph.D. holds a bachelor’s of science in business from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, and a Certificate in Martial Arts from the Indiana University School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. In addition, he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. He earned his Moniteur d’Escrime (sabre) from the United States Fencing Coaches Association and the Académie d’Armes Internationale in 2007. His primary focus in his undergraduate martial arts work was weapon based combat. The senior fencing instructor for Indiana University, Andrew, is also an avid sword collector, and has published articles on sword collecting, western martial arts. Jin-bang Yang, Ph.D. is a professor in Yong In University’s Taekwondo Competition Program in S. Korea. He received his Ph.D. from University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Physical Education) in 1996. His seminal work on taekwondo history is regarded as the highest impact scholarly work in this subject. Dr. Yang has been working for Kukkiwon and Korea Taekwondo Association as a director and executive member. In 1990s, Dr. Yang introduced taekwondo to many Chinese when he was a faculty member of Beijing University. Today, he is known as ＂the Father of Taekwondo in China.＂