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The purpose of this study is to identify the critical success factors to international ship finance centre (ISFC) and to understand the reasons behind ship financing decision by shipowners and their views on the potential of Shanghai to become an ISFC in the near future.

Survey questionnaire and follow-up interviews were conducted. The survey of this study was conducted by firstly sending online questionnaire with interview questions via email and then carrying out interview either on telephone or in-person with the interview questions to collect factual data and views from individual interviewees.

This study identified governmental support and stable policy, sound and favourable legal system, advanced maritime cluster and dynamic source of finance as critical success factors which can help Shanghai to evolve into an international maritime centre with dual function as an ISFC which is a synthesis with the maritime sector of an international finance centre.

This paper is known to be the first to link international maritime centre with ISFC.

Although Korean sociology of sport is relatively unknown to the international community of scholars, it is a mature field in Korea. Sociology of sport was first introduced in Korea in the mid-1960s when the field first evolved in North America and Europe. However, the development of the field shows different aspects from its Western counterpart due to unique cultural and environmental factors both in academia and in society. There are three major research trends that form Korean sociology of sport. First, there is the research focus on the benefit of sport and physical activity by examining empirical data using quantitative methodologies. The second group of researchers pays attention to individual experience in diverse sport fields and utilize qualitative methodologies to investigate empirical or secondary data. The third and most recent trend is a critical approach that theoretically analyzes ideologies, power relations, and identity politics in sport and society. When looking at the future, there are problems and limitations within the field in Korea. These include lack of continuity in terms of conference sub-themes, over-production of doctoral degree graduates, conservatism rooted in the field, and a danger of regarding sport policy research as an exit for sport sociologists. However, there are also possibilities and reasons for optimism. The biggest possibility for Korean sociology of sport is globalization of the field. Another significant possibility is the need for sport sociologists in planning, developing, and evaluating sport policy. Finally, diversification of the field gives ample opportunities for future research.

The 4th Industrial Revolution changed various aspects of our lives. Those influences also led to many changes in the sports field. The emergence of different wearable devices which adapted Information Technology (IT) played a pivotal role in enhancing the field of sports science. As an example, smartwatches are one of the most popular wearable devices. They monitor an appropriate amount of exercise and manage individual health. These functions reflect people's desire to pursue an individual lifestyle, which leads to a trend of “quantified self.” A diversified market related to smart fitness equipment also provided a reasonable opportunity for people to select various training options. Combining online content with fitness equipment created an environment where people compete globally for individual fitness.

As such, the Fourth Industrial Revolution impacted sports field's development but yielded unexpected results. It has been criticized due to taking care of the body relying on machines, misconceptions of figures, and subordination of tools. Like Nomophobia which indicates a fear of being without a mobile phone, No-watchphobia confuses people. Boundaries between sports and game collapse, jobs of personal trainers are threatened, and inequality index of sports participation is enormously broad.

Critical scholars argue the need for in-depth reflection on whether the rationalization of society influenced by the development of science and technology is truly for human happiness and liberation or leads to restraint and alienation. From the critical scholars' perspective, academic concerns and phenomenological considerations should be contemplated based on the aspects of sports sociology.

The purpose of this study is to interrogate the meaning and the prospect of consuming sports as Korean popular media entertainment contents from the sociological perspective. Now, the Korean media are flooded with variety TV shows using sports as their contents. Not only terrestrial broadcasts but also over-the-top (OTT) such as Netflix and Disney Plus telecast a total of 36 sports entertainment programs using various sports including golf, football, fitness, and so on as the contents. In particular, it is interesting that sports-contented variety shows which combine nonsport persons with sports as the contents attract wide popularity. Moreover, it can be observed that athletes, who had made their names in their own sports when they were active ones and honorably retired, appeared as entertainers in sport-contented variety shows and enjoyed their second life as entertainers, not athletes. As such, various kinds of sports have continuously attracted popularity as core contents for variety shows in the Korean media market. On the basis of the background, this study attempts to seek out the answers to the following questions. First, what are the highlight and challenges of the popularity of entertainment programs using sports as their contents in the Korean society? Second, can it be possible to continuously consume sports as popular contents for the Korean media industry? Finally, how can the consumption of sports as the media entertainment contents influence on the topography of the discourse (males- and popular sport-centered) dominating the sports culture in the Korean society?

Korea was an oppressed country colonized by Japan and is a divided country confronting North Korea. Nevertheless, it has established the capitalism faster than any other countries and has repeatedly underwent acculturation and adaption. In such a society, the national football team has served as a national center. Hence, Korean football fans did not allow any diaspora in organizing athletes for the national football team. They instead forced national athletes to make self-sacrifice for the nation and even asked them to be morally solemn. Their perceptions on the national team, however, seem to be changed. It is, therefore, necessary to explore the meaning of the national football team in terms of changes of the “nation” and the “nationalism.” The use of the national team as a measure for pursuing a profit, by escaping from the existing recognition of them as warriors fighting for their country, the adoration for football powers actively accepting naturalized athletes and the active support for our own athletes to advance the European leagues deviate from the existing concepts of the nation and the nationalism, which the Korean society has preserved. This study attempts to explore changes in the meanings of the national football team perceived by football fans based on the concepts of the nation and the nationalism and to predict the future changes in those of it.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how national stereotype, country of origin (COO), and fashion brand’s images influence consumers’ brand evaluations and purchase intentions regarding fashion collections. Korea (Seoul) and overseas (New York and Paris) collections are compared and analyzed.

The authors conduct a structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis using data collected from Seoul, New York, and Paris.

Consumers make higher brand evaluations and ultimately have stronger purchase intentions toward fashion collections from countries that have stronger COO and fashion brand images. In the context of fashion collections, COO image is greatly influenced by a nation’s political economic and cultural artistic images. In addition, comparing the domestic Seoul fashion collection with New York and Paris collections reveals that a national stereotype images, COO images of fashion collection, and fashion brand’s images cause different brand evaluation and purchase intention.

The overarching value of the study is that it expands COO research, which has been limited to actual products. Also, the results provide a basic foundation for establishing marketing strategy based on COO image as a way to enhance the development and image of fashion collection.

Athlete activism has developed along with movements for human rights protection and promotion in Western societies. There have been many voices, active behaviors, and social movements that oppose and resist sexism, racism, or homophobia in society and sports. Unlike such sociopolitical occasions in the United States and European countries, neither strong voices nor active behaviors and organized movement against discrimination have existed in Korean society. Recently, incidents of violence at training facilities or athletes' dorm resulted in government policies centered for anti-violence. Structural factors limiting the outbreak and development of athlete activism were analyzed and discussed, including the conservative and authoritarian physical culture, the athletes' lack of awareness of social issues in sports, and the absence of governmental policies to combat and end sexism, racism, and homophobia in sports. Finally, this chapter explores several challenging plans to overcome structural constraints and build up, promote, and develop athlete activism in Korea as follows: First, it is to increase opportunities for student athletes to develop social awareness by normalizing their education and school life; second, it is to abolish the regulations that restrict student athletes graduating from high school to PE/sports/kinesiology major departments of universities; third, it is to greatly expand athletes' social networking and increase their social power. Finally, the chapter argues that the development of athlete activism protecting and promoting athletes' human rights can be an important turning point for Korea to leap forward as a sport democratized and advanced country.

This chapter presents an empirical effort for the theoretical applicability of sport diplomacy to sport for development (SFD) research by examining how sport played a role in pursuing South Korea's development at given four historical stages: (1) A prelude to Korean SFD before 1945, (2) sport for a new Korea between 1945 and 1960, (3) sport for developmental state between 1961 and 1979, and (4) sport for coming-out parties of the 1980s. This chapter supports current scholarly attempts to situate the 21st century sport for development (SFD) within the history of sport for social good, as well as approaches integrating the role of sport in the 19th century colonization and/or in the modern version of development during the post-war era. By adding an Asian case (South Korea), this chapter contributes to existing SFD literature mostly focusing on Western countries and their former colonies in Africa and South/Central America. It also contributes to the understanding of soft power's dualistic characteristics that direct domestic and international audiences with a new insight into the sport-development nexus in the history of South Korea.