Since the year 2000, there has been a significant growth in the ICT4D component of South Korea's aid programme. Given Korea's ICT capabilities and demands for ICT4D support from developing nations, this may make good sense. In this paper, though, we analyse a little deeper, starting to ask some initial questions about underlying perspectives and actual performance. We provide an overview of ICT4D expenditure levels, programmes, and key actors. We then reflect field data to date, which suggests some question marks over Korea's telecentre projects, some potential inequity in impacts, and a focus on Korean production of ICT goods and services. We analyse Korean ICT4D in terms of some basic concepts to find it associated with technological-determinism and techno-optimism, with the modernisation paradigm, with tied aid, and with the potential for creating dependency. However, Korea may not be unique among ICT4D actors in this and, in some ways, its techno-optimism may be a useful counter to the techno-pessimism that seems to have infected some Western donors. We conclude by noting some recommendations for Korea's ICT4D programme, and reflecting that Korea may be representative of a wider new wave of ICT4D donors such as India and China which may not follow quite the same line as Western donors.
One dimensional graphene nanostructures are one of the most promising materials for next generation electronics. Here, the chemical vapor depostion growth of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and graphene nanospears (GNSs) on a copper surface is reported. The growth of GNRs and GNSs is enabled by a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism guided by on-surface propagation of a liquid Cu-Si catalyst particle. The slow lateral growth and the fast VLS vertical growth give rise to spear head-shaped GNSs. In situ observations further confirm that the lateral graphene growth can be completely suppressed and thus GNRs are grown. The synthesized field effect transistor (FET) devices show that the GNRs and GNSs have high carrier mobilities of ≈2000 cm 2 V −1 s −1 . Both FET and Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements confirm that the Fermi levels of the synthesize GNSs shift downward from the wide part to the tip is strongly p-doped. These findings yield key insights into the growth mechanism of graphene and open a door for achieving a facile and scalable method of synthesizing free standing GNRs and GNSs and their applications, such as the Fermi-level tunable devices.
Owing to India's success, offshore software outsourcing attracts much attention from developing countries as a strategic industry for economic development. Vietnam wants to follow the Indian way of development in its software industry. FPT Software is one of the top performers among software companies in Vietnam. This paper aims to investigate the success factors of the largest offshore software outsourcing company in Vietnam. We argue the key success factor of FPT Software is its learning capabilities. Based on the theories of organizational learning, we propose one aspect of organizational learning processes, i.e., knowledge acquisition, as a key to explaining how FPT Software became a fast learner. While discussing the significance of this process in the company's organizational learning, we identify and discuss the roles played by actors in the case including the CEO, Japanese clients, Indian and Chinese competitors. In conclusion, we contend organizational learning is a key success factor of developing offshore software outsourcing businesses.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.