1.1 Research objectives and questions
With the above concerns in mind, this study aims to examine the replicability of the OVOP approach in developing countries by comparing the cases in Japan, Thailand and Malawi. The research questions include: 1) what the key features of the OVOP case in Oita are, 2) what the differences among the OVOP cases of different countries are, 3) to what factors the differences of the OVOP applications can be attributed, and 4) how, by whom, and to what extent the Japanese OVOP approach has been replicated in other countries. Finally, the reflection of the discussion is also expected to cast a new perspective to LED theories.
The scope of this paper focuses on planning and implementation stages of policy, not on the impact and effectiveness of OVOP in a developmental context, though the research identifies some essential assumptions of OVOP which provide implications for future study to examine its relevance.