Linking two Instruments for a Better Innovation Policy-Mix: the French Case of the National Research Agency and the Competitiveness Clusters.

Since 2004, investigations and debates have been carried out on the French research and innovation system. Policy-makers have tried to break with the traditional ‘colbertist’ state- centered model, which put emphasis on interventionism and state involvement. This system that was successful until the 80ies, seems unfit to the increasingly competitive and knowledge-driven economy. The French model is also challenged by the changes in the policy context, as new actors such as regions, and constraints such as the Lisbon agenda are framing policy-making and implementation in the arena of research and innovation policies. The new Law for research aims at reforming the organisation of the research and innovation system, mostly by creating new structures, at the governance level, such as the National Research Agency (ANR), and at the research and innovation production level, such as the Competitiveness Clusters. The aim of this paper is to provide a case study that illustrates empirically the challenges of the setting up of these two new structures, and their difficulties to combine their actions. This qualitative research highlights the need for coordination and communication to reduce uncertainties and redundancies. Our work illustrates that the new organisation of the research and innovation system consists of creating more and more structures, without thinking in terms of policy-mix. A policy-mix perspective, that is to say a combination and balance of the different instruments would provide a better coordination between the different actors of the system.Policy-mix; National Innovation system; Clusters; National Research Agency; governance;

Divergence Of Opinion, Representative Heuristics, Disposition Effect And Noise Trading In The Malaysian New Listings Market [HG4028.S7 C548 2007 f rb].

Seperti juga di kebanyakan negara lain, fenomena anomali harga jangka pendek dan jangka panjang dalam pasaran penyenaraian baru di Malaysia telah didokumenkan secara meluas. Similar to those in many other countries, the phenomena of short-run and long-run pricing anomalies of the Malaysian new listings market have been widely documented

Linking two instruments for a better innovation policy-mix: the French case of the National Research agency and the Competitiveness Clusters

Since 2004, investigations and debates have been carried out on the French research and innovation system. Policy-makers have tried to break with the traditional ‘colbertist' state-centered model, which put emphasis on interventionism and state involvement. This system that was successful until the 80ies, seems unfit to the increasingly competitive and knowledge-driven economy. The French model is also challenged by the changes in the policy context, as new actors such as regions, and constraints such as the Lisbon agenda are framing policy-making and implementation in the arena of research and innovation policies. The new Law for research aims at reforming the organisation of the research and innovation system, mostly by creating new structures, at the governance level, such as the National Research Agency (ANR), and at the research and innovation production level, such as the competitiveness clusters. The aim of this paper is to provide a case study that illustrates empirically the challenges of the setting up of these two new structures, and their difficulties to combine their actions. This qualitative research highlights the need for coordination and communication to reduce uncertainties and redundancies. Our work illustrates that the new organisation of the research and innovation system consists of creating more and more structures, without thinking in terms of policy-mix. A policy-mix perspective, that is to say a combination and balance of the different instruments would provide a better coordination between the different actors of the system.National Innovation system ; governance ; Clusters ; National Research Agency ; Policy-mix

Can behavioural theories explain the initial return of Malaysian IPOs? / Fen Nee Chong

This paper investigated the impact of behavioural biases on the initial returns ofMalaysian IPOs from the perspectives of divergence of opinion and representative heuristics theories. The initial returns were calculated using 142 IPO samples listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia (formerly known as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange). In addition to the behavioural proxies, ex-ante variables were included as control variables in the models for analysis. The findings showed support for initial underpricing of66.51%. Behavioural biases, divergence ofopinion and representative heuristics, were found to have significant explanatory powers over initial returns. The findings fit well with the profile of the Malaysian market whereby the majority of the investors are individuals who are not well-informed and have an emerging market status

Poromechanics of Microporous Carbons: Application to Coal Swelling during Carbon Storage

International audienceCoal seams are naturally filled with natural gas. Enhanced Coal Bed Methane recovery (ECBM) is a technique which consists in injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) in coal seams in order to enhance the recovery of the methane (CH4) present in the coal seams. A major issue for the industrial development of this technique is the loss of permeability of the reservoirs during injection. In a coal bed, most of the transport of fluids occurs in a network of natural frac- tures. The loss of permeability is attributed to the closure of the fractures induced by the swelling of the coal ma- trix during the progressive replacement of CH4 by CO2. Since both fluids are mostly adsorbed in the microporous matrix of coal, this particular problem raises the funda- mental question of how adsorption impacts the mechanics of a microporous solid. In this work, we present a porome- chanical modeling valid for microporous solids under ad- sorption and we apply this modeling to the specific case of ECBM. The first section presents the theoretical derivation of general constitutive equations of poromechanics which are valid for generic pore sizes and morphologies. In the second section, we apply this general poromechanics to the specific case of CH4 adsorption in coal. We use molecu- lar simulations to calibrate the derived constitutive laws. In the third section we validate this calibration by analyz- ing results of adsorption experiments in unjacketed condi- tions. The fourth section is dedicated to the case of CO2 adsorption in coal. Finally in the last section, we use this modeling to predict the swelling of coal in the context of ECBM

Are Deicing Salts Necessary to Promote Scaling in Concrete?

International audienceThe main purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of the material parameters such as permeability, thermal diffusivity, and pore size distribution on the mechanical behavior of cementitious structures submitted to frost action, such as surface scaling. An experimental device, in which a cement paste specimen is exposed to freezing-thawing cycles under a thermal gradient, has been developed. The experimental results show that under high thermal gradient (up to 1.5°C/mm), skin damage can occur without a saline layer in contact with the frozen surface. This can be explained and quantified in the framework of poromechanics. The model is based on the coupling between liquid-ice crystal thermodynamic equilibrium, liquid water transport, thermal conduction, and elastic properties of the different phases that form the saturated porous material. It eventually predicts that a less permeable sample is more susceptible to damage by surface defacement, which explains the observed experimental result

Investigation of water to ice phase change in porous media by ultrasonic and dielectric measurements

International audienceThe main objective of this paper is to study the evolution of the ice content of porous media submitted to sub-zero temperatures by dielectric and ultrasonic measurements. Dielectric measurements are made by a capacitive sensor-based apparatus. The amount of ice formed within the tested sample is estimated from the global dielectric constants of the sample and of all the phases that form the tested composite material. On the other hand, ultrasonic measurements are based on the evolution of the ultrasonic wave velocity through the tested sample during a freezing-thawing cycle. These two methods lead to very close results and appear to be cheaper alternatives to low temperature calorimetry. The ice content curves are analyzed with the help of thermoporometry concepts in order to characterize the pore size distribution. Results appear to be complementary to mercury intrusion porosimetry ones. Moreover the commonly observed hysteresis of the ice content during a freezing-thawing cycle is investigated with respect to material microstructure

Pricing behavior of new listings on Bursa Malaysia during 1991-2000 / Chong Fen Nee... [et al.]

The equity market is an integral part of the capital market, enabling companies to raise capital through the issuance and sale of shares and other financial derivatives. It also enhances the marketability and liquidity of these financial instruments by providing the market for their trading. The past thirty years have witnessed numerous companies worldwide raising capital from the equity market, mostly through initial public offerings. (IPOs) IPOs may be undertaken in the form of new issues (the issuance of new shares for sale), offers for sale (the sale of previously issued shares by the owners of private companies) or a combination of new issues and offers for sale. The rapid increase in the number of IPOs worldwide are attributed to a number of factors. These included the growing awareness among private companies of the benefits of going public, the desire for larger capital bases to capitalize on opportunities, the efforts by national governments either to establish a national capital market or to enhance the efficiency and liquidity of the existing markets to enhance economic growth, the acceleration of the process of privatization of government entities and the transition from socialist to market-oriented economies in many countries. Specific reasons for IPOs include the desire of companies to reduce the cost of new funds and to reduce the level of leverage. For the original owners of private companies, the reasons for undertaking IPOs include the desire to enhance the liquidity of their investments, realize part of the value of their investments and reduce their exposure to risk through reduction of their equity stake. Research interest on IPOs was motivated by three commonly observed phenomena pertaining to the price performance of new listings, namely the initial or short-run underpricing, the "hot issue' market phenomenon and the long-run under performance. The initial underpricing phenomenon referred to the positive difference between the price of new listings on the first trading day with the offer price. The 'hot issue’ market phenomenon relate to the observed pattern of recurring cycles in which periods of high positive initial returns were associated with increasing numbers of IPOs while periods of low positive and negative initial returns were

Pricing behaviour of new listings on Bursa Malaysia during 1991-2000 / Chong Fen Nee... [et al.]

The equity market is an integral part of the capital market, enabling companies to raise capital through the issuance and sale of shares and other financial derivatives. It also enhances the marketability and liquidity of these financial instruments by providing the market for their trading. The past thirty years have witnessed numerous companies worldwide raising capital from the equity market, mostly through initial public offerings.(IPOs) IPOs may be undertaken in the form of new issues (the issuance of new shares for sale), offers for sale (the sale of previously issued shares by the owners of private companies) or a combination of new issues and offers for sale. The rapid increase in the number of IPOs worldwide are attributed to a number of factors. These included the growing awareness among private companies of the benefits of going public, the desire for larger capital bases to capitalise on opportunities, the efforts by national governments either to establish a national capital market or to enhance the efficiency and liquidity of the existing markets to enhance economic growth, the acceleration of the process of privatisation of government entities and the transition from socialist to market-oriented economies in many countries. Specific reasons for IPOs include the desire of companies to reduce the cost of new funds and to reduce the level of leverage. For the original owners of private companies, the reasons for undertaking IPOs include the desire to enhance the liquidity of their investments, realize part of the value of their investments and reduce their exposure to risk through reduction of their equity stake. Research interest on IPOs was motivated by three commonly observed phenomena pertaining to the price performance of new listings, namely the initial or short-run under-pricing, the 'hot issue' market phenomenon and the long-run under performance. The initial under-pricing phenomenon referred to the positive difference between the price of new listings on the first trading day with the offer price. The 'hot issue' market phenomenon relate to the observed pattern of recurring cycles in which periods of high positive initial returns were associated with increasing numbers of IPOs while periods of low positive and negative initial returns were associated with reducing number of IPOs. With regard to the third phenomenon, although the evidence of long-run under-performance were inconclusive, the frequency of their occurrence have led to a number of theoretical explanations being propounded. These included Miller's 'Divergence of Opinion', Shiller's 'Impresario' and Schultz's'Windows of Opportunity' hypotheses. This study examines the short-run price performance of a sample of 250 new listings on the main and second board of Bursa Malaysia (formerly known as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange) from 1991 to 2000. Among the findings is that the new listings registered an average initial raw return of 89.7% and an average market-adjusted return of 90.4%. This finding is in line with the widely reported initial under-pricing phenomenon of new issues in both developed and developing stock markets worldwide. The degree of under-pricing is also within the range of 57.4% to 135% as reported by various studies on new listings on Bursa Malaysia. The study further found that new listings on the second board, with an average initial market-adjusted return of 96.4%, out-performed the 80.1% recorded by new listings on the main board. The study also found that while the average initial market-adjusted return varied substantially across different sectors, the variation was statistically insignificant. Likewise, it was found that the difference in the average market-adjusted return across listing years, although considerable, was statistically insignificant. Finally, the study found the existence of positive relationships between the market-adjusted initial return with the over-subscription rate, the operating history, the market condition, the listing board, privatisation and the amount of proceeds raised. However, only the relationships between the initial return with the over-subscription rate and the market condition were significant. The implication of this is that it would not be possible for investors to accurately predict the initial price performance of Malaysian new listings through analysing the ex-ante uncertainty factors