Journal of Business & Financial Affairs

This paper examines innovation and R&D expenditures in China’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. We found that R&D spending for these industries was much lower than spending in operating activities, which suggests a suboptimal allocation of resources. We also found that the proportion of intangible assets to total assets (including patents, trademarks and licenses) were also much lower than those in industrialized countries such as Canada and the U.S. We also examined other factors that were associated with R&D spending in these sectors. Using the China Stock Market Financial Statement Database and the SINA financial database, it was found that Chinese biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms’ expenditures in R&D activities are positively associated with ownership structure, but negatively associated with firm size, and with investments in other assets including inventory and fixed assets.

The present study investigated the relationships between Saudi Arabian college students and the “connected” Generation C, their use of small mobile devices to access video, video usage in the classroom, and behavioral variables like the willingness to seek and share video outside the classroom. Additionally, the study explored the relationship between Saudi Arabian students’ attitudes about classroom learning through the use of Westernised videos where the content was presented in situations not in keeping with strict Islamic laws and traditions. Four research questions were generated and data was gathered using the Video Attitude Survey—a five point Likert scale instrument. The data was collected from college students (N=139) enrolled in business school classes at large public university. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations and selected Chi square analyses were conducted on the data. Frequency distributions were calculated to show the variables of interest for each research question, and then presented in concurrent tables.

The findings indicate that Saudi Arabian students living in a strict Islamic society still see themselves as part of the worldwide Generation C. That they use mobile devices to download and distribute video, more for social networking and trend-pacing than for news services. That their strong ties to Islamic tradition have a weak yet significant influence on learning from Westernised educational video. The study’s most promising findings were the positive relationships between students’ attitudes toward learning through educational video, improving their English speaking ability, and gaining a greater understanding of multi-cultural issues and differences.