A pharmaceutical pricing model adopted by regulators in Anhui province and 17 other provinces in China has pressured drug makers to keep costs low, notes this report in the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online.  Monitor’s George Baeder, an expert on the life sciences industry in China, told the publication that the implementation of the pricing process has reduced the quality of drugs in general because few bidders for drug contracts are disqualified on technical grounds, a trend that creates challenges for Western pharmaceutical companies.

Last year, China spent 698 billion yuan (US$108 billion) on science and technology research and development, as the country focuses on becoming a world leader in science and technology, NPR reported. Michael Zielenziger, co-author of the recent Monitor report “China, the Life Sciences Leader of 2020,” told NPR that the 80,000 PhDs that were recruited to return to China “is a pretty impressive number.”

Two of Dubai’s sovereign wealth funds are selling significant portions of their assets to repay debts and “find a firmer financial footing after the financial crisis,” reports the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National. Dubai World and Dubai Holding have already raised at least Dh3.1 billion (US$843.9 million) in asset sales in the past year, the newspaper reports, noting in a separate article that Istithmar & Co—the private-equity arm of Dubai World—must sell much of its portfolio due to massive debts. Both articles quote Monitor senior analyst Victoria Barbary, an expert on sovereign wealth funds.

With Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings soon to embark on a search for a new CEO, the question remains—will the new CEO be a foreigner or insider? In a recent article on the issue, The Wall Street Journal interviewed Monitor’s Victoria Barbary, a senior analyst based in the firm’s London office. Barbary said the question is “quite a difficult one,” and noted that foreigners may be discouraged by some of Temasek’s policies.

“Not all revenue is good revenue,” says Monitor partner Tom Nagle in a speech to the Professional Pricing Society covered by Marketing News. Nagle discusses the importance of targeting segments that are the best fit with a company’s operational advantages, instead of solely focusing on top-line revenue. Dominating these segments is the best approach for gaining a competitive advantage, he advises, citing Quad/Graphics, Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines and Anheuser-Busch as best-in-class with this strategy.

Victoria Barbary, senior analyst at Monitor, spoke with Betty Liu from Bloomberg Television’s “In The Loop” about the prospect of sovereign wealth funds investing in BP. She noted that BP is attractive to sovereign wealth funds because of its diversified portfolio, with expertise in areas such as renewable energy and gas. It is also undervalued, making it even more attractive to investors.

As sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) return to investing they are also looking to change strategy, by partnering with other SWFs and investors in cooperative deals, The Financial Times reports. The newspaper cites Monitor's research into SWF investment trends, which found the funds rethinking their strategy. Victoria Barbary, an analyst at Monitor tracking SWF activity, said the funds are working to diversify their investment activities. “There has been a more general trend to a more diverse pattern of purchasing,” she told the Financial Times. “We used to end up being able to put transactions into these buckets: financial, real estate, energy and other, but now there’s a lot more going on.”

For the fifth consecutive year, students at the top business schools in the U.S. named Monitor Group as one of their ideal employers. The survey asked more than 5,700 MBA students to choose the five companies they would most like to work for from a list of 200 companies. The top 100 rankings are based on how many times the company was selected as one of five ideal employers.

Realizing the vision of a peaceful, prosperous world will require monumental innovation, collaboration, and leadership, Peter Schwartz, futurist, author and partner at Monitor Group, told nearly 1,900 graduates at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.