Prof George Batsakis

NBA evidence challenges common assumptions about talent management: top performers do not necessarily become strong leaders, high status can reduce the additional rewards of success, and recent success may even weaken subsequent performance. Organizations should therefore evaluate employees based on future role requirements, actual contribution, and sustained evidence rather than relying on reputation or past results. Article 024

Managers often judge foreign markets not by actual institutional differences, but by how different or familiar those markets appear. Underestimating differences can encourage poorly prepared expansion, while exaggerating them can cause firms to reject viable opportunities. Better decisions require cognitive flexibility, systematic evidence, and treating familiarity as a hypothesis rather than a fact.

Populism is reshaping international business by making political narratives as important as economic fundamentals. Beyond market size and institutions, multinational firms must now assess how governments view foreign companies, as populist policies and rhetoric can increase investment uncertainty and influence where global capital flows.