Economists point to rural Africa, India, China and Eastern Europe as the next big frontiers for multinational corporations. But to be successful in rural developing markets, companies need to customize their approach to the local market in all aspects of their business strategies.

When a company promotes a woman to its top management team for the first time, you might expect the following to happen: The company grows comfortable with women in positions of power, women perceive new career paths and the movement toward gender equity snowballs.

Why are so many people reluctant to go to the movies or dinner alone? The existence of this inhibition is widely known, but its underpinnings have been subjected to surprisingly little scientific scrutiny — until now. Research by Rebecca Ratner, a marketing professor and assistant dean for academic affairs at the Smith School, sheds new light on the psychology of solo consumerism.

Smith School professor Debra Shapiro started a one-year term as president of the Academy of Management during the professional association’s annual meeting Aug. 7-11, 2015, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Shapiro is Smith’s third faculty member to hold the position. Smith professor Kathryn Bartol served as president in 1984-85, and Smith professor emeritus Ken G. Smith led the academy in 2006-07.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Twitter's new CEO, Jack Dorsey, is wasting no time in making changes: This week the social networking company laid off 336 people, or 8 percent of its workforce. He also recently introduced "Moments," curated edited collections of tweets intended to attract new users; and made new overtures to advertisers.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — "Core competence (as a bedrock management principle) is dead," Fast Company proclaimed in 2013. But at least one Forbes writer disagreed. "It has not died," he wrote.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Europe’s biggest investment bank is bracing for a near-$7 billion third-quarter loss, and the fallout is taking shape.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- A computer can do as good a job of predicting how many patients will be discharged from a hospital unit on a given day as doctors and nurses can, according to new research from the Robert H. Smith School of Business, at the University of Maryland. In some cases, the computer does even better.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- In Tokyo this week, Toyota put journalists in a modified Lexus GS equipped with self-driving technology. On its own, the car entered a highway, drove for a bit and navigated an off-ramp.

An upcoming Smith School conversation on diversity pinpoints how the Fortune 500 can achieve racial diversity on corporate boards. The Diversity Fireside Chat event will feature John W. Rogers, Jr., CEO and chief investment officer for Ariel Investments, and hailed as “one of the most powerful” African Americans on Wall Street by Black Enterprise.