the multilingual reality of global business expansion
s welch
language management in international organisations
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Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
International Business Communication
Language Management in International Organisations
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Language and global business expansion...........................................................1
Introduction...................................................................................................................................1
What is meant by language?..........................................................................................................2
Does language really matter? The rise of English as a lingua franca..............................................2
Language, Communication and Internationalization.....................................................................3
The role of language in the study of international business..........................................................4
Language and management...........................................................................................................4
The role of the individual employee..............................................................................................4
Language and foreign expansion patterns.....................................................................................4
Large countries, different language paths.....................................................................................5
Chapter 3: The individual in the organizational context......................................................6
Managerial control, direction and coordination............................................................................6
Language standardization..............................................................................................................6
Individual responses to language standardization.........................................................................7
Language as power.......................................................................................................................7
Chapter 4: Language and international management.........................................................8
Organization structure...................................................................................................................8
Headquarters-subsidiary roles and relationships.........................................................................10
Knowledge transfer and language...............................................................................................11
Knowledge transfer process........................................................................................................11
Chapter 5: Language and networks...................................................................................12
Network development.................................................................................................................12
Language and social clusters........................................................................................................13
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................15
Chapter 9: Language strategy and management...............................................................15
Formulating a language strategy..................................................................................................16
Implementing a language strategy...............................................................................................18
Performance monitoring and control..........................................................................................18
Language strategizing in practice.................................................................................................18
Chapter 1: Language and global business expansion
Introduction
Business relies on social exchange (person-to-person interaction)
1
, - Difficult to sustain through automated translation or the use of professional translators
- If two countries have a common language, trade between them will be 42% greater than
two countries that do not.
Maclean (2006): “companies deal with language issues every day, they cope, the world continues to
turn. How they do so, however, remains largely absent from the literature.”
- Language effects could create a silent organization if not managed properly (Lauring &
Tange, 2010)
The book deals with language matters, or issues, that play an important role in furthering, or
impeding, global expansion. (Show how language matters in international business)
- Reveal how language effects permeate activities across all levels of operation.
- Explore the impact of language within and beyond firms and other institutions that are
engaged in or impact upon international business activity.
- Beyond cross-cultural communication context.
What is meant by language?
To exemplify the various sides or layers of language used in the workplace:
- Everyday spoken/written language = Normal social language, that is, everyday spoken and
written language employed for interpersonal inter-unit and external communication.
o What the book is focused on
- Company jargon = So called ‘company speak’, replete with acronyms, special terms and
management process terminology specific to the company, which evolves over time.
- Technical/professional language = As with company jargon, there is a coded language that is
common within and between groups, and can be used to include or exclude others from a
specific group. The intermingling of company terms with professional jargon can create
barriers and compound miscommunication.
Language is a key aspect of culture. Claes (1995): “If language influences the way we behave and
how we perceive things, it means that culture is also inherent in the language itself.”
- Welch & Welch (2008): “language has an importance above and beyond the embeddedness-
in-culture perspective.”
- Language needs to be dealed with separately from culture in order to better understand its
importance and role in international business.
Does language really matter? The rise of English as a lingua franca
English as the global lingua franca and serving as the communication tool of many intercultural
encounters.
2
, - English has become a contact language, that is used as a means of communication with
others from different first-language backgrounds (Seidlhofer, 2005).
- ELF = English as a Lingua Franca
- BELF = Business English as a Lingua France
- English is dynamic = it is a living language that happily incorporates words from everywhere.
Has always been influenced by other languages and continues to do so.
ELF is threatened
- Chinese language is growing. What happens if Mandarin overtakes English as a world
language?
o Number of characters needed to post on social media is substantially less in Chinese
than in English.
2009: 67% of all tweets were English
2012: 39%
- Other language, or even different versions of English, will have to be dealt with in the
language mix that goes with international business.
- France tries to protect their native language from the vocabulary inroads made by English.
Language, Communication and Internationalization
Noise exists in communication
- Different media influence language use when people share native languages.
o E.g. text messaging
- Foreign languages add more noise, potentially
Common corporate language (CCL) = Possible solution to the problems of operating in multiple
language environments
- Requirements
o Fluency: Individuals can create social networks, internally and externally, to grow,
maintain a business
o Understanding of subconscious influence of language/culture on business decisions
Psychic distance = the preference of businesses for foreign markets that
were culturally similar
- Issues
o KONE example: 2/3 has to operate in a language other than their mother tongue
3
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