The changing nature of international business relationships and foreign language competence

Swift, JS; Huang, Y

Abstract

This paper examines the role of Foreign Language Competence (FLC) in international business, at a time when business activity, in general, is becoming increasingly international, and when the focus of business relationships is changing from that of a short-term, task-orientated approach, to one of a longer-term relationship orientation. As a consequence of these changes, the authors suggest that FLC should become increasingly focused on the development/maintenance of long-term business relationships, rather than the traditional short-term "sales-orientation" which has been the case so far. The paper is a conceptual contribution, which will be empirically tested at a later date.

Citation

Swift, J., & Huang, Y. (2004). The changing nature of international business relationships and foreign language competence. International Journal of Management Practice, 1(1), 21-40. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMP.2004.004868

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Oct 16, 2007
• Journal: International Journal of Management Practice
• Print ISSN: 1477-9064
• Publisher: Inderscience
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 21-40
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMP.2004.004868
• Keywords: Foreign language competence, cross-cultural business relationship development, joint ventures, international business, culture, internationalisation, market entry, communications, business relationships
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJMP.2004.004868