Can Language Be Managed in International Business? Handelshøjskolen Solbjerg Plads 3 Dk-2000 Frederiksberg Danmark

copenhagen business school Can Language be Managed in International Business? handelshøjskolen solbjerg plads 3 dk-2000 frederiksberg danmark www.cbs.dk Can Language be Managed in International Business? Insights into Language Choice from a Case Study of Danish and Austrian Multinational Corporations (MNCs) Nina Bellak PhD Series 23-2014 ISSN 0906-6934 Print ISBN: 978-87-93155-46-6 LIMAC PhD School Online ISBN: 978-87-93155-47-3 Department of International Business Communication PhD Series 23-2014 CAN LANGUAGE BE MANAGED IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS? Insights into Language Choice from a Case Study of Danish and Austrian Multinational Corporations (MNCs) Nina Bellak PhD thesis Supervisor: Associate Prof. Maribel Blasco LIMAC PhD School Department of International Business Communication COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL Nina Bellak Can Language be Managed in International Business? Insights into Language Choice from a Case Study of Danish and Austrian Multinational Corporations (MNCs) 1st edition 2014 PhD Series 23.2014 © The Author ISSN 0906-6934 Print ISBN: 978-87-93155-46-6 Online ISBN:978-87-93155-47-3 LIMAC PhD School is a cross-disciplinary PhD School connected to research communities within the areas of Languages, Law, Informatics, Operations Management, Accounting, Communication and Cultural Studies. All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. To my family and dear friends Meiner Familie und treuen Freundinnen I Acknowledgements First of all, I extend my sincere thanks to the various supervisors that have accompanied and supported me in this unique experience of doing a PhD (Associate Prof. Lisbeth Verstraete- Hansen, Associate Prof. Mette Skovgård Andersen and Associate Prof. Inger Mees). More importantly, I wish to express my deep gratitude to Associate Prof. Maribel Blasco who has eventually taken over and made it possible for me to complete this PhD. Her supervision, based on detailed reading of my work in progress, not to mention messy drafts, her sharp thinking, constructive and comprehensive feedback even including linguistic editing, fruitful discussions in lengthy meetings, keeping me on track and providing guidance and direction, has been brilliant and impeccable. I could not have done it without her support. THANK YOU, Maribel! In 2010 I got the great opportunity to visit Prof. Anne-Wil Harzing at the University of Melbourne in Australia who helped me establish a network within the research community, provided me with valuable comments on my work and with the technical tools to start my data analysis. I am deeply thankful for all her support. Of course, I would like to thank all my colleagues in particular the ‘junior’ peers from the Department of International Business Communication at Copenhagen Business School who have created a lovely not only work but also social environment of which it has been a pleasure to be part. In this context, special thanks go to our former colleague Assistant Prof. Kristian T. H. Jensen who translated the abstract into Danish. Mange tak! I also thank colleagues outside the department for their advice they gave me in the early stages of the project. The selected Danish and Austrian case companies have enabled me to undertake this research; I am especially grateful for decision makers’ willingness to participate in the study and to provide access, the individuals’ openness, not least their time devoted to my fieldwork and most importantly their thoughts and experiences they shared with me. Also, I extend my sincere thanks to the assessment committee consisting of the internal chair, Associate Prof. Ole Helmersen, and the two external examiners Associate Prof. Karen M. Lauridsen (Aarhus University) and Prof. Rebecca Piekkari (Aalto University). They have not only evaluated this thesis but also provided me with constructive feedback and invaluable input on my work. I am very thankful for all the time and effort they have put into assessing my PhD and writing a comprehensive assessment report. Finally, I extend my heartfelt thanks to my beloved family, in particular my parents, the good old soul mates in Austria1 and close friends in Denmark2, who have always been there for me when I needed them and encouraged me to complete this project. / Nicht zuletzt gebührt außerordentlicher Dank meiner lieben Familie, insbesondere meinen Eltern, guten Freundinnen und Freunden in Österreich3 und Dänemark4, die immer für mich da waren, wenn ich sie gebraucht habe und in schweren Stunden aufmunternde Worte fanden, aber mir vor allem die nötige Energie und Motivation gaben, um dieses Forschungsprojekt zu Ende zu bringen. Ihr seid die Besten [end ei laf ju]! J Without all these people, their invaluable support and inspiration of various kinds, it would have been impossible to reach the end of this both challenging and rewarding ‘PhD journey’. Thank you all! Tusind tak! Dankeschön! 1 Special thanks to the ‘Chicken-Forum’ and SuperSy! 2 Special thanks to my ‘Øsi-Mädels’! 3 Besonderer Dank geht an das ‚Chicken-Forum‘ und SuperSy! 4 Besonderer Dank geht an meine ‚Øsi-Mädels‘! II Preface When reading the title of the present PhD thesis, one may wonder about the motivation for selecting Danish and Austrian companies. One of the reasons is personal; it all started when I came to Denmark in 2009 to start this PhD project centering around language in international business (IB). I was introduced to a new culture and society quite open towards the English language and also its use. I had not experienced anything like that before, neither in my home country Austria nor Belgium where I had lived for a year. When arriving in Denmark, my second language was French, not English, which meant I did not feel comfortable using English. However, I usually chose English (as a lingua franca) when approaching Danes and I was impressed by their vocabulary, oral communication skills and especially by their code-switching abilities, which I could not keep up with. They might have addressed me in Danish, realized I was a foreigner who did not speak Danish, and would immediately switch to English without any major problems. In Denmark the public exposure to the English language is pronounced as on national television, radio and other media. Apart from children’s programs being dubbed, everything is broadcast in the original language version supplemented with Danish subtitles, which facilitates foreign language learning. According to an EU survey entitled Europeans and Their Languages (Special Eurobarometer 243), Denmark is also the country with the highest population rate (46 %) self- evaluating its English skills as “very good” (European Commission 2006: 14). Almost half (44 %) of those speaking it as a foreign language (86 %) also use it “often” (European Commission 2006: 17). These facts are indicators for an overall Anglophile Danish society which is perceived controversially, thus the subject of lively debate (e.g. Phillipson 2001, Preisler 2003, Lund 2003). My personal impression gained was that this ‘focus’ on the English language and a ‘general’ self- confident attitude towards English use had an impact on the perceptions and values of languages other than English within Danish society. Being immersed in Danish culture and Copenhagen Business School (CBS), I also gained insights into tertiary education. Most Danish business schools have recently been confronted with a decreasing number of students studying languages, in particular languages other than English, as part of their business education (Jakobsen 2003, Due 2011). In the context of CBS, languages other than English are usually referred to as ‘small’ languages, i.e. French, German and Spanish. (Italian and Russian used to be part of this language group until they were closed down.). In secondary education, the focus has traditionally been on English, German and French, but today also includes the languages Spanish, Italian, Russian and Japanese (Jakobsen 2003). However, a similar trend as at the university level, that is a declining interest in language learning in general is noticeable (Mondahl 2011). In Austria, public exposure to the English language is less pronounced because all television programs are dubbed and voice-over is mostly used for radio programs, which hinders this natural, facilitated learning of English or any other foreign language. Regarding curricula, English is the main language taught in primary and secondary education. At the secondary level French, Italian, Spanish and Russian play a role in addition to English (Archan & Holzer 2006). From my tertiary education involving Johannes Kepler University (JKU) and Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), I know that international business (IB) degrees include two compulsory foreign languages, at least at the undergraduate level (see also Stegu 2009). By contrast, business administration would only include English as a foreign language. Also, at these universities I had not experienced that languages such as Spanish, French or Russian would be referred to as ‘small’ languages. In other words, learning foreign languages in addition to English is part of an international business education at JKU and WU, whereas at CBS the IB student ‘can get by’ with English only. In a sociolinguistic sense, I was fascinated by the diversified perceptions of languages – English vs. languages other than English – and their roles or prioritization in society and university education as well as their constructed meanings in international business. This aroused my interest in comparing these two countries in my project. Thus, I approached a large Austrian corporation where I had personal contacts to see if it was interested in participating in this research. Similar pre-existing contacts in Denmark’s business community seemed promising for gaining access to a Danish corporation. Since both global operators were willing to participate, I decided to position the thesis in international business with a focus on multinational corporations (MNCs) for pragmatic and practical reasons.

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