ABSTRACT
Kenneth Pike’s linguistic distinction between the (phon-)etics and (phon-)emics that characterize speech patterns is a conceptual staple for Cross-Cultural Management (CCM) researchers, though it is a distinction employed to a number of different ends. Problematics two and three are inter-related and deal with both longstanding and more recent concerns in the international and cross-cultural management literature with context and location: the enduring etic–emic debate; and more contemporary calls for more context-sensitive and indigenous theory development. Located in the field of languages and intercultural communication, Holmes’s chapter brings recent debates about the concept of intercultural competence and the shift to a so-called ‘capability’ approach into management, as well as ideas about culture from anthropology and cultural studies.
