ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a compact overview of the emergence and further development of international business studies. It illustrates how cross-cultural management studies established themselves as a separate research stream within international business, facilitated by the highly influential cultural framework developed by Geert Hofstede. Only recently, some authors came to position language at the center of culture, acknowledging that languages are systems of meanings that are central to the process of constructing organizational, social and global realities. Starting with Piekkari’s influential study of language issues in the Finnish multinational Kone, a proliferation of exploratory studies has so far been conducted to chart the vast territory of previously unaddressed influences of language on international business. While scholars call for a broadening of language research, they should emphasize that this includes more than merely increasing the amount of survey-based research. Other research methods, such as experimental research, could also provide novel insights.
