Navigating the multilingual subsidiary environment: strategies of expatriate managers in India

Abstract

Based on interviews with thirty one senior expatriate managers working across diverse multinationals in India, we have outlined how expatriates proactively navigate a multilingual subsidiary environment. Findings indicate that expatriates who believe they have successfully charted the multilingual environment attempt to learn the local language, allow for hybrid forms of language and multilingualism, and yet also informally and formally engage in cultural and linguistic training of subsidiary employees. Overall, findings help problematize or defamiliarize extant assumptions which guide research on language in international business, and we call for more contextually specific language research in multinational organizations.