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Project business as a mode of operation is currently very prevalent on international business-to-business markets, and project-related services are an important part of most projects. However the way to market these types of services is under-researched in mainstream marketing literature. Therefore, via a multi-lingual literature review, this article scrutinizes four marketing schools for frameworks relevant to the marketing of project-related services: project, services, transaction, and interactive business-to-business marketing. The analysis shows that the project marketing concepts better capture key aspects of marketing project-related services internationally than do the mainstream service marketing concepts. However, the analysis also suggests that a pluralist approach may be useful when marketing of project-related services, as some frameworks from other marketing schools are also suitable. On this basis, suggestions for marketers of project-related services are presented, and a research agenda for academics concerning the study of project-related services both internationally and domestically is suggested.

The multilingual MNC provides a promising territory for enhancing the dialogue between organization theory and International Business. We draw parallels between research on the multinational corporation and that on the multilingual corporation. Our review shows that the changing conceptualizations of the MNC toward a network model have carved space for language-sensitive research in International Business. We scrutinize this stream of research from the viewpoint of three organization theory lenses: the role of language in organizational design and architecture, in identity building and culture, and in organizational political systems, and comment on future research.

This chapter presents a discussion of innovations in pedagogic approaches for high-achieving, pre-degree pathway program students at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The question under discussion in the academic language classroom is the extent to which dynamic cohorts of multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary students are being enabled to fulfill individual learning goals as well as the institution’s expectations of pathway learners and academic language users. Wingate (2015) argues that in the absence of an epistemological and socioculturally embedded literacy instruction, students are not equitably prepared for success in the discipline or the wider institution. The chapter reviews critiques of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and Academic Literacies by addressing “the best of both worlds” (Wingate & Tribble, 2012, p. 492) approach.

The chapter continues with a case study into the Academic Vocabulary in Literacy strand of the Foundation EAP course on the International Foundation Programme at Edinburgh University. There then follows close analysis of innovation by course designers to adapt the “best of both traditions” model (Wingate & Tribble, 2014, p. 2) into an integrated academic language and literacy approach. It is posited that this approach could enable attempts at transition for high-achieving foundation students by experiencing language in dynamic and multi-modal genres.

This article takes stock of interdisciplinary research on Multinational Corporations (MNCs) by elucidating paradigmatic shifts in the world of MNCs in the new millennium and analysing more recent developments in the disciplines of International Business (IB) and Organization Theory (OT). The article also introduces the altogether 14 individual contributions of this 49th volume of the Research in the Sociology of Organizations series. It closes by looking into the questions of where interdisciplinary OT/IB research on MNCs is now and where it is likely to go in the future.

– This chapter aims to increase our understanding on how the language diversity of multiethnic Central Asian countries and their diasporas constitutes a talent and resource-base for local and global businesses. We revisit the role of ‘language capabilities’ for boundary-spanning abilities and the particular challenges and opportunities posed by linguistically diverse contexts among diaspora members and their homeland.

– This chapter provides an overview of prior research and uses qualitative interviews and ethnographic data.

– The findings indicate that language diversity is an important multi-layered resource and a socio-economic link that allows culturally distant markets to interact and bridges the gaps across geographic boundaries. Individuals with multiple languages and migrant ties may develop alternative ways of communicating for business, such as translanguaging and cultural communication mode-shifting.

– The administrative ‘imperial’ languages are often perceived as the oppressor's instrument, however, the alternate perspective presents it as a resource for economic relations and international business development that exists in parallel to the indigenous language heritage. We introduce a concept, on diaspora ‘language portfolio’ that is a toolbox of communication assets that allows migrants to connect and operate interculturally and inter-regionally.

– We deviate from the English language dominance of the international business literature and address how another geographic and linguistic context such as the Russophone business provides a contextual lens to understand how language capabilities of diaspora members is an asset to both, their home and host nations. We illustrate how both the Russian language and the regional and minority languages offer a great potential for entrepreneurial and trade relations. By introducing a Framework of Diaspora ‘Language Portfolio’ this study underlines that minorities and diasporas are key boundary spanners and connectors in new markets and enhance the development of trade in the region.

There are a number of broad trends across rich democracies that show a growing disconnects between citizens and their respective governments. Similar trends are apparent in democracies in poorer nations as well. Given these similarities, it is plausible that trans-national forces are at work. The chapter develops a theoretical argument to account for these trends.

The focus of the argument is on the rapid increase in societal mobilization and loss of elite control that has accompanied globalization and the rapid worldwide expansion of science and higher education. The argument develops the point that these forces have led to a weakening of support for political institutions as they are currently constituted across democratic societies.