5901LHS Language And Communication For Business And Commerce

Good communication is identified as fundamental determinant while executing any business operations in the 21st century. It is based on the fact that majority of business enterprises aim to have global business operations. Multinational companies however might experience certain challenges while sustaining its global coordination (Rogerson-Revell, 2007). One of the nations that typically encounter linguistic as well as cultural disparities is Pakistan which has English as it corporate language. Its developing language management system tends to have a direct influence on its trade and business (Jehangir et al., 2016). Though there can be witnessed a wide ranging diverse approaches which can be efficiently employed by enterprises in order to enhance level of business growth and performance on the international sector, several companies have not fully attained the knowledge and consider linguistic strategies as vital. The following paper highlights the benefits and limitations which Pakistan as a South Asian nation faces while conducting business in global market.

Aspects of communication are recognized to be situated at the fundamental centre of all organizational functioning as well as their global relations. Effective implementation of diverse forms of communication aids in sharing of dialogue, knowledge transfer, conduct of negotiations, attaining needs of clientele and further facilitates business enterprises and their functioning while executing their business operations (Abbas et al., 2015). English after being identified as the only corporate language of trade in Pakistan has emerged as one of the critical language hindrances which exhibit a great degree of propensity to impact managements of business (Haroon & Shariff, 2016). However McPherson, (2017) has been observed that a diminutive level of importance has been shown to this area of concern that further will emerge to wide encompassing unconstructive outcomes which might occur if the level of disregard or avoidance tends to persist. Studies by Welter, Smallbone & Pobol, (2015) reveal that significant lack of English language proficiency among traditional Pakistani traders’ performance as a major obstacle in intensifying the commitment level of the country in overseas trade market (Welter, Smallbone & Pobol, 2015). Thus many big, medium as well as small firms which exhibit high level of ineptitude in adapting English language as their corporate language have been losing several imperative business proposals and offers which are typically declared from local administrative communications or in local media. It is important to note that feasible business organizations usually necessitate adopting English as the only language for trading at global market at a very high level. English speaking abilities is considered to be one of the most vital factors which generate distinctive as well as enhanced relation with overseas business associates (Rogerson-Revell, 2007). 

Furthermore highly enhanced English proficiency facilitates rapid advancement of commitment and loyalty to businesses in comparison to the cases which reveal utmost deficit of English interactive ability. It has been witnessed that lack of reliance and obligation in business associations condense revenue growth of company while deficit of trust is typically caused in situations when there develops a sense of dilemma related to an unusual verbal communication(McPherson, 2017) . Pakistan having wide expanding business of merchandise exportation, retail or apparel manufacturing engages wide range of small, medium as well as large business enterprises. A major section of traders show extensive level of incapability of being proficient in speaking English, thus are perceived as less credible or incompetent of successfully attaining overseas trading operations (Welter, Smallbone & Pobol, 2015). Such situations often result companies to be less achievable on global market in comparison to the situations which occur while trading with local suppliers who possess similar linguistic abilities. McPherson, (2017) has been observed among Pak entrepreneurs in foreign language, they exhibit a significant deficit of buoyancy and positivity within themselves. These critical intricacies and limitations thus pose impact on the relationship between consumers and distributors further resulted in losing important business deals with global clients.

However with a populace of over 200 million people along with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of approximately $280 billion in 2017, Pakistan perhaps has been identified as an underperforming economy in comparison to other nations’ economic growth (McPherson, 2017). Several aspects thereby can be considered as vital determinants to such a slow progress of Pakistan's business growth such as infrastructure deficiency that significantly gives rise to lack of English speaking proficiency among businessmen (Abbas et al., 2015). Regardless to these limitations, a wide range of emergent entrepreneurs with a major section of youths have been attaining significant level of prominence in global market. For several important retail international market players, the sound ability of buying incorporated with elevating level of demands and expectations from contemporary customer base along with rapid decision making abilities have made the country develop as a land full of business choices and options (Rogerson-Revell, 2007). Broad range of schools and universities in Pakistan decades ago exposed the dominance of pseudo English medium system which through stated to constitute English as a medium of instruction but had been noticed to develop the whole dialogue and communication between students and teachers in Urdu (Haroon & Shariff, 2016).

However with recent progress and emphasis on English being an essential and corporate language has facilitated wide range of youths to proficiently converse in English (Welter, Smallbone & Pobol, 2015). Furthermore, on various business contexts surpass their strong multinational competitors through certain methodical strategies and implemented tactics required to be handled with contesting with overseas clientele. For example, renowned market brand Unilever's Wall's has still being considered as a market giant in FMCG sector of Pakistan (Fry, Faerm & Arakji, 2014). However reports reveal that Engro food’s prominent brand Omore has attained a challenging position by being able to comprise second largest FMCG market shares. Such resilience of overseas trade significantly claim that these highly proficient English speaking youth of Pakistan have developed utmost capacity to defeat their global corporate rivalries with highly influential marketing strategies and supreme services and goods with proficiently positioning their deals and demands to International clients with thorough English understanding and skills (Pakistan, 2018).

To conclude it can be stated that English being an elementary corporate language in Pakistan trade and business processes have developed both benefits as well as areas of limitations. The constructive aspects have facilitated young entrepreneurs to attain success in global domain while the critical areas of constraints have led many traditional small scale traders lose global business opportunities because of lack of English speaking proficiency.

References

Abbas, U., Arfeen, I. U., Mothi, W., & Aslam, U. (2015). Investigation of personality traits for predicting the entrepreneurial satisfaction. City University Research Journal, 5(1), 64-79.

Fry, A., Faerm, S., & Arakji, R. (2014). Achieving the new graduate dream: building sustainable business success at a small scale. Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación. Ensayos, (48), 153-175.

Haroon, U., & Shariff, M. N. M. (2016). The interplay of innovation, TQM practices and SMEs performance in Pakistan: moderating effects of knowledge inertia and external environment. South East Asia Journal of Contemporary Business, Economics and Law, 9(2).

Jehangir, M., Fazal Haleem, D., Jan, S., & Haq, Z. U. (2016). Why Do Some Businesses Succeed Whilst Others Fail? Evidence from District Swat, KPK, Pakistan. J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci, 6(2), 153-163.

McPherson, M. C. (2017). Identity and difference–re-thinking UK South Asian entrepreneurship. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 11(5), 564-589.

Pakistan, E. (2018). Engro Foods in Pakistan - FrieslandCampina. Retrieved from https://www.frieslandcampina.com/en/organisation/engro-foods-pakistan/

Rogerson-Revell, P. (2007). Using English for international business: A European case study. English for specific purposes, 26(1), 103-120.

Welter, F., Smallbone, D., & Pobol, A. (2015). Entrepreneurial activity in the informal economy: a missing piece of the entrepreneurship jigsaw puzzle. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 27(5-6), 292-306.