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Communication Styles Embedded in the Bilingual e-Messages of Corporate Leaders in Greater China

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Book cover Role of Language and Corporate Communication in Greater China

Abstract

The significance of leader-stakeholder communication to the competitiveness of corporations in the Greater China region has been recognized. This chapter outlines key aspects of our research into corporate leader electronic messages (e-messages) posted on the websites of major corporations in Greater China to identify the preferred language modes, translation strategies, as well as the communication styles embedded in these e-messages. The findings are that e-messages are increasingly used by corporate leaders to communicate with their stakeholders worldwide although monolingual Chinese messages predominate. On analyzing the nonliterally translated Chinese messages into English, it is revealed that the bilingual representation strategy was usually adopted, and the authors argue that the bilingual e-messages reflect the different communication styles of corporate leaders with their English-speaking versus Chinese-speaking stakeholders, underpinned by leaders’ cultural values. Our research offers explanations for these findings and the implications for corporations.

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Correspondence to Cindy S. B. Ngai .

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Appendix A

Appendix A

Selected corporations with leaders’ messages in Greater China (2013)

No

Index listed

Company name

1.

HKBC 01

China Life Insurance (Overseas) Company Limited

2.

HKBC 02

CITIC Pacific Limited

3.

HKRC 01

China Daye Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Limited

4.

HKRC 02

China Gold International Resources Corp.

5.

HKRC 03

China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd.

6.

HKRC 04

China Foods Limited

7.

HKRC 05

Far East Horizon Limited

8.

HKRC 06

CHTC Fong’s Industries Company Limited

9.

HKRC 07

Founder Holdings Company Limited

10.

HKRC 08

Franshion Properties (China) Limited

11.

HKRC 09

China Minmetals Corporation

12.

HKRC 10

Poly Property Group Co., Limited

13.

HKRC 11

Sinofert Holdings Limited

14.

HKRC 12

Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Limited

15.

HKRC 13

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation

16.

HKRC 14

Yue Da Mining Holdings Limited

17.

HKRC 15

Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure Limited

18.

SCI 01

Baosteel Group Corporation

19.

SCI 02

China CNR Corporation Limited

20.

SCI 03

China State Construction Engineering Corporation

21.

SCI 04

China Merchants Bank

22.

SCI 05

CSR Corporation Limited

23.

SCI 06

China Hainan Rubber Industry Group Co., Ltd.

24.

SCI 07

China Kweichow Moutai Winery (Group) Co., Ltd.

25.

SCI 08

Shandong Gold Group Co., Ltd.

26.

SCI 09

China Petrochemical Corporation

27.

TWI 01

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

28.

TWI 02

China Development Financial Holding Corporation

29.

TWI 03

Chunghwa Telecom

30.

TWI 04

Delta Group

31.

TWI 05

Hotai Motor Co., Ltd.

32.

TWI 06

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited

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Ngai, C.S.B., Singh, R.G. (2015). Communication Styles Embedded in the Bilingual e-Messages of Corporate Leaders in Greater China. In: Ng, P., Ngai, C. (eds) Role of Language and Corporate Communication in Greater China. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46881-4_5

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