Business Communication Studies Research Articles

THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN TOURISM MARKETING

Tourism is one of the most developed sectors in Indonesia. The development of the tourism sector is certainly inseparable from the potential possessed by Indonesia, namely the vast archipelago from Sabang to Marauke so that it can support destinations in various regions, plus the diversity of cultures, customs, and regional potentials that open opportunities for access to introduce tourism. Tourism in Indonesia has become a nation's asset, as a driving force for the nation's economy. Indonesian citizens themselves are not a few who are involved in the activities of the world of tourism, both those who act as producers in this case are tourism managers or who choose to become tourists (tourism consumers). Especially for tourism activists, they can make tourism their business way to generate profits by opening a number of tourism facilities, including restaurants, lodging, culinary, souvenirs that symbolize the characteristics of the area and other facilities that support tourism itself. In order to achieve this goal, what must be done is to manage the tourism business optimally, which is then continued by marketing the business so that this tourist spot will be visited by both local and international tourists. This marketing method cannot be separated from the vital role of business communication. Business communication is the main concept in the existence of a tourism business because every party in the business circle will always be connected with various parties with various interests in order to build and maintain the tourism business itself, both managing relationships with internal and external parties. The study of business communication is very complex. In writing this article, the author will focus on building relationships with external parties, namely consumers or more popularly known as tourists/tourists through business communication activities.

The components of formation of communicative competence of the future specialists of service sector and hotel-restaurant business

The subject of the research is theoretical and practical questions of the components of the formation of communicative competence of the future specialists of the service sector and restaurant business. The purpose of the research is analyzed of the main scientific approaches to the interpretation of the concept of «communicative competence« and its components, and also determined of the content of creative objectives of different aspects, due to which the communicative competence of future specialists of the service sector and hotel-restaurant business are considered in it. Research methods. The methods of theoretical generalization and comparison, system analysis are applied in the article. The result of the work. The number of products sold attracted by the tourism industry depends on the communicative abilities of each employee, the tourism and satisfaction with the quality of service. Implementation such tasks need of the high level of communicative staff skills. It should be noted that in the last decade there is a significant scientific interest in the problem of communicative competence of tourism business workers as an important attribute of their professionalism. Such competence is considered as a complex of » psychological contact», appropriateness of communication style, the ability to actively listen, creative approach and situational adaptability, contextual knowledge, emotional balance of behavior. Field of using result. The result of this research can be used to the study of the field of study of business communication in the preparation of modern specialists of service sector in the establishments of higher education. Conclusions. In the conditions of modern educational process, the teacher of professional education must have a high of level culture of pedagogical communication, because professional communication is a base of his professional activities. Knowledge of foreign languages when working with foreign partners requires the skill of special communicative skills during communication. Communicative orientation of the training process of professional foreign language in tourist is determined by two main factors: the existence of motivation and existence of the transfer of speech skills in the sphere of their practical application.

Being “geek” in digital communication: The case of Chinese online customer reviews

In popular culture, the stereotypically iconized “geek” can be identified in different media narratives from mainstream television to magazines. Drawing upon insights from sociolinguistics and business communication studies, this paper attempts to identify the discursive constructs of “being geek” in Chinese digital business communication. By collecting the discourse data of online customer reviews from amazon.cn and analyzing the data based on the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, the study investigates how linguistic mechanisms operate in the shaping of geek culture and the construction of “being geek” in the participatory communication of business. The results revealed lexical variables and generic intertextuality are prominent in the discourse construction of “being geek”, to create a stimulus for a promotional culture in business communication.

Discursive Communication Strategies for Introducing Innovative Products: The Content, Cohesion, and Coherence of Product Launch Presentations

In the information age, discourse plays an increasingly important role in promoting innovative products. But how language works in the innovation process remains underexplored. This study explores the discursive communication strategies used to introduce innovation by analyzing the content, cohesion, and coherence of product launch presentations by Steve Jobs. It reveals that such discursive communication strategies improve the audience’s understanding, recognition, and acceptance of innovative products. This study contributes to both business communication studies in general and research on innovation communication in product launches in particular.

Business Communication Needs of English Major Undergraduates and Curriculum Development in a Chinese University

This article reports an investigative study of business communication needs of English major undergraduates and their perceptions of effective business English curriculum in a Chinese university. Surveys in two stages were administered in 2015 during the Business English Communication course delivery process to 138 English major undergraduates in a public university located in the east of China. The results include stronger English speaking needs, diverse English writing genres, wide native and non-native English speaker contacts, and difficulties in comprehending original English communication. The participants valued business knowledge introductions, company cases, and authentic material input. They also perceived practice-oriented approaches such as presentations and role play as important parts of effective business English curriculum. The results help to further adapt the business English curriculum based on the recent national benchmark and bring better business communicative competence development outcomes, which have theoretical, practical, and policy implications for both China and the world.

Environmentalists NGOs and the construction of the culprit: semiotic analysis

Purpose – This article aims to analyse how environmentalist NGOs build the figures of guilty and evil businesses in texts published on the web sites of two ironic prizes. These texts are good examples of criticism based on reversing and analysing semiotic productions of organisations, like advertising and environmental reports, as a part of on-line environmentalist campaigns. Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on textual semiotics and a semiotic-based approach to rhetoric; the methodology is qualitative and exploratory. A part of the text published on the web sites of the two ironic prizes (Pinocchio and Angry Mermaid) are analysed in order to identify different models and strategies of criticism. Findings – The article identifies a series of critical strategies: semantic/paradigmatic, syntagmatic/meta-textual, referential, narrative and inter-textual criticisms. It underlines the fact that on-line criticism is an anti-ideological semiotic action, which can be compared to some forms of ecological thought. Nonetheless, it is based on some forms of rhetoric and ideology, which can be analysed with semiotic tools. Research limitations/implications – This paper presents a qualitative, exploratory analysis of two cases: results cannot be directly generalized, but methodology and findings can be transferred to other cases (epistemological principle of transferability). Practical implications – Methods and results of this paper can help in enriching research on the rhetoric of environmental communication, and can integrate more quantitative approaches. Results can suggest new approaches to business communicators, in order to avoid environmental criticism and “boomerang effects”. Originality/value – The attempt to apply semiotics to the analysis of communication campaigns is rare and perhaps quite innovative. The approach can enrich the fields of PR and business communication studies, of rhetoric analysis and of environmental communication analysis.

Strategies for Overcoming Barriers Inherent in Cross-Cultural Research

The term cross-cultural implies comparison, juxta-position, and differentiation. Cross-cultural research contrasts two or more distinctive cultural groups in terms of some quality, value, belief or behavior. Business communication examples include studies of business negotiation styles, compliance-gaining appeals, genre creation in electronic media, reader orientation in business letters, and symbolism in group meetings. The focus may be verbal or nonverbal, oral or written, group or interpersonal, organizational or individual communication. Cross-cultural research thus cuts across all other kinds by adding a layer of study: the juxtaposition of two or more cultural groups. BARRIERS This definition of the concept of cross-cultural communication suggests two critical barriers that often impede research: (1) the formidable logistics of gaining access to two or more cultural groups, and (2) failure to acknowledge underlying assumptions about culture, causality, and context. A doser look at these two barriers will lead to some conclusions about how researchers can break through them. THE LOGISTICS OF CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH The logistics of gaining access to two or more cultural groups complicates research considerably. Access often requires physical proximity, psychological insight, and linguistic expertise. To compare cultural groups, the researcher must know people or make connections in order to conduct interviews, run experiments, administer surveys, or gather existing data or documents. Building up the trust necessary for access takes time. Face-to-face meetings usually speed the process, so physical proximity is desirable. Equally critical is psychological insight into the cultural group, which enables the researcher to know what to ask and how to ask it. Such research requires being fully bicultural and having the financial resources to spend substantial time in several parts of the world. Unfortunately, few researchers possess these credentials. Language is an even more imposing barrier in much cross-cultural business communication research. Few researchers are fully bilingual; functional ability in a second language does not provide the awareness of nuances and subtleties of language that are central to the study of business communication. As a result, researchers often depend upon translations of instructions, survey instruments, or sample documents. However, many expressions, images, or ideas are impossible to translate precisely. Communication cannot be divorced from its social, political, legal, and economic context. Translation inevitably changes meaning. An alternative approach used by many business-communication researchers is to use only one language, usually English, for all participants in crosscultural surveys or experiments. In international corporations where the corporate language is English, there is a clear rationale for this approach. Yet, because employees are communicating in their corporate roles, research findings cannot be generalized to larger cultural groups. Whenever nonnative speakers participate in a research study, there arises an inevitable question concerning their degree of fluency. Do participants fully understand the directions? Do participants have the vocabulary in the second language to express ideas fully? What is the effect of time limits? ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH The logistics challenge is a more obvious barrier to cross-cultural research than the second: recognizing researchers'assumptions about what culture is, how it is related to behavior, and the extent to which it interacts with context. Cross-cultural research is impossible if distinct groups cannot be defined and compared. Most cross-cultural business research has defined cultural groups in terms of only one dimension: nationality. Thus, we have studies of German versus French business letters, Brazilian versus Japanese negotiating styles, and Russian versus American compliance-gaining appeals. …

Pragmatics, "Situated" Language, and Business Communication

The first part of this article identifies several variables from speech act theory and conversation analysis that might be applied to the study of business com munication. Recent work on politeness (by R. Lakoff, and Brown and Levinson) is found to be particularly relevant and useful. The second part of the article presents an exploratory study that examines several business let ters in order to see how principles derived from linguistic studies of politeness might advance the methodology used in business-communication research. The study indicates that theoretical work on politeness provides useful tools for analysing written discourse in business environments.