PhD student Ankita Tibrewal (pictured) conducted quantitative research quizzing 415 UK SMEs across different sectors and examined their organisational-level language capacity and its drivers through statistical analysis and modelling.
The definitive research showed that SMEs making use of language capabilities are 30% more successful in exporting than those that do not.
SME companies represent 99.9% of the UK economy with a population of 6 million businesses – around half of all turnover in the UK’s private sector – and employing 16.8 million people, or 61% of the total UK workforce.
“Previous academic research on UK companies has shown a strong link between exporting and growth, and for SMEs a key way to generate growth is through exporting products and services to international markets,” says Dr Geoff Parkes from Aston Business School’s Marketing and Strategy Group.
The results of the research strongly indicate that SMEs can significantly increase their export sales, growth and profits by hiring people with language skills and high cultural intelligence, providing language training to existing staff and investing in professional translation services using sophisticated language technology.
To download the report click HERE.
