Pilot Study Research Note

A sample of “successful” (defined as those winning a major export in the previous three years) and less successful New Zealand companies were compared in terms of their use of foreign language specialists. Presents the results, which provided support for the expectation of a positive relationship between export success and the deployment of such skills. “Successful” companies were found to employ more foreign language specialists, to employ specialists with a broader range of foreign language skills and to expect higher levels of language proficiency. Foreign language specialists were also more likely to be employed within the marketing function and to assist the use of direct selling modes. These findings have important implications for the training of foreign language specialists. Language training needs to be coupled with sound knowledge of at least one major functional area of management. For New Zealand language specialists employability is considerably enhanced with marketing expertise and some overseas experience.