INTERCOMM

INTERCOMM explores international communications for enhanced trade and mobility in a European business cultural context . The project supports the European Commission’s objectives of improving competitiveness amongst European businesses by promoting the benefits of linguistic and cultural skills.

In light of progressive competitive markets and increased globalisation among enterprises, many organisations wishing to trade within international markets are concerned about acquiring the necessary linguistic and cultural understanding. This review of user needs and resources for Intercultural training examines the attitudes of organisations in Ireland trading internationally, and seeks to understand the problems and concerns faced by these organisations in conducting business abroad.

While linguistic skills can often be taught, cultural misunderstandings continue to confuse and perplex businesses. In the past, cultural and foreign language barriers to international trade highlighted a significant gap in the availability of research and development into these areas. Through gaining a comprehensive understanding, INTERCOMM seeks to address problems and develop training solutions to overcome common barriers created through linguistic and cultural misunderstanding. The project examined European-wide thinking about cultural and linguistic barriers to trade and mobility, reviews products and guidance that are available EU businesses in this area, draws on differences that businesses have actually experienced and the solutions they have used to overcome these.  The project also aimed at providing intercultural training tools for exporting businesses, raising awareness of the economic benefits of incorporating language and culture into international marketing strategies.

Partners

• InterAct International, UK
• Open University, Lisbon, Portugal
• Trade Council of Iceland, Iceland

Outputs

• CD ROMs with extensive information about business culture and trading with each of the partner countries
• Websites summarising the information on the CD ROMs
• A useful hard copy guide to accompany the CD ROMs

Website

intercomm.interesourcegroup.com