Language Management Strategies and Slovenian SMEs: An Update on Recent Developments

Abstract

In line with numerous studies, export success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could be considerably improved were companies aware of the importance of foreign language skills among their employees. In other words, many business opportunities are lost within the European Union because of the lack of language skills. Many authors report that adopting a language management strategy is linked to a significant increase in companies' export sales. The ELAN (Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise) findings should also be considered because of the relatively high importance of SMEs in providing employment. This article investigates, by means of a questionnaire sent to 1499 Slovenian exporting SMEs from various industries, how aware these companies are of the ELAN findings, and which language strategies they have implemented in their business operations. The findings of our 2021 study revealed that Slovenian exporting SMEs are slowly becoming more aware of the benefits of language management strategies, but that some improvements are nevertheless still possible.