International Business Review 8 (1999) 421–440 www.elsevier.com/locate/ibusrev In the shadow: the impact of language on structure, power and communication in the multinational Rebecca Marschan-Piekkari a,* , Denice Welch b , Lawrence Welch c a Sheffield University Management School, 9 Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK b Norwegian School of Management, Department of Organization and Management, Norway c Norwegian School of Management, Department of Marketing and Logistics, Norway Abstract The principal aim of this paper is to explore the impact of language on communication within large and geographically dispersed multinationals. Much of the earlier research emphas- izes the importance of horizontal communication and team building as control and coordination mechanism in such organizations: yet the role of language is often forgotten. Based on an in- depth case study of one Finnish multinational, Kone and its diverse subsidiaries, it is argued that language imposes its own structure on communication flows and personal networks. Sub- sidiary staff with confined language skills tend to build supporting personal relationships with language mediators, while those with superior language capabilities are able to build broad contact networks within the multinational. The investigation also reveals that language is often used as an informal source of expert power in multinationals.  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Multinational management; Organizational structure; Corporate control; Power; Company lan- guage; Inter-unit communication * Corresponding author. Tel.: + 44-114-222-3360; fax: + 44-114-222-3348; e-mail: r.piekkari@sheffield.ac.uk 0969-5931/99/$ - see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0969-5931(99)00015-3