Francesca Bargiela is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Warwick and Visiting Professor at the University of Huddersfield. Catherine Nickerson is Associate Professor at Emory College.

1. Business writing as social action - Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini and Catherine Nickerson

Part I: Electronic Media and Writing in Organisations

2. The use of English in electronic mail in a multinational corporation - Catherine Nickerson

3. E-mail: uses, issues and problems in an institutional setting - Joan Mulholland

4. The mass production of unique letters - David Sless

Part II: Identities, Discourse Communities and Rhetorical Styles

5. Discourse community, culture and interaction: on writing by consulting engineers -Karl-Heinz Pogner

6. Meaning creation and genre across cultures: human resource management magazines in Britain and Itay - Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini

7. Words of women: a study of executives' rhetorical strategies - Carol David

Part III: Business Genres and their Language

8. 'Can we count on your bookings of potatoes to Madeira?' Corporate context and discourse practices in direct sales letters - Miriam van Nus

9. Towards a new genre: a comparative study of business faxes - Didar Akar and Leena Louhiala-Salminen

10. Homing in on a genre: invitations for bids - Leila Barbara and Mike Scott

Part IV: The Business of Relating: Effectiveness, Adaptation and Emotion in Writing

11. Spanish language billboard advertising in the US: are there effects on Anglos - Ellen E. Touchstone, Pamela M. Homer and Scott Koslow

12. English as a lingua franca in written corporate communication: findings from a European survey - Sonja Vandermeeren

13. Exploring aspects of context: selected findings from the Effective Writing for Management project - Florence Davies, Gail Forey and David Hyatt

Epilogue: At the Intersection between Writing and Speaking

14. Intertextual networks in organisations: the use of written and oral business discourse in relation to context. - Eugène Loos

General Index

Name Index

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this text looks at the different types and functions of written communication in the business context, and considers how technology such as e-mail has affected communication.