A corpus analysis of text themes and photographic themes in managerial forewords of Dutch-English and British annual general reports

Abstract

This genre-based study comprises a comparative content analysis of textual and pictorial themes in a corpus of Dutch-English and British managerial forewords. It indicates that there are significant thematic differences between the Dutch-English CEO’s statements, the British CEO’s statements, and the British Chairman’s statements and that these may be attributable to communicative and historical conventions as well as to current affairs in a particular business community. The present analysis, therefore, suggests that these managerial forewords cannot be considered as identical texts, although all are part of the same comprehensive document (i.e., the annual report). As such, this study suggests that text analysts, instructors, and practitioners in intercultural communication should be sensitive to both textual and contextual features for a full understanding of professional texts in intercultural discourse situations.