For management how important is a grasp of the local language and culture

Can a scandinavian company in unrest be led successfully by a person who has no grasp of any scandinavian language. 

Have often witnessed how badly communication in english goes between two people who's mother tongue is not english. This is why outsourcing support for english to India and similar places often go awry. It works as slong as one of the two in a communication are native english speaking. But if they both are not, miscommunications flourish. And that is even when one of them are from India. A country where many schools has english as the primary language, but its indian english.

These problems get better with time. If one moves to a pure english speaking country after several years, the problem can be overcome when oneself gain the ability and confidence to internally correct what the other person is saying.  

The problem remains though if one goes to a contry like Sweden and expect all communication to happen in english. Even a press release for an international company like SAS will be read primary in swedish/danish/norwegian first and only in english by they who don't grasp those languages. And most comments will be in a scandinavian language because there the most interest is.  

So a leader of a scandinavian company will spend a lot of his/her time with an interpreter. But can emotions be correctrly translated between two people of different cultural backgrounds. Will one catch all the background chatter that goes on in a scandinavian company. Will one as the leader be able to go out and get understood by the people on the ground and in the air.

This comes in addition to the cultural problems and distancing a person that can't even read the local papers will continue to have. Eventually the question will be learn the local language or move on.

Can foresee a lot of unneecessary strife in a company that are based on simple misunderstandings. And what company want that. Or can afford that in a time of global tumult.

Cruz was also never an ideas man in BA. He was more a disruptor through running roughshot over the masses of employees, like Wilson at Ryanair. The development of the identity of the brand and expansion into opportunities was never his way, rather more outsourcing. Like a continuation of Walsh's regime with Walsh constantly in the background. And when Walsh was gone so was Cruz.

If SAS in addition gets in a person who was a very controversial figure at BA with litle understanding for what makes BA BA, one can foresee a degradation of SAS as a brand that stands for something Scandinavian. The airline that business people and others with money to pay for a somwhat premium brand, will select over a cluster of old and new competitors within the scandinavian market. And without them what does SAS have left to defend its existence.