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The labour of academic translation

Who generates value in the agency model?

ORCiD logo with link | University of Geneva
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Geneva.

Published online: 17 September 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.00039.pic
Abstract
This article explores the potential of Porter, Michael. 1985. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar seminal value chain model as a new tool for the industry turn in Translation Studies. The model seeks to identify which of a business’s various functions generate the most surplus value and thereby build competitive advantage. This article applies the model to two UK-based academic translation agencies founded in the last quarter-century. It outlines the market conditions for academic translation that led the agencies to be established. By exploring which steps of translation production are conducted in-house as value generators and which are handled by external contractors, the article aims to identify the competitive advantage strategies implemented by both agencies in their public-facing content, in terms of both scope and differentiation. It further draws on productivity data and publicly available data on relative rates of remuneration for the various participants in the chain of production to attempt to determine which aspect(s) of the textual production process the agency considers as generating most value in the finished translation. It concludes with a brief evaluation of the potential value of the value chain model for translatorial career planning.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The value chain
  • 3.The rise of a specialist academic translation market
  • 4.The advent of specialist academic translation agencies in the 2010s
  • 5.Generating competitive advantage in academic translation agencies: Scope and differentiation
  • 6.Towards a value chain for academic translation agencies
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (62)
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