The labour of academic translation: Who generates value in the agency model?
This article explores the potential of Porter’s (1985) 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.
Keywords:
- value chain model,
- academic translation agency,
- competitive advantage strategy,
- scope,
- differentiation,
- productivity data,
- value generation
Publication history
Table of contents
In an opinion piece, Obrecht (1959) makes the case for academics who moonlight in translation to charge fees commensurate with their expertise. “Many times,” he writes,
Funding
Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Geneva.
References
Bright Network
2025 “A Guide to
Average Publishing Salaries in the UK.” Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.brightnetwork.co.uk/career-path-guides/journalism-publishing/guide-publishing-salaries/
Burlat, Lison
2022 Devenir traductrice spécialisée dans les sciences humaines et sociales. L’analyse d’une profession féminisée en
quête de légitimation [Women becoming translators
specialising in the social and human sciences: Analysis of a feminized profession seeking
legitimation]. MA diss. École des hautes études en sciences
sociales.
2024 “Traduire pour des revues de sciences sociales [Translating for
social science
journals].” Traduire 250: 49–61. https://doi.org/10.4000/123tt
Burt, Ronald
S.
2004 “Structural Holes and Good
Ideas.” American Journal of
Sociology 110 (2): 349–399. https://doi.org/10.1086/421787
Byrne, Tracey
2024 “Re-Imagining
Translation Productivity: Unleashing the Power of AI and LLMs.” PowerPoint
presentation, Charted Institute of Linguistics Translators Day
2024. Accessed January 27,
2025. https://www.ciol.org.uk/ciol-translators-day-2024-presentations
Cadenza Academic
2022 “Journey of
an Academic Translation.” Cadenza Academic Translations Team Talk at Exeter Translation
Festival 2022, YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTWviU2ALAk
Cadenza
Academic
n.d. “Cadenza Academic
Translations.” Accessed January
24, 2025. https://www.cadenza-academictranslations.com
Cairn.Info
2022a Rapport
d’activité Juin 2022 [Activity report, June
2022]. Accessed March 30,
2026. https://shs.cairn.info/docs/cairn-rapport-d-activite-juin-2022.pdf?lang=fr
2022b Projet
“Cairn International”: Favoriser le Rayonnement International des Revues de Sciences Humaines et Sociales en Langue Française.
Bilan 2020–2022 & Perspectives 2023 [The “Cairn
International” project: Raising the international profile of French-language human and social science journals. Results
2020–2022 and perspectives for
2023]. Paris: Cairn.Info.
Chan, Andy Lung
Jan
2005 “Why Are Most Translators
Underpaid? A Descriptive Explanation Using Asymmetric Information and a Suggested Solution from Signaling
Theory.” Translation
Journal 9 (2). https://translationjournal.net/journal/32asymmetric.htm
2011 Information Economics and the
Translation Profession. London: Lambert
Academic.
2014 “Moving up the Value Chain?
The Economic Theory of Factor Price Equalization and Its Implications for the Translation
Profession.” Translation
Spaces 3: 151–165. https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.3.07cha
Chapman, Louise
2022 “Nothing
Lax about Lex as It Thrives Among Academic
Elite.” BusinessWeekly, October
24, 2022. https://www.businessweekly.co.uk/posts/nothing-lax-about-lex-as-it-thrives-among-academic-elite
Chatzis, Konstantinos, Thomas Morel, Thomas Preveraud, and Norbert Verdier
2017 “
Traduire des mathématiques ‘pour et par des élèves’ dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle: Acteurs et
pratiques de traduction à travers trois cas d’étude en Europe et aux
États-Unis
.” [Translating mathematics ‘for and with pupils’ in the
first half of the 19th century: Translation stakeholders and practices in three case studies in Europe and the United
States] Mémoires du Livre / Studies in Book
Culture 9 (1). https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1043118ar. https://doi.org/10.7202/1043118ar
Dent, Benjamin, and Ray Collins
2021 A
Manual for Agribusiness Value Chain Analysis in Developing
Countries. Wallingford: CAB
International. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781789249361.0000
Di
Bitetti, Mario, and Julián Ferreras
2017 “Publish
(in English) or Perish: The Effect on Citation Rate of Using Languages Other Than English in Scientific
Publications.” Ambio 46 (1): 121–127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0820-7
Do
Carmo, Felix
2020 “ ‘Time
Is Money’ and the Value of Translation.” Translation
Spaces 9 (1): 35–57. https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.00020.car
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen, Andrea
Hunziker Heeb, Peter Jud, and Erik Angelone
2017 “Insights
from Translation Process Research in the Workplace.” In Doing Applied
Linguistics: Enabling Transdisciplinary Communication, edited by Daniel Perrin and Ulla Kleinberger, 116–123. Berlin: De
Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110496604-014
Fırat, Gökhan
2021 “Uberization
of Translation: Impacts on Working Conditions.” The Journal of Internationalization and
Localization 8 (1): 48–75. https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.20006.fir
2024 Translation
Work in the Digital Economy: Working Conditions of Translators on Platforms and in Cooperatives. PhD
diss. University of Surrey.
Fırat, Gökhan, and Mehmet Şahin
2025 “Platform
Economy Models in the Translation Industry.” In Walker and
Lambert (2025, 290–306). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003381303-21
Galán-Mañas, Anabel, and Christian Olalla-Soler
2021 “Perceptions
of Entrepreneurship in Translator Training.” The Interpreter and Translator
Trainer 15 (4): 395–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2020.1850037
Garcia, Ignacio
2017 “Translating
in the Cloud Age: Online Marketplaces.” HERMES: Journal of Language and Communication in
Business 56: 59–70.
Gouadec, Daniel
2005 “Modélisation du Processus d’Exécution des Traductions [Modelising the translation
workflow].” Meta 50 (2): 643–655. https://doi.org/10.7202/011008ar
Gough, Joanna, Özlem Temizöz, Graham Hieke, and Leonardo Zilio
2023 “Concurrent
Translation on Collaborative Platforms.” Translation
Spaces 12 (1): 45–73. https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.22027.gou
Hanson, Thomas, Christopher Mellinger, and Callum Walker
2025 “Economic
Perspectives on the Translation Industry.” In Walker and
Lambert (2025, 267–290). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003381303-20
Harabi, Najib
ed. 2007 Performance
of the Arabic Book Translation Industry in Selected Arab Countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and
Syria. MPRA Paper No. 6707. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6707/
Hébert-Malloch, Louise
2004 “What
Do We Know About a Translator’s
Day?” Meta 49 (4): 973–979. https://doi.org/10.7202/009805ar
Holz-Mänttäri, Justa
1984 Translatorisches Handeln: Theorie und Methode [Translatorial action: Theory and
methods]. Helsinki: Suomalainen
Tiedeakatemia.
Jemielity, David
2018 “Translation
in Intercultural Business and Economic Environments.” In The
Routledge Handbook of Translation and Culture, edited by Sue-Ann Harding and Ovidi
Carbonell Cortés, 533–557. New
York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315670898-30
Kujamäki, Minna
2020 “Applying
Service-Dominant Logic to Translation Service Provision.” HERMES: Journal of Language and
Communication in
Business 60: 191–207.
Kuznik, Anna, and Joan
Miquel Verd
2010 “Investigating
Real Work Situations in Translation Agencies: Work Content and Its Components.” HERMES: Journal
of Language and Communication in
Business 44: 25–43.
Lambert, Joseph, and Callum Walker
2022 “Because
We’re Worth It: Disentangling Freelance Translation, Status, and Rate-Setting in the United
Kingdom.” Translation
Spaces 11 (2): 277–302. https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.21030.lam
Lévy-Rosenwald, Marianne
2012 L’édition en sciences humaines et sociales [Publishing in the humanities and social
sciences]. Paris: Centre national du
Livre.
Lex Academic
n.d. “Academic
Translation Services.” Accessed January 24, 2025. https://www.lexacademic.com/academic-translation/
Luo, Na, and Ken Hyland
2019 “ ‘I
Won’t Publish in Chinese Now’: Publishing, Translation and the Non-English Speaking
Academic.” Journal of English for Academic
Purposes 39: 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.03.003
Mirsafian, Leila, Hossein Pirnajmuddin, and Dariush Nejadansari
2021 “Estimating
Literary Translators’ Earnings Penalty: A Cultural Economics Approach to Translator
Studies.” Target 33 (3): 436–463. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.19130.mir
Moorkens, Joss
2020 “A
Tiny Cog in a Large Machine: Digital Taylorism in the Translation Industry.” Translation
Spaces 9 (1): 12–34. https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.00019.moo
Obrecht, Dean
H.
1959 “On the Professional Status of
Academic Translators.” Modern Language
Journal 43 (2): 83–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1959.tb04351.x
Penet, J. C.
2025 “Freelance
Translation.” In Walker and
Lambert (2025, 43–58). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003381303-5
Petersen, Margrethe
1996 “Translation
and Quality Management: Some Implications for the Theory, Practice and Teaching of
Translation.” HERMES: Journal of Language and Communication in
Business 16: 201–220.
Pickford, Susan
2024 Professional
Translators in Nineteenth-Century France. New
York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003173090
Picryl
n.d. “Value
Chain.” Accessed March 10,
2026. https://picryl.com/media/valuechain-1db983
Pomanda
n.d. “Cadenza
Academic Translations Ltd.” Accessed January 25, 2025. https://pomanda.com/company/08220526/cadenza-academic-translations-ltd
Porter, Michael
1985 Competitive
Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New
York: Free Press.
Quested, Tony
2021 “Lex
Academic: A Success in Any Language.” Business Weekly, October 6, 2021. https://www.businessweekly.co.uk/posts/lex-academic-a-success-in-any-language
Samuelsson-Brown, Geoffrey
2006 Managing
Translation Services. Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853599156
Sandrini, Peter
2022 “ ‘It’s
the Economy, Stupid’: Discussing the Translator’s Business against the Background of a Changing Techno-Economic
Landscape.” Translation
Matters 4 (2): 49–62. https://doi.org/10.21747/21844585/tm4_2a4
Schögler, Rafael
2019 Circulation
of Academic Thought: Rethinking Translation in the Academic
Field. Berlin: Peter
Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b14868
2023 Die Politik der Buchübersetzung: Entwicklungslinien in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften seit
1945 [The politics of book translation: Lines of
development in the humanities and social sciences since
1945]. Frankfurt: Campus. https://doi.org/10.12907/978-3-593-45089-6
Society for the Study of French
History
2025 “ECR in 2025: What Is it
Like?” Accessed October 30,
2025. https://frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6691/
Stobierski, Tim
2020 “What
Is a Value Chain Analysis? Three Steps.” Harvard Business
School (blog). https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-value-chain-analysis
Throssell, Katharine, and Pascale Elbaz
2025 La recherche “deepLisée” ou pourquoi il faut se méfier de la traduction automatique / De la traduction à la
post-édition [“DeepLised” research or why machine
translation is unreliable / From translation to
post-editing]. Paris: AOC.
Throssell, Katharine, Lucy Garnier, Annabelle Allouch, and Camille Noûs
2020 “La traduction en sciences sociales, miroir des réformes de la recherche
universitaire [Translating the social sciences, a mirror for the reforms in
university
research].” Savoir/Agir 53: 40–54.
Walker, Callum, and Joseph Lambert
eds. 2025 The
Routledge Handbook of the Translation Industry. New
York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003381303
Westney, D.
Eleanor, Rebecca Piekkari, Kaisa Koskinen, and Susanne Tietze
2022 “Crossing
Borders and Boundaries: Translation Ecosystems in International Business.” International
Business Review 31: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2022.102030
Willbold, Manuela
2023 “Interview
with Louise Chapman, CEO of Lex Academic & Founder of lexacademic.science: The Importance and Benefits of Editorial
Services for Scientific Researchers.” London Business News, March 22, 2003. https://www.londonbusinessnews.com/ceo-of-lexacademic-and-founder-of-lexacademic-science-entrepreneur-interview/
Zwischenberger, Cornelia
2022 “Online
Collaborative Translation: Its Ethical, Social, and Conceptual Conditions and
Consequences.” Perspectives 30 (1): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2021.1872662
Zwischenberger, Cornelia, and Alexa Alfer
2022 “Translaboration:
Translation and Labour.” Translation in
Society 1 (2): 200–223. https://doi.org/10.1075/tris.21016.zwi