About a dozen private translation companies have made the new Inc. 5000 list in 2009. As translation firms finally start to feel the pinch in 2009, it is great to see who had a running start from 2008 and therefore might still be creating jobs in this tough economy.
Quirks
Some of these companies have various quirks. A few obtain their revenue primarily from non-translation and non-interpretation services. One firm may have reported different numbers to different firms, thus manipulating more convenient rankings. One of them even decreased in revenue from the previous year, but still made the list because it increased in revenue over the required 3-year period. One of the largest translation-only firms appears to actually be reducing jobs in the industry by routinely gobbling up various translation companies in acquisitions and laying off most of the newly acquired employees. However, most of these companies appear to be growing organically and are a good example of the entrepreneurial spirit exemplified by this industry of a million small businesses.
- AdaQuest
(sources say this is primarily a localization company despite the fact that its website makes it appear as if most revenue comes from other IT services) - CETRA Language Solutions
- CyraCom International
- Dynamic Language Center
- Eriksen Translations
(drop in revenue from previous year) - EPAM Systems
(most revenue comes from other tech services; software localization is the last of six services listed) - Geneva Worldwide
- Language Services Associates
- LinguaLinx
- MotionPoint
- Net Transcripts
(most revenue appears to come from transcription) - ProTranslating
- Sajan
- STOPS
(most revenue appears to come from transportation) - TransPerfect
- Welocalize
(A report of 2005 revenue at $20M placed them on CSA's Top 20 list a few years ago, but this year's report that 2005 revenue was only $13.1M placed them in a higher ranking on the Inc. 5000. That's very... um, uh... convenient... and probably the result of whether or not an acquisition was counted in that year's revenue.)
Other interesting notes
Half of these companies were founded in the 1990s, and CyraCom and STOPS are currently the oldest veterans of the Inc. 5000, having first graced the 2004 list.
Update 8/17/09: corrections were made to CETRA and DLC numbers. STOPS and Net Transcripts were removed from the chart, as their primary sources of revenue were not translation and interpretation. As the chart implies in the title, the companies listed provide language services as their primary business, and they are mostly growing organically (not primarily as a result of acquisitions).
Update 8/20/09: AdaQuest and Geneva were added to the list.
6 comments:
Can you really call STOPS an LSP? They're a workman's comp service company that happens to contract out to other LSP's (and some freelancers) when their client's patient needs interpreting. I wouldn't call them an LSP. That's like saying Wal-Mart is a fashion store because they also have clothes.
That's a good point about STOPS. They do appear to be more of a transportation company that happens to offer interpretation through other LSPs.
Yeah, and they know so little about the interpreting they offer that they call it "translation" all over their site. I mean, seriously. Including them as an LSP is kind of an insult to the rest of us.
(Also) We have workman's comp companies we work with who say they offer "interpreting." But we don't call them an LSP--we call them a client.
Transperfect/translations.com is not on your list
transperfect
translations.com
AdaQuest listed as a translation company???? They provide contingent staff on annual contracts to Microsoft's Redmond campus who work as LPMs managing other LPMs at SDL, Lionbridge, Moravia who in turn manage translators. How does that make AdaQuest a translation company?
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