Translation Bureau Benchmarking and Comparative Analysis - Final ...

Translation Bureau Benchmarking and Comparative AnalysisFigure 2 - Canadian Workforce Breakdown by RegionThe industry is global in nature 5 , with over 25,000 organizations that provide Language ServiceProviders (LSPs) in 152 countries. The international industry has the following characteristics:• The industry is distributed with pockets of concentration in Canada, the United States,Western Europe, Northern Europe, China, India and Japan. Each of these countries hasmore than 500 LSPs.• The market is highly fragmented, with the top 50 LSPs generating only US $4 billion ofthe US$31 billion market. Although we have as yet been unable to locate similar data forthe Canadian market, this perspective has been supported anecdotally in PwC’sdiscussions with industry.• 63.4% of LSPs expect to remain independent and grow organically, which suggests thatindustry fragmentation will continue. It is interesting to note that while only 18% ofLSPs would like to make one or more acquisitions in the near or mid-term, 50.9% areopen to business combinations (i.e. mergers, acquisitions) that would make themstronger in the marketplace.The LSP market is growing at an annual rate of 7.41%, and is expected to reach US$38.96 billionin 2014. Although technology is changing the revenue landscape of the industry, most of therevenue generated remains associated with translation services. Fifty-one percent (51%) of LSPsearn more than 70% percent of their revenue from translation. The fastest growing services, indescending order, are:• translation;• website globalization;• software localization;• on-site interpreting; and• multimedia localization.5Source: The Language Services Market: 2011 – Common Sense Advisory – May 2011Page 12 of 43