Common risks in the translation industry

Abstract

The present research aimed at identifying and categorizing the common risks in the operations of translation companies. It further investigated the maturity level of translation companies in terms of risk management and their attitudes toward the application of a comprehensive risk management framework into their activities. The study had two phases of qualitative and quantitative research. During the qualitative phase, a total of 400 translation projects were observed in four translation companies and further based on the results of the qualitative phase, three questionnaires were developed and sent to 226 translation companies around the world. The researchers identified 44 risk candidates in the operation of translation companies and statistically grouped them into six risk categories. The results further indicated that translation company managers hardly know what risk management is about, while they demonstrated a significant interest in the application of a risk management framework into their activities.