wordreference.com:
(1) He had a clear vision of how he hoped the company would develop. — correct
(2) He had a clear vision how he hoped the company would develop. — correct
As far as I know, if a sentence is not interrogative and not exclamative — i.e. when "how" doesn't stand at the beginning of a sentence and when a how-clause is a part of a complex sentence — we can always replace "how" with "the way". So I did it in (1) & (2):
(3) He had a clear vision of the way he hoped the company would develop.
(4) He had a clear vision the way he hoped the company would develop.
(5) He had a clear vision in the way he hoped the company would develop.
Could you tell me please which of them are correct and which are not?