Economic Intelligence

The economic intelligence is distinguished from the economic Espionnage because it uses exclusively means Légaux. It conceives in an ethical spirit of compared to structures of Autorité, initially those of the State S (Souveraineté) and those of the companies.

The majority of the French specialists summarize the economic intelligence by a trilogy: take care (to acquire relevant information strategic), plus protection of the informational inheritance (not to let know its secrecies) more influence (to propagate information or standards of behavior and interpretation which supports its strategy).

General presentation

When one can provide strategic information to the good moment, with the good person, in the good context, one obtains a competitive Avantage decisive on the others.

Certain significant companies as those of the armament were precursors. Rare however were those which anticipated the turn of the economic intelligence successfully. In France, let us quote Giat Industries, Elf Aquitaine, Rhône-Poulenc, and in the United States Lockheed, Motorola, IBM.

What is central in the economic intelligence is the fact that it is not reduced to disordered accumulation information of all kinds. It is a question of producing knowledge structured to help the companies to fight and to defend themselves in the economic competition of a world Cold post-War.

The majority of the French specialists summarize the economic intelligence with the following axes:

  • economic Day before/information (to acquire relevant information),
  • Protection of the informational inheritance (not to let know its secrecies)
  • Decision-making aid (analyzes, decisional cartography, " war room" …)
  • Influence (to propagate information or modes of behavior and interpretation which supports its strategy).

Definitions

The definition of the economic intelligence was the subject of intense theoretical and practical debates a long time. The first definition of the modern economic intelligence goes back to 1967 by Harold Wilensky, in a work entitled: " The intelligence organisationnelle". It defines the intelligence economic as the production activity of knowledge serving the economic and strategic goals of an organization, collected and produced in a legal context and starting from open Sources.

This definition was taken again and worked first once in France by the Economic Commission Intelligence and Strategy of the Companies of the General police station in the Plan in 1993, under the presidency of Henri Martre, and having in particular like initiators and rapporteurs Christian Harbulot, Philippe Clerc and Philippe Baumard.

The universe of the economic intelligence being very vast, it includes sometimes very different realities. There are other definitions, but we preserve the two following ones:

  • the report/ratio Marten , collective work of the Police station of the Plan entitled economic Intelligence and strategy of the companies (French Documentation, Paris, 1994), gives the following definition: “  the economic intelligence can be defined like the whole of the coordinated actions of research, treatment and distribution, for its exploitation, of the useful information to the economic actors. These various actions are carried out legally with all the guarantees of protection necessary to the safeguarding of the inheritance of the company, under the best conditions of times and costs. The useful information is that whose need the various levels Décision of the company or the community, to work out and implement in a coherent way the strategy and the tactics necessary to the attack of the objectives defined by the company with an aim of improving its position in its competing environment. These actions, within the company, are ordered around an uninterrupted, generating cycle of a shared vision of the objectives of the company.   ”

  • Definition of Christian Harbulot : the economic intelligence is defined as the research and the systematic interpretation of the accessible information in all, in order to decipher the intentions of the actors and to know their capacities. It includes/understands all the operations of monitoring of the competing environment (protection, day before, influence) and is different from the traditional information by: the nature of its field of application, since that it relates to the field of opened information, and thus requires the respect of a credible deontology; Identity of its actors, insofar as the whole of the personnel and the framing - and either only experts - take part in the construction of a collective culture of information; its cultural identities, because each nation's economy produces an original model of economic intelligence whose impact on the sales strategies and industrial varies according to the countries.

Forms of the economic intelligence

The economic intelligence gave rise to a particular variation which is the territorial economic intelligence. The latter, such as it was conceived by the Prefect Rémy Pautrat, makes it possible to organize in a system making direction, strategic coherent with the service of the growth and employment, the varied actions of town and country planning, industrial policy and economic development in general which are led to the central and local level with a deficit of coordination.

Consequently, one can define the territorial intelligence as valorization, the coordination and the protection of the economic assets and industrial and technological know-how of the territories and their fabric of SME, in order to transform them into decisive comparative advantages in the European and world commercial competition.

Of what is concretely made up the territorial intelligence? It is composed in fact of four types of actions being incorporated in a unified and coordinated device.

  • the first is the economic intelligence territorial (IET), development of concerted strategies of economic development and technological for the territories, while resting on the Poles of competitiveness.

This construction is based on the determination of the forces and the weaknesses of the territory in connection with occasions and threats which contains the total environment. To say it differently, it is a question of apprehending how an area, a department or an agglomeration can develop its assets according to the main economic tendencies, social and cultural of a definite space and a given period.

the Poles of competitiveness are the example emblematic of these strategic development schemes of the areas. They rest on the location of the local specialities, know-how and the dies of local excellence and their development via organized networks of work and information exchanges. It is all in all a question of creating a regional dynamics of co-operation, by supporting the regrouping of the services of the State and the territorial collectivities, of companies (in particular SME), of the universities and the research centres around common strategic projects. Inspired by the theory of the " clusters" north American, the transposition with the French context of such " clusters" unfortunately was very badly thought and very badly implemented. For political reasons, the meeting of the knowledge to make critical in only one area per field was not possible, each area wanting to continue to hold critical credits even if they do not have the sufficient size to be competitive with the international level. One finds thus scattered in the various poles of competitiveness of small units to the know-how isolated from the remainder of the country. Not representing important teams, these isolated units do not have to be able of negotiation raised to recover a consequent part of the budget allocated with the pole. The effect is thus opposite, and drowned in the poles, the isolated units lose more influence and of radiation which they did not have before. Moreover the financing of the poles in France is the subject of a corruption and an exacerbated clientelism. For example, the attribution of the budgets of the National agency for Research (ANR) was led under the Robien government in all opacity. One finds in the members of the jury of attributions of budgets ANR the members of the councils of piloting or administration of the poles! Incomplete files, not justified scientifically, not representing international dimension, saw thus allotted budgets going up to 6 million Euros, while critical projects not profiting from the support of the circles of co-optation and clientelism, and representing strategic interests for France were rejected in a concise way (the justified answer of the ANR generally holding on two lines). Except for some poles which profited already from a system of dialog before the advent of the " pôles" (like that of nano-technologies), the chart of the poles Frenchwomen reflect more the chart of the networks clientelists and policies that the true chart of competences, credits and knowledge critical.

  • the second consists of the definition and the safeguarding of a strategic economic perimeter , i.e. of a whole of companies working in the field of significant technologies and that it is advisable to protect for reasons from national interest or European and of conquest of privileged positions on the highly profitable markets of dual high technologies (IE relating to the fields soldier and civilian).

  • the third is the constitution of networks of experts and decision makers , between firms and inter-administrations, but also between the State, the companies, the universities and the various actors of economic development and social local.

  • fourth is sensitizing and the formation with the economic intelligence , because the latter is essential to the construction of competitiveness Durable of the French companies.

Indeed, the international scene and the life of the nations must be interpreted today using a new grid of reading. We entered the economy of knowledge, corollary of the Mondialisation of the exchanges and the ideas. One of the essential components of the strategic capital which determine today the prosperity of the companies, the competitiveness of the companies and thus the evolution of employment, is information. To know to seek it, treat it and diffuse it (while protecting the share from significant data which must be protected) constitutes one of the priority tasks of all the economic actors and the definition even of the economic intelligence.

History

The economic intelligence, as a search for Information S and exploitation with an objective economic, exists for a very long time. In the history, it was often related on explorations, the trade and the Information S brought back by the Explorateur S and the tradesmen…

The accounts of voyage constituted of the important mines of Information S for the Entreprise S and the Gouvernement S.

Without going back to the Antiquity, one could quote the trade starting from the République of Venice, the Exploration S of the missionaries franciscains (especially) in Asia, as far as the Far East (China) with the 13th century, and the consignment of the Information S in the form of accounts of voyages (information Géographique S, Botanique S…). Then Marco Polo and the Devisement of the world had the success which one knows.

Another historical source, currently re-studied in France, is that of the Belgian Explorateur Jean de Mandeville which, after a voyage 34 years in Asia (it was considerable for the time), compiled in several Langue S the account of its own voyages (1322 - 1356) and of those of other former explorers, in a sometimes esoteric form or mythical with the result that it was neglected). It should be noted that Jean de Mandeville had been put at the service of the English, whereas the France was still in the Guerre One hundred Year old.

Works of Jean de Mandeville were Imprimée S in many Langue S in the motié second of the 15th century, and they were read by the young person Christophe Colomb, who included/understood kind that the Ground was round (one already knew it in the mediums Cultivé S for a long time). Thus, the Information S Géographique S structured S in cartographic form made it possible the Européen S to acquire supremacy Mondiale at the 16th century.

Let us jump a few centuries: at the 18th century, the Colonist S english-speaking established on the ground of the North America, not wishing to pay the taxes required by the British crown, asserted to them Indépendance. One of the craftsmen of this independence, Thomas Jefferson, bitterly defended the principles of the Intellectual property, which were thus in the Culture of this nation.

In second half of the 19th century, the the United States knew one period of very strong Immigration coming from Europe (Central Europe, Ireland, Italy…). They felt the need Comptabiliser the Population, and they used for that the technique incipient from the Carte Hollerith and the Mécanographie to carry out the first Recensement automated Histoire.

During the Second world war, the center of Renseignement of London, which included/understood primarily Americans and of the English, exploited all the Information S coming from the continent (European). The Anglo-Saxons were very skilful during the Second world war for the collection and the treatment of the Information S.

This Culture of the Renseignement made it possible to the Americans to develop the first systems of electronic treatment of the Information (Ordinateur S) towards 1942 (Von Neumann), for the reconversion of American industry in economy of war, which was more the great project Mondial of the History.

The reflections on the Renseignement at that time (1948 - 1949, is a little after the appearance of the first Ordinateur) were however founded on models of Communication enough simplistes : Transmission of a transmitting with a Receiving (see Claude Shannon).

The current vision of the economic intelligence is a very important evolution compared to the traditional Renseignement, insofar as the appearance of Internet (Web, emails) and of the Data-processing networks of Entreprise wide (Intranet, Extranet) multiplies the transmitting S and the Récepteur S, and allows an effect Rétroactif which did not exist with large scales with the systems Télégraphique S and Téléphonique S, and not, in a form Numérique, with the Radiodiffusion, and the Télévision. The Informatique of company developed in the Années 1970 on cells (Entreprise S) generally disconnected from/to each other (except exception, EDI in the Automobile).

Internet constitutes thus a force of important Influence.

Cycle, contents and functions of the economic intelligence

The economic intelligence can:

  • is to seek Information S on a given subject considered as strategic: question raised by the direction leading in the search of Information,
  • is to collect Information S on the context of the organization starting from the process of day before, to distinguish those which are of a strategic interest for the Entreprise, to structure them in the collective memory, and to define the action plans.

The first approach is the traditional approach of the Renseignement which was adopted by the Secret services.

The second approach is the new approach of the economic intelligence, which is essential henceforth because of the importance of the context within the framework of the Mondialisation. It privileges the Perception of the environment, by using the open sources , which they are obtained by the human relations or from the written sources.

See also: Intelligence of the open sources

The Americans call the process of Intelligence of the open sources open source intelligence (OSINT).

In the United States, several concepts illustrate the increasing interaction between the spheres of activity (Environnement, social, economic, legal, military,…) :

Cycle information

The cycle of the Renseignement corresponds to the old approach used by the Secret services. The operation of the cycle is the following:

  • the orientation

The base of the cycle is consisted the questions which one seeks to answer. They are generally defined by the direction of the organization. These questions will direct the " capteurs" who will give access to the information sources.

  • collection of information

It takes place at the same time in the external internal networks and the memory of the economic intelligence. Information can also come from the most various sources (public documentations, Média S, living rooms and meetings, Brevet S, Norme S, Back-engineering)

  • the exploitation

Collected information is analyzed by the experts of the organization. The analysis is supposed to include/understand the validation of the data, their stepping, their setting in prospect.

  • the diffusion

Analyzed and structured information (i.e. made exploitable) is disseminated with the people concerned in the organization, so that they are used by the actors who need some within the framework for their functions. In particular, one transmits information to the direction which will be able to define new questions.

Critical of the approach known as of cycle of information

The first author who criticized the concept of cycle of information is Harold Wilensky in 1967. These criticisms will be taken again and developed by Steven Dedijer in 1972, during the creation of the first university formation to the economic intelligence with the Université of Lund in Sweden. The two authors emit criticisms following:

  • the cycle of the information was developed in military contexts and of information. Its matter is before any policy, in the sense that it is justified by a separation between the collection (the agents) and analyzes it (analysts, near to the command) with a sedentary aim: to protect the intentions from the command with respect to the ground, to create an opaque and inviolable wall enters the agents and the command center. Sun Zi was the first to encourage this separation in its chapter devoted to the " agents sacrifiés" in its Art of the war.

  • the second criticism brought by Steven Dedijer in 1989 is due to the temporal dimension of the exploitation of the cycle " plan of recherche" vs " recueil". Extremely of its 50 years experiment of practice of cycles of information, Steven Dedijer stressed that between the starting of an effort of information and its result, the structures of being able change so that the systems of command having initially requested the information will be probably different with the result. In this case, the wall which is opposed to the agents of collection (their incapacity to go up towards the source of command) creates major failures. Such a fault intervened in the United States within the framework of nonthe detection of the attacks of September 11th, 2001. There exists in the United States a double wall: between the collection and the policy on the one hand, between the two agencies domestic and total on the other hand. This question was very largely documented in the report/ratio of the Congress about the attacks of September 11th.

  • the third criticism comes from sciences of management, in particular in work of P.Baumard which underlines in 1991 in Stratégie and monitoring of the competing environments, that the acceleration of the rates/rhythms of the competition (short technological cycles, swiftness on the markets, strategic movements fast) requires a decentralization of the processes of formulation of the strategies of company, and makes the cycles heavy centralized ineffective and not very productive. It stresses that a decentralized formulation of the strategy of company requires that the wall between collection and analysis is abolished, so that the agents of collection to nearest to the strategic action on the ground produce interpretation (analyzes) when the ruptures appear in the environment or the behavior of the actors. It also underlines that being given the variety and the size of the actions managed by the great groups multidivisionnels, it is impossible that a centralized cell can cumulate and capitalize knowledge necessary to be able to animate such cycles without incurring strong deformations, important skews and creating dead angles.

The majority of the consultants in economic intelligence continue with " vendre" such as it is the " Cycle renseignement" with the companies, because it confers an image of rigor and a methodological pretense on the discipline, putting side the fact that this cycle, inspired of the military information, must imperatively be adapted to the world of the company.

Modern approach of the economic intelligence

In the second case, one does not know exactly what one will find. Compared to the technical vision of the Information, the analysis of the Information S, their structuring, their variation in Strategy and the implementation of the actions are worked out and more distributed much in the organization.

In France, Bernard Besson and Jean-Claude Possin lean for this new approach, just as all the new authorities of economic intelligence (AFDIE, Fépie…)

The directions of effort are then:

  • Research and collection of information and key knowledge

  • Treatment and interpretation of the data collected

  • Formulation of the strategic reasoning

  • Implemented of the actions and animation of the networks

  • Evaluation of the effects and mutualisation of the practices

Each one of these stages should in the absolute be the subject of a specific approach of economic intelligence.

Moreover, the economic intelligence is not limited any more to the companies, but becomes more and more a Enjeu of State. It is in particular all the debate on economic patriotism.

Contents of the economic intelligence

The economic intelligence is not summarized with the day before. According to work of the AFDIE (French Association for the development of the economic intelligence), inspired by the ideas developed in the United States by SCIP the previous decade, the economic intelligence includes/understands the following tasks:

  • Research and collection of information and key knowledge

    • Day before,
    • Information retrieval
    • Investigation (human sources)

  • Treatment and interpretation of the data collected

    • Maintenance of the databases and knowledge,
    • Data administration.
    • Analysis
    • Synthesis (construction of interpretative diagrams and mental models)

  • Formulation of the strategic reasoning

    • Strategy of Innovation,
    • Project control,
    • Anticipation and control of the risks,
    • Evaluation of the effects of the Decision S to take.

  • Implemented of the actions and animation of the networks

    • Animation of networks of influence,
    • preventive or curative Deployment of the offensive or defensive actions,
    • Communication on the values,

  • Evaluation of the effects and mutualisation of the practices

    • Impact study,
    • Rétroveille on the process,
    • Exchanges of practices and knowledge,
    • economic Audit of intelligence, car-evaluation.

Functions of the economic intelligence

To this end, a certain number of functions were defined to take part in its fonctionnement . Bernard Besson and Jean-Claude Possin distinguish four from them (control, memory, network, analyze) that we present in the following order:

  • the network .

One often divides it into
* external network : constituted people not belonging to the Undertaken, of various sources (knowledge of the Employed S, customer S, Supplier S, partners, contacts deliberated…) ;
* internal network : employees of the organization being able to be used as experts on a question, and to provide Information S. It is the only specific body of the economic intelligence. The memory is charged to memorize the Information S and explicit Connaissance S of the Entreprise, obtained or not thanks to the economic intelligence. It can be organized within the framework of a project of Ingénierie of knowledge. It is about a structured reference frame whose, ideally, the principal Donnée S (Métadonnées) are compatible with the structure of the Information system and answer Norme S of internal and external consistency.

  • the control .

the economic intelligence is with the service of the organization. For this reason, it is controlled by the head of undertaking, which must define its objectives and the great questions to which it will have to answer. The quality of the questions is capital to obtain interesting information. At the beginning, the questions will have to remain most open possible not to exclude a priori from key information which could emerge from the context. The ethical and the Déontologie concern this function.

  • the analysis .

They are the correspondents of the economic network of intelligence who produce relevant questions and validate the answers by offering multiple choices to the company. It is organized transversely, like the network and the memory.

Jean-Louis Levet and Robert Paturel identifies, on their side, the four following functions: control scientific inheritance and know-how, detection of the occasions and threats, coordination of the strategies, implemented of practices of influence.

One can bring closer these functions to similar concepts though enough different: key elements of the strategy given in network centered of the Department of Defense of the United States.

The process of intelligence economic in the modern cycle

Certain consultants in economic intelligence affirm that its installation should have as a precondition the evaluation of the strategic Culture of the Entreprise, while starting with:

  • a phase of economic audit of intelligence,

  • a day before on the methods of the competitors, in particular on the methods employed by the great American groups,
  • an analysis of the best practices inside the organization.

This design of the economic intelligence can encounter difficulties:

  • " audits of intelligence économique" can be dangerous approaches for the organization because they entrust to an outside contributor the role to make speak the actors on a sensitive topic.
  • the scientific work on the economic intelligence showed that a manager is unable to formulate needs for knowledge without avoiding heavy skews of perception and interpretation.
  • such to that, even made correctly can meet two shelves: (1) One says to the customer things that it knows already or (2) One tells him things which it does not have desire for hearing.
  • the day before on the concurrent methods could lead to the imitation, the imitation and the homology, but, if it is carried out correctly, can be rich ideas, and raise inhibitions (so of others do it… why not us?).

Seek and collection of information and key knowledge

See also: Day before in company

The collection of the Information S is the object of the process of day before, which is a proactive search for Information S, starting from the weak signals perceived in the context.

It was seen that the day before rests:

  • either on oral Information S obtained by human relations (HUMINT in language of information),
  • or on Information S written collected by a process of and Intelligence of the open sources (OSINT) and of Search for information on the Web using Search engines,
  • or by processes suitable for the information (SIGINT).

The process of day before calls upon qualities of Discernement or Intuition on behalf of the watchers and of the experts, in the Perception of the environment.

The Intuition is a catch of Conscience immediate and individual. It can lead to errors of appreciation. It is thus necessary to check information starting from several sources, and Discerner by Perception early which are right information, useful, which one will be able to make best the Usage, according to the regulation for example, or of the context.

The day before passes today by the use on the Web of very sophisticated Search engines, whose performances depend on the features: Research full text, or, more and more, research Semantic S with use of Metadatum S.

The day before must detect the strategies of Diversion of the adversary, which can appear by Rumeur S, Bruit S, Désinformation.

The various types of Veille classified alphabetically are:

However, the economic intelligence seeks to be further, while memorizing its own results and adopting a proactive step aiming at making bear fruit information recueillie : it is the object of the following stages of the cycle.

The spirit of typology is the intellectualization of the poor spirits. Categorization presented above proves generally very dangerous for the company while making think of the decision makers that a functional approach of its strategic problems is an appropriate solution. It gives the illusion to the decision makers whom it can compartmentalize social technique, the media of commercial, the territory and the strategic one, etc None of these fields is independent, and the most important elements of rupture always take place with the intersection or in the combination of these various fields. Consequently, the consultants in economic intelligence, by encouraging the creation of typologies of observation within the companies, create (1) dead angles, (2) a against-productivity of the economic effort of intelligence destroying information essential being with the intersections and (3) a false feeling of control resulting from the existence of a typology.

Treatment and Interpretation of the Information S collected

See also: Knowledge management

The Information S collected are analyzed and structured by method S forces weaknesses/Occasion S Menace S (expressed in French language). The equivalent in English is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) (see SWOT).

The use of the model of Learned, Christensen, Andrews and Guth (Harvard, 1962) more known under the name of SWOT is an obvious proof of the incompetence in strategy of company of the world of the council in economic intelligence. This approach, a long time taught in the business schools (and still in the least powerful of them, without any methodological precaution) is inspired by a deterministic design of the strategy of company, what is called the " strategic choice" in the literature in strategy of company. It was conceived in 1962, while taking as a starting point the work of Ansoff which dates from after war (WWII). At the time, the competition is summarized with a multi-domestic competition on the one hand, and the emergence of some total products on the other hand (Coke Cola for example). The approach consists in bringing closer to internal competences of external occasions, from where concept of strategic adequacy (strategic made). It is completely anachronistic and obsolete in the current context, for the following reasons:

  • It is difficult to distinguish between " occasions" and " menaces" in a made competitive environment of Co-opétition and with very strong mobility, where a credit threatened on a segment can represent a strong occasion in another segment. For example, the proliferation of the credits called in distress of broad band (broadband) is a threat for a traditional group of telecommunications, but it is also an occasion which can make it possible this group to begin on the Voice on IP (VoIP) and the passage to the all-IP (digital contents/change of trade). The same applies to the " forces/faiblesses"

  • To distinguish between a " intern" and a " externe" to an organization today testifies to the complete lack of general culture on the organizations. Competitiveness today lies in the capacity to integrate external networks in the constitution of the systems of offer (strategic impartition like automobile industry, or exemplary case of the sector of biotechnologies). A company which settles in a diagram of perception interns /externe will most probably lose important market shares, avoiding acting in what makes the competitiveness of the companies today.

This stage consists in structuring and to memorize the Information S. the process of appropriation of the Information S by the organization leads to a Connaissance structured in the Mémoire of the company. This process is called the Knowledge management (Knowledge management in English).

In this stage, the analysis of the Information S is a key process, during which one will define the Usage to make Information S collected. In other words, the questions Juridique S take a determining importance:

Ideally, the structure of the Mémoire is based on principal data (Métadonnées) coherent with the remainder of the Information system.

Thus, day before and Knowledge management are fields complementary to the economic intelligence, which feed mutually.

Formulation of the strategic reasoning

See also: Strategy

At this stage, the Organization can have to define a plan of protection of the informational inheritance, and a strategy of Information system security.

Implementation of the actions and animation of the networks

See also: Management of program

Evaluation of the effects and mutualisation of the practices

(to be supplemented)

Policies installation

In France

After Japan in the Years 1970 and the the United States at the end of the Years 1980, France launched out in its turn in this step of economic intelligence, initially at the beginning of the Années 1990, then as from 2003 following attempts at takeover of sensitive French companies, the activism of foreign funds of investment and of the intrigues of certain dispensaries of renseignement.

History

  • After work of some pioneers (Unpleasant Jacques, Philippe Baumard, Henri Dou, François Jakobiak, Vahé Zartarian), the economic intelligence is officially introduced in France in April 1992 by the creation of the French branch of SCIP France (Society off Competitive Professionnals Intelligence) on the initiative of Robert Guillaumot, Yves-Michel Marti, Bruno Martinet and Jean-Pierre Bernat. This association brings together 400 members in France and 6  000 in about fifty country.

  • In 1994 the report/ratio of the General police station of the " Plan; economic Intelligence and strategy of the companies " called report/ratio Marten sometimes (of the name of its writer, Henri Marten, former chairman of Aerospace), the legitimacy of the State brings to these new practices. The idea of the creation of a group of studies on the question is brought to the Plan by Philippe Baumard and Christian Harbulot. The Group consists of way abstract, and contains for its large majority of the members resulting from the personal contacts from Philippe Baumard and Christian Harbulot, which constitutes a first for a group of studies of the Plan. In April 1995 is created the Committee for competitiveness and the economic safety, placed near the Prime Minister and including/understanding seven members elected for two years (heads of undertakings, scientists, trade unionists). This committee will fall in disuse starting from 1997 under the government from Lionel Jospin, which will not renew its members.

  • In 2000 two American funds of investment presumedly close to the CIA, Texas Pacific Group and Spectrum Equity Investors, seek to take the control of the French company Gemplus, world leader of the chip cards. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is alerted one second time on the file Eutelsat then aimed by these two same funds (note of February 22nd, 2004). The public authorities evoke the " called into question of the continuity and the safety of diffusion of the French public channels and européennes" , " industriels" risks; , insofar as " Eutelsat has recourse of exclusiveness to the services in launching of Arianespace" , or " threats for the use of Eutelsat by the military forces of country européens" that this operation would have represented. They succeed in limiting the rise to power of these funds to 23,3  % compared with one the third of the hoped capital.

  • the development of the economic intelligence remains dying man until a deputy, having found a subject of visibility, seizes the subject and body gives him. In June 2003 , Bernard Carayon, appointed (UMP) from the Tarn submits to the Prime Minister a report entitled " economic Intelligence, competitiveness and social cohesion " who presents it like a public policy intended to guarantee social cohesion by ensuring economic development. One of its appendices presents several sometimes contradictory definitions of the economic intelligence for better underlining the difficulty in defining it.

  • Among the consequences of this report/ratio one counts the nomination of one High ranking official to the Economic Intelligence (HRIE) attached to the Prime Minister in the person of Mr. Alain Juillet whose professional path (management positions in the Private one, and service in the Information) gives him a strong credibility with respect to the State, although its personal experience in the field of the economic intelligence of company is limited, and who tries to federate and control the profession by the creation of a trade union, the FEPIE (Federation of the professionals of the economic intelligence); the launching of the poles of competitiveness by Dominique de Villepin; the implementation of a policy of territorial Intelligence by Nicolas Sarkozy.

Official organization

  • Nomination of the high ranking official in charge of the economic intelligence : nomination of Alain Juillet on December 31st, 2003, as high ranking official in charge of the economic intelligence with the SGDN (General secretary of national defense) by the president of the Republic following the report/ratio “economic Intelligence, competitiveness and social cohesion” of the deputy Bernard Carayon.

  • Public actions (in the 1st half of 2005):
    • installation of persons in charge of the economic intelligence in various ministries (Foreign affairs - a cell is also envisaged near each ambassador -, Intérieur, Économie, Finances and Industry, person in charge named but without team nor means)
    • installation regional of piloting of the economic intelligence by the prefects;
    • creation of a " référentiel" intended for the professionals of the formation as regards economic intelligence;
    • creation of a federation of the professionals of the economic intelligence;
  • Definition of the sectors known as " sensibles" (September 2005): the Minister of Industry announces in September 2005 the forthcoming publication of the decree on enforcement of a law of the law modifying the monetary and financial code. This decree should include/understand a list of sectors known as “significant” (the press quotes the casinos, the armament, cryptology, biotechnologies, the information system security…).
  • coordination between the interdepartmental deputy with durable and the high ranking official with the economic intelligence (September 2005)

Current location

In 2006, certain experts, like Patrick Artus or of the experts of other circles, criticize the theoretical lack of doctrines in the policy of French economic intelligence. Patrick Artus calls in particular with a “clear Doctrine, which for the moment emerged neither on the right nor on the left”.

On the practical level and in particular in direction of the economic world, MEDEF published for its members SME in November 2006 an economic handy guide of intelligence.

According to Bernard Carayon, the European Union is in a situation of total dependence in the Technologies the information with respect to the the United States. The policy of French economic intelligence must be developed in the following directions:

  • it must be coordinated with the other European policies, in particular that of Germany,
  • it must look further into the questions of standardization.

The General delegation for the armament defined a Cadre of architecture information systems similar to those already defined by the Department of Defense of the USA (DoDAF) and by the ministry for British defense (MODAF).

The public policy continues, by stressing the Poles of competitiveness and the Small and medium-size companies. The conclusion of the Pacte SME should make it possible to define a Small Business Act in the European one.

In the European Union and the Member States other than France

The second report/ratio of Bernard Carayon on the economic intelligence indicates that it there not true political control of the work of the European Institutions by the Member States (see Principe of subsidiarity of the political right communautaire#Le control). He recommends the installation on the level of the European Union of a Trade register and companies guaranteeing to the Transparence actors.

France is not the only European country to have set up a policy of economic intelligence. See Culture of the Information and Economic Intelligence in Europe.

At the dated January 1st 2006, all the Member States of the European Union, except for the Netherlands, of the Belgium and the Austria, installed inspecting devices of the overseas investments concerning the law and order and the National defense.

  • the Denmark, prohibited the acquisition of dedicated groups in the maritime transport and air or oil exploration at all the nonDanish companies.

  • the Germany has a right to veto for any overseas investment equal or higher than 25  % in activities of defense and Cryptology. Moreover certain companies (Savings banks, Volkswagen, steel producers…) are protected by the presence from Länder to their capital, although according to certain specialists, this protection could become illusory when these companies need new capital, but which while waiting protects them from the attempts at takeover.

  • the Spain protects the sectors from national defense, the plays, television and the radio.

But the most significant stake is undoubtedly that of the linguistic Cultural diversity and of the European Union compared with the strong presence of the English language in the world.

See on this point:

Out of Europe

In the United States

To the the United States, the economic intelligence is applied actively since the Second world war.

Whereas in France, one considers that the offensive shutter is field of the companies, and the defensive shutter (devices safety against nonnational investors) of the field of the State, the United States does not make this distinction. The military and civil sectors communicate much more than in Europe.

At the end of the Years 1980, the American administration launched the policy of advocacy of support for the companies, which is primarily an offensive strategy.

Broad outlines of the economic policy of intelligence of the United States

The economic current policy of intelligence of the United States results from the report carried out after the Guerre of Vietnam of the need for adapting the army states-unienne to the context of the modern wars. The program CAL was initially conceived in the Années 1980 to enact requirements with respect to the suppliers of the Department of Defense. Then the requirements on the whole of the military functions were described in C3ISR (Guerre of the Gulf of 1990-1991), become C4ISR. A Cadre of architecture of the information systems was defined in 2003 (DoDAF), in the spirit of the strategy of the data in network-centered ( Net-centric dated stratégy , NCDS).

All in all, one can say that the current strategy of the Department of Defense is articulated around three key elements:

  • the definition of the Communities of interest ( communities off interest , COI);
  • the description of Standard of metadata, corresponding to the requirements in data of the COI;
  • the definition of GIG enterprise services (services of company GIG).

This strategy influences in fact for a great part the world information systems on the Toile.

Main features

The economic policy of intelligence of the United States rests:

  • on a Lobbying near a great number of international organizations (OMC, WBCSD, UNO, OECD, European Union,…),
  • on systematic actions of standardization, and Lobbying near the organizations which define the rules of the International business (international Chamber of commerce, BASD),
  • on methodologies of division of information like NCW, which gets for the companies strategic sectors very a great power of investigation and Décision; The Web and the Métadonnée S are massively employed to index the computer's resources. The American public organizations manage Registres of metadata which make it possible to divide or to veil (according to the cases) information on the Web;
  • on the use of the English language;
  • on a legal System (software law) where the soft Droit has more place;
  • on the financial power of the Pension funds;
  • on a device safety against acquisitions of american companies.
    Ce device only intervenes rather late in the process: the projects of acquisitions are looked by the Committee one Foreign Investment in the United States directed by the secretary with the Treasury, which determines on a case-by-case basis if the sale with a foreign owner of a company is supposed " to threaten to weaken safety nationale". Companies can also have particular statuses to limit the hostile takeovers. The Exxon-Florio National Security Test for Foreign also protects the American companies. Lastly, the September 11th and the Chinese initiatives on judged American large companies of strategic interest reinforced the protectionist reflexes (cf attempt at public offering of purchase of Chinese CNOOC on the seventh American oil company, Unocal, in June 2005).
  • on a legislative environment protecting from the fields of activité.
    In addition to the companies, the American law protects certain spheres of activities like harbor work of infrastructures and naval repair prohibited at the foreign companies. In the same way other sectors are also subjected to a specific framing (airline companies…) prohibiting and limiting the control of the american companies by nonAmerican capital.
  • on a legislative environment supporting PME.
    Le Small Business Act of 1982, supplementary programme at SME, holds 23% of the governmental contracts and 40% of subcontracting for them.

In Asia

  • With the turning of the century, the Japan implements a new model of collaborative intelligence in the form of " strategic communities of connaissance" , to see. Japan has an economic policy of intelligence since 1970.
  • the China opened prudently with the overseas investments, to level from the technological and managerial point of view its economy, but in way which remains limited in the majority of the sectors (banks, steel-works, car manufacturers, cement factories, refineries, distribution networks of gasoline…) to keep a certain control there. The date of at the beginning of 2006 yet, the acquisition of a majority stake in a Chinese company is not allowed, the overseas investments having to take the form of partnership limited to 20  % or 25  % of the capital according to whether the investment is the fact of only one company or a consortium.

Organization of the profession

The organizations representing the profession in France are: the purpose of

  • SCIP France, created in 1992, gathers mainly companies customer and people receiving benefits, and is to develop the practices of the trade.
  • the AFDIE, created in 2003, is directed towards the bond undertaken/public authorities.
  • the FEPIE, created in 2005, has vocation to become the trade union of the companies providing.

Ethical questions, trades

In 1998, association SCIP France adheres to HTTP: /www.scip.org/2_code.php Codes of Ethics of Association SCIP Internationale.

The admiral Lacoste was charged by Alain Juillet with defining the operating rules of the profession of the economic intelligence. The Fédération of the Professionals of the Economic Intelligence (FEPIE) was installation to this end. Its ethical charter of specifies, in eight articles, the broad outlines of the good practices which the professionals commit themselves respecting.

A contribution for those which do not reduce ethics to a professional practice.

Here bonds to look further into this topic: Ethical in economic intelligence, Ethical of the businesses, Right of the businesses, legal Day before

Economic model of intelligence

The French Association of economic intelligence (AFDIE) identified 11 factors:

7 factors of action:

4 factors of results:

Reference frame of formation to the economic intelligence

Economic intelligence and business intelligence

The concept of intelligence economic (at least in the French-speaking world) is strongly distinguished from that of business intelligence (BI) because the latter, despite everything that could suggest a literal translation, actually corresponds to a particular category of computer applications.

Indeed, the expression business intelligence is commonly employed like synonym of decisional Informatique, concept which covers a perimeter much more restricted and whose practical application, until now, is more often focused on the control and the optimization of the activities that on the total knowledge of the occasions and the strategic threats. Moreover, BI rests currently especially on Donnée S operational pre-structured, quantitative, already available in the Information system intern, and very little on qualitative, or external data multiform.

One can consider the business intelligence, potentially, like one of the tools of the economic intelligence, but its implementation effective suffers from the cultural and methodological ditch which still nowadays separates management from the information systems of the general strategy. It is advisable however to note an awakening in this field, in particular through the reflections of CIGREF.

For some, the " Intelligence" business; , would not be that a slogan marketing invented to sell software of dated-mining and of control of management.

Some French personalities

Philippe Baumard, Bernard Besson, Bernard Carayon, Pierre Beech, Pascal Frion, Christian Harbulot, François-Bernard Huyghe, François Jeanne-Beylot, Alain Juillet, Pierre Lacoste, Jean-Louis Levet, Philippe clerk, Laurent Hassid, Yves-Michel Marti, Henri Marten, Nicolas Moinet, Claude Revel, Carlo Revelli .

Related articles

General information

Standardization, safety of information

Phases and methods of the IE

Memory

  • Métadonnées
  • Dated mining
  • Datawarehouse
  • decisional Informatique
  • Secret industrialist

External bonds

  • the site of the High ranking official in load of the economic intelligence (HRIE, French public site)
  • Reference frame of training in economic intelligence
  • Web site of the SCIP
  • Web site of SCIP France
  • Files of the breakfasts conference of SCIP France, and of the " work group; Value of the information"
  • Intelligence Online, Signal 100 of the Economic Intelligence in France

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