ECONOMIC
INTELLIGENCE
THE
STAKES OF ECONOMICS INTELLIGENCE :
The
crumbling of the soviet communist block and the
end of the face-off between two dominating ideological
entities signal the advent of a new economic geography
of the world. The dimension of financial and business
economic activity has taken unequaled proportions
and the pressures of international competition
are spreading to the whole of the business community.
As of now, cooperation-competition relations are
developing between and among various nations,
economic blocks (NAFTA, European Union, Southeast
Asia), regions and companies, to the tune of a
complex logic which at times is contradictory.
In
this context, the strategic efficiency of companies
relies on the deployment of vast economic intelligence
measures which become major leverage towards economic
performance and employment.
Economic
Intelligence is becoming a real tool of knowledge
and continuous understanding of market realities,
of competitor techniques and thinking methods,
of their culture, intentions and their capacity
of carrying them out. It defines itself as an
overall set of coordinated actions for the research,
treatment, distribution and protection of information
useful to economic actors, and obtained legally.
DEFINITION
:
Competitive
Economic Intelligence (CEI) is a unifying craft
of proven techniques both ancient and modern.
Its goal is to acquire, validate, treat information
(useful) to transform it into revealing information,
counsel or recommendation destined to decision
making. Its main objective is to render companies
engaged in international or national economic
competition more "intelligent".

It
is under this aspect that CEI must be considered,
i.e., as a discipline relying on experts, of strong
general knowledge, able to speak several languages
and conceptualize at a high level, rather than
a panoply of information acquisition techniques
using any and all possible means available.
In
proper, though late, recognition of a highly professional
activity, Mr. Edouard Balladur, Prime Minister
at the time, decided in April 1995 to create a
Committee for Competition and Economic Security
(CCES). It would be directly connected to Matignon
(The PM's Office), and considered an event as
highly important to the affairs of France as decentralization.
It's objective was to set up a national system
of economic intelligence.
In
fact, possessing a timely and decisive asset during
confrontation or negotiation, such as knowledge
others do not have, or else, would prefer to keep
a secret, has been the dream of each and every
businessman. This competitive edge could be provided
by the professional involvement of the CEI, whose
practices would include complete mastery of methods
and sufficient means for observation, acquisition
and treatment.
The
core of the methodology lies in outwardly expressing
strategic or tactical priorities, noticing clearly
the missing bits of information to acquire (or
identifying elements to protect) and establishing
watchtower directives or actions to be undertaken
and applied. The means- informatics and telecoms
- are part of the methodical processing of variable
amounts of data and useful bits of information,
known, observed or discovered internally or externally;
as well as their interpretation, validation, synthesis
and communication at just the right time.
It
is to be noted in fact that the techniques employed
by the CEI get closer and closer to those globalized
and multi-applicably used in the acquisition of
data, observation, reconnaissance, elaboration
of synthetic summaries and their transmission
to decision making organisms, either in the military
(awareness and knowledge of the battlefield, electronic
war, mission preparation, C31, etc
) or in
civilian life (geographical information system,
geo-marketing, vehicular traffic, etc
).
It
is under this aspect that CEI must be considered,
i.e., as a discipline relying on experts, of strong
general knowledge, able to speak several languages
and conceptualize at a high level, rather than
a panoply of information acquisition techniques
using any and all possible means available.
ECONOMIC
INTELLIGENCE IN THE WORLD :
In
the present context of global economic competition,
the analysis of foreign economic intelligence
systems allows us to understand why market economies
produced better high-performance systems for strategic
information management than others did. Economic
intelligence was developed along historical and
cultural lines in accordance with various basic
forms found in Germany, Japan, the US or Sweden.
German
know-how in strategic management of information
comes, above all, from the historical growth of
Germany's foreign trade. Today, the flow of information
converges on a strategic center characterized
by a web of interests gathering banks, big industrial
groups and insurance companies. Thanks to their
outside contacts, German unions are very active
defending the country's economic interests. The
consensus around the notion of national economic
interests constitutes one of the main cultural
assets of German economic performance.
Using
a similar logic, the Japanese constituted their
industrial and commercial apparatus on the basis
of intensive use of economic information in the
service of national independence. Japan's economic
competitive edge rests upon a common cultural
understanding of the need for information.

In
Japan, the 'MITI' (Ministry for International
Trade and Industry) is superceded by the 'JETRO'
(Japan External Trade Organization), which disposes
of more than a hundred offices spread in more
than 60 countries to promote trade, gather information,
and import new technologies into Japan.
Japan
presents itself as a dynamic culture able to understand
the importance of secretly sharing information,
characterized by a constant vigilance. After the
defeat of 1945, the new national objective became
the economy. The Japanese have therefore developed
sophisticated methods to serve long term strategy
and prospective thinking for 10, 20, and 30 years,
thus favoring the future rather than immediate
profit.
Multiple
organizations connected by networks are dedicated
to this task: MITI, intelligence services, federations
such as KEINDAREN (institutions, banks, unions)
or NIKKEREIN (Employer organization), and trade
companies (Sogososha). Japan has put in place
an international strategy for the transfer of
technology: patents, teams, laboratories, alliances,
buyout of small businesses in the prospect of
acquiring dynamic research teams, great research
programs. Japan possesses a great force: the culture
of collective information is taught and developed
in the school system. An important difference
is to be noted here with France, where a spirit
of competition is encouraged to the detriment
of teamwork. Certain people go as far to say that
only business schools are prone to teach or attempt
to train towards the idea of group work.
The
country of Japan also benefits from the protective
screen created by its unique language and writing.

The
American economy disposes of a rich and diversified
economic intelligence system. But contrary to
other countries, the logic behind this system
is essentially individualistic. Born out of business
policies in the fifties, economic intelligence
in the United States has for a long time remained
a tool for competition on the domestic market.
The current debate relative to the elaboration
of an "economic security doctrine" for
the defense of American industry and labor, attests
to a major evolution towards a collective "public-private"
management of national interests. The United States
disposes of a tight web around numerous databases
in existence as well as an efficient lobbying
system. President Clinton instituted a powerful,
federal zone of operation on economic issues.
He surrounded himself with three committees of
equal importance: National Security, Economy,
and Domestic affairs. Each of these committees
is composed of a Secretary of State, a small team
of civil servants, and is run by an Assistant
to the President. The task of these committees
is to make sure information flows properly throughout
all channels of the administration.
The
United States is more advanced on the technological
front. Internet is thoroughly developed and companies
use it abundantly whereas in France it is barely
put to use.
In addition, the country possesses a fairly important
past experience in the area of Intelligence, as
is testified by the CIA. This institution has
even developed software used by more than 10,
000 companies world wide, which researches information
automatically on the internet, sorts it and distributes
it to concerned departments.
In
the same manner that the United States is advanced
technologically, access to information is more
readily available there than in France. For example,
company balance sheets and financial results available
in France after paying a certain fee, are free
and can be found on the internet site "Edgar.com"
for all companies quoted on the Stock Exchanges.
In
Sweden, symbiosis between companies and the government
is illustrated by a series of national meetings,
whose objective is to elaborate an open economic
information strategy to benefit the performance
of the Swedish economy.