CI World Wide

A propo du référentiel d’Intelligence Economique - Quelque Impressions - French Repository of Competitive Intelligence a few comments - Henri Dou Atelis Director (ESCEM)

Competitive Intelligence is considered imortant in France. this is the reason why the Ministry of Education launched in a selected number of Universities a tentative program to provide at different level of the formation some courses of Competitive Intelligence.  (full text access toi this paper)

  Competitive Intelligence is necessary in SMEs since it can provide a means to improve the efficiency of the company and enlarge its international vision. If the introduction of very light courses in Competitive Intelligence in Universities in France, is right and useful, it did not clear the problem of the development of a double competency. This is  necessary to provide to SMEs a way to introduce in their management the concepts and tools of Competitive Intelligence, because these small companies cannot hire a full time people in this domain. Moreover, it is necessary to complete the formation in Competitive Intelligence by an application in a company to have to applied the concepts and tools to the “real life” and problems.  Within this frame of mind the experience of ESCEM and ATELIS  is described: continuing education, third and final year of the Business School and DBA option Competitive Intelligence.  The author (see his scholar profile) also points out the international aspect of the discipline, which, in the dramatic context of the balance of the “commerce  extérieur”  (foreingn trade) of France is now mandatory.

Petites et moyennes entreprises françaises et développement international - French Small and Middle size Industries and International Development

 Working Paper - Henri Dou (Universty Professor, Atelis Director, Research Professor Peking University Scholar profile ), Dr Sri Dayamanty Manullang, (DEA, Dr, HDR) Foundation Mitra Madiri (scholar profile of Henri Dou)

How to cite this paper: Petites et moyennes entreprises françaises et développement international,  Henri Dou, Sri Damayanty Manullang, http://www.ciworldwide.org January 2012.

The development of the crisis in France, the wide range of proposals linked to the necessity for the SMEs to create jobs and to move to exportation, prompt us to present this paper which deals with various aspects of the exportation and SMEs in France. Most of the aspects of the problem presented here are  evaded by most of the politicians. In this paper which is in French since it concerns French Decision Makers, we pin point that interesting French initiatives in Foreign countries do exist (SMEs or groups of SMEs, continuing education, various collaborations, etc.)  but that they are most of the time isolated and not considered by the “Official French Structures”. These initiatives which can bring a large amount of useful information, knowledge and support to SMEs, pole of competitiveness an local productive sectors, should be aggregated and the transfer  of competence should be organized in a large scale to provide a benefit for small exporters. Other aspects dealing with the French policy which considers the national champions as a “fin en soi”, forget most of the time that the bulk of employment is created by SMEs.  Then, the facilities which should be necessary to increase the development of SME’s exports are not available. The place of the SMEs in the poles of competiveness is also examined as well as the sub-contractor position and the dependence of SMEs.  Various examples are given and various suggestions are done.

To access to the full text of the paper click  HERE .

Abstract: The development of the national plan of Economic Intelligence in France takes largely into account SME, to bring to them at different level of responsibility the methods and tools of Competitive Intelligence.  That it is in the SRIE (Regional Program of Economic Intelligence), or on the level of the DIRECCT[1], the Chambers of Commerce and Industries, or the poles of competitiveness, etc… various actions have been  developed.  That led to multiple structures which act certainly in the same direction but often propose even disparate or redundant councils or formations. The work presented here, is the summary of reflections related to live  observations  and the way in which one could second international expansion at the level of small and medium-size companies. This work does not deal on purpose  with recent examples (2011), but on the contrary  it deals with a series of facts which spread out in time will present significant facts . In the same way, it does not discuss the need to decreasing in France the social tax on SMEs in order to enable them to be more competitive. Indeed, we think that even with an increased competitiveness, international expansion requires the control of other parameters of which a part is clarified here.

The WIKI2D initiative in Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (France). The development of a living lab (LL) with the support of the regional press LaProvence

In Toulouse at the VSST Conference the development of a LL linked to the sustainable devlopment initiatives in Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur has been presented by Henri Dou (scholar profile). This presentation deals with the role of the WIKI2D as a facility to agreggate the stakeholders of this orientation and to stimulate all the activities linked to this field of development.

Abstract:  (access to the full paper)

 The concept of living lab has been described in the literature [VEL 08]: “The living lab are an emerging Public Private Partnership (PPP) concept in which firms, public authorities and citizens work together to create, prototype, validate and test new services, business markets and technologies in real life context, such as city, regions, rural areas and collaborative virtual networks between public and private players.”

The specialization in Competitive Intelligence and Strategic Information at ESCEM - Intelligence EConomique - FRANCE BUSINESS SCOOL -

This is on December 12 that the first class in Competitive Intelligence and Strategic Information terminated its study at ESCEM. Under the impulsion of ATELIS, this program is now a success. All the entreprises involved in the develoment of specific applied consulting research done by the groups of students involved in this specialilazation, where very pleased with the results.

  All the class expressed during a special gathering their thanks to the responsibles, professors, and specialists invoved in the development of this first innovative program. They also indicated that if at the right begining  they did not know all the ins and outs of the program, they did not regret their choice and warmly reconmmended this specialization to the forthcoming students.

All the class (25 students) this year succeeded and obtained besides the ESCEM diploma the European Certifcate of Value Management of Competitive Intelligence.  This success underlines the need for the Regional SMEs to be involved in specific tailor made Intelligence Programs. It also underlines that in this critical period for the development of the Region and of the Country, there is an urgent need to orient the competence and knowhow of Educational institutions to help, second and comfort the position of the SMEs and middle size companies. This strategic orientation is now underway at ESCEM throught the development of one of the most modern and innovative structure in the Business Education in France the FRANCE BUSINESS SCHOOL which will be operating in 2012 for the next university year. 

APA Automatic Patent Analysis - Matheo Patent’s Workshop at Addis Ababa - Ethiopia - Competitive Intelligence and Regional Development

  This is on December 2d at the Researcher’s Inventors and Innovators Association of Ethiopia, that a Workshop on Automatic Patent Analysis was performed at the Institute of Intellectual Property of Ethiopia. This side event, of a WIPO’s meeting on Intellectual Property aimed to provide to the inventors and innovators association the necessary facility to test new ideas and develop a service to initiate innovation among various enterprises and organizations of Ethiopia. The workshop was animated by Professor Henri Dou (University Professor and Director of ATELIS (ESCEM)) (scholar profile). The workshop was divided in two parts, one dealing with the access of patent information through Internet (WIPO, EPO, USPTO, Google Patent), and the second part, how, from large queries (seven hundreds even thousands of patents) the APA (via Matheo-Patent) , the inventors will be enabled to obtain a global view of various domains, and to answer questions such as who is doing what, where, how, what can be used freely,  etc.  This second part was particularly useful for the association and the inventors since they where able to test some ideas about ploughs, stoves, solar panels, etc. during the workshop.

  Various questions were asked among which: how to have a follow up of the workshop, if it is possible to get from Internet various materials and tutorials to facilitate the analysis, etc. Professor Henri Dou, declared that he will do whatever is possible to help the association and he provided it with various papers and power points about patent analysis.

At the end of the workshop a special thank was addressed to the Ethiopian Institute of Intellectual Property, because it provided the Internet facility and the room necessary to make of this workshop a mile stone in the life of the association.

Competitive Intelligence at ESCEM Business School - Intelligence Economique à l’ESCEM - ATELIS

Last year the ESCEM group, created an option of Competitive Intelligence in its terminal year. This initiative shows that with ATELIS the Strategic Work Room of the ESCEM Group  (AACSB), and the ESCEM Decision Makers, the development of one of the most important background that the students must have at the end of their formation has been integrated in the ESCEM cursus.

The recent article published in Le Monde (December 8th 2011) indicated that as soon as 2013, the “Economic Intelligence” will be present in all the students cursus. This underlines again the importance of this discipline and the strategic vision of the ESCEM Group which as soon as 2011 gave to the students the opportunity to get a double strategic competence in a crucial domain essential for the development of enterprises, regional, national and international institutions.

In the same time the DBA mention Competitive Intelligence has been created this year by ATELIS. The students which will follow the course (online and offlline), will pursue an applied or actionable research in the domain of the integration of Competitive Intelligence in the regional development either in France or abroad.

A recent interview of Professor Henri Dou, Director of ATELIS, (see Scholar profile) as well as its participation in the IAB (International Advisory Board of the Ministry of Science and Technlogy of Viet Nam) and the development of a strategic partneship between ATELIS and ISIG (Business School) in Burkina Fasso, underlined the importance of Competitive Intelligence in the industrialization of a country. By the time where this question is coming up in force in  France, the double competence acquired by the ESCEM students will be we hope a  guaranty for their career development.

The French program of Competitive Intelligence (Conference of Professeur Henri Dou (ATELIS), Nanjing - SMEs, actionable knowledge, French development (national, regional, main actors). Intelligence Economique en France. Nanjing Chine.

 Following the presentation of the book “National Competitive Intelligence, Comparative study and practices in France and China), (Shanghai October 2011, by the professor Qihao Miao, Shanghai Library   Instittute of Scientific & Technical Information Science), the professor Henri Dou (Atelis Director see scholar profile)  was invited to the Jiangsu Information Institute of Science and Technology to give a conference on “Competitive Intelligence in France, its links to innnovation and  how the system of Competitive Intelligence was developed in France”.

  The conference was done at the institute the 27th of October (this was the first time that the Institute invited a foreing expert). The conference was organized in two steps, an English presentation and a more detaile done in French with consecutive translation (M Zheng Li, Competitive Intelligence Centre from Hunan Province).

  During the presentation which took a bout half a day, many questions from the assistance deal with the organization of the Competitive Intelligence in France, the relationships of SMEs with the banking institutions, how Competitive Intelligence move froml a national plan to the regional development, etc. In many cases live access to National French Sites of “Economic Intelligence” and national or regional actors show to the particpants how the organization, goals, and partners are articulated in France.

  After the conference and during two days there were various visits of Chinese companies, from incubators to e-commerce, … (Nanjing International Engineering Antibody Research Center, Nanjing Biological Medecine Development Centre, Made-in-China ..). During these visits the discussion about the creation of actionable knowledge from information was one of the key point. A very interesting visit to the Nanjing Library was also organiszed, pin pointing the role of this institution in the development of a technical and scientific culture.

  Nanjing is also a deep cultural city which includes part of the Chinese history. This aspect completed the visit in Nanjing, the tomb of Sun Yat Sen (Sun Zhongshan (孫中山)), the historic city walls, the museum of embroidery, the old observatory, and other museums witness how the city  allies scientific and technical aspects of its development with all the cultural parts of its patrimony. Various pictures of the meeting, visits, and Nanjing cultural heritage   are available.

The tool Box of Competitive Intelligence - (La boite à outils de l’Intelligence Economique)

  La boite à Outils de l’Intelligence Economique

   Christophe Deschamps, Nicolas Moinet

   Collection: BàO La Boîte à Outils, Dunod
   2011 - 192 pages - 190×240 mm
   EAN13 : 9782100551125 - Prix TTC France 26 €

The book “La boite à outils de l’Intelligence Economique” has just been published by Dunod. This book offers a wide panorama of the most important tools to handle and analyze the information. If Competitive Intelligence works mainly through the knowledge of expert groups, it is necessary to prepare their work. To do so, the management, handling and analysis of information take a prominent place. Among the software presented,  Matheo-Patent and Matheo-Analyzer, specialized in APA (Automatic Patent Analysis) must be underlined for their easy integration in a Competitive Intelligence Unit. This nice compendium will be really useful for all the comunity of Competitive Intelligence users.  The book is presented on a very ergonomic way, a successions of files described the software, its performance and give a brief example of its use.

Changsha - China - How Competitive Intelligence is useful for SMEs (Intelligence Economique PME Chine)

  The Competitive Intelligence Institut of Hunan Province organized the 24th of October 2011 a seminar to discuss how Competitive Intelligence is useful for SMEs. A group of French specialists with Professor Qihao Miao from Shanghai Library, and Professor Wen from Business School Beijing  and other experts from the Hunan Competitive Intelligence Center discussed about some developments in China and some applications of Competitive Intelligence in  France in the SMEs sector.

 The French specialists were Professor Henri Dou (Director of Atelis, ESCEM Group see scholar profile), M. Jean Marie Rousseau (former Expert of the EU) and Mrs Dr Mylene Hardy (former expert from the French Embassy in Beijing).

  After the meeting the expert delegation visited several SMEs and discussed in depth of the Competitive Intelligence program in France and its application to the SME sector. Various questions on the creation of actionable knowledge from information, the potential of development of Chinese Cities, the regional interaction of state services and SMEs in France, the passage from a national program to a regional development program of Competitive Intelligence in France, etc. were discussed. The use of patent information and the APA automatic patent analysis was also presented by Professor Henri Dou in the secor of fireworks (Changsha is the world place for the production of fireworks).

  During the meeting many questions dealing with the role of Banks to finance the SMEs development in France was discussed as well as the role of OSEO to share the financial risk in various selected projects. The mechanism of the creation of the poles of competitiveness in France raise also many questions. The role of regional libraries in the development of Competitive Intelligence was also discussed as well as the mechanism of innovation and the development of PPP (Public and Private Partnerships). The questions of the assistance underlined all the interest of the Chinese specialists for the French Competitive Intelligence program and the role of the state and the regulations. Another group of questions concerned the place of the Competitive Intelligence consultants in the national and regional system in France.

The presentation of Professor Henri Dou concerned the integration of SMEs in the innovative process (French version, English version) and the presentation of Jean Marie Rousseau underlined the innovatoive potential of various Chinese Towns along the Yangtze river. The program of the meeting is available here. Some pictures are also available in this file.

China, Towards a National Program of Competitive Intelligence - Un programme d’Intelligence Economique National en Chine.

In a recent article published in the blog “Les Echos” part of the work developed by French and Chinese experts during the past 5 years has been  presented.

Un rapport sur l’Intelligence économique remis au gouvernement chnois s’inspire de la politique publique française dans le domaine.

  Background: (text from “Les Echos”) ”Les 20 et 21 octobre derniers s’est tenu le Shanghai Competitive Intelligence Forum. Dans cette ville de 20 millions d’habitants étonnante et étourdissante par son dynamisme et que certains considèrent aujourd’hui comme le cœur de la mondialisation, près de deux cents participants ont assisté à cette grand-messe de l’intelligence économique chinoise mais aussi et un peu… française !  Une délégation hexagonale avait été invitée par les organisateurs à l’occasion de la sortie d’un ouvrage en chinois intitulé « Intelligence économique nationale : étude comparative sur les Pratiques en France et en Chine » lancé par un groupe de travail dirigé par les Professeurs Qihao MIAO (Président de l’Association de Shanghai pour l’Information Scientifique & Technique) et Henri Dou (Atelis – ESCEM) (see Scxholar Profile). A partir du modèle français d’intelligence économique, un rapport a été remis aux autorités chinoises dans le but de promouvoir une telle politique publique en Chine. Près de vingt ans après le lancement de l’intelligence économique en France (Rapport Martre en 1994 qui en son temps présentait déjà une annexe sur la « marketing intelligence » du Centre d’information scientifique et technique du Sichuan mais alors traduite de l’américain), la visite de cette délégation française n’est pas un hasard. Le modèle français d’une intelligence économique comprenant une forte implication du gouvernement intéresse fortement les autorités chinoises. L’étude comparative est préfacée par Alain Juillet (dont l’ancien poste de Haut Responsable à l’Intelligence Economique devenu Délégué Interministériel pourrait servir de modèle).
L’ouvrage comprend cinq articles ciblés : histoire et les tendances du concept français d’ « intelligence économique », les pôles de compétitivité en Europe et en France, le rôle du gouvernement et des organisations professionnelles dans le développement de l’intelligence économique au service des industries agro-alimentaires, l’intelligence économique territoriale à travers l’exemple de Poitou-Charentes et approche public-privé de la diplomatie d’influence à travers l’exemple de la politique d’image française dans la concurrence interétatique. Et puisque c’est d’influence qu’il s’agit, gageons qu’elle se poursuive à l’avenir même s’il reste beaucoup à faire dans l’échange pour obtenir plus d’informations sur le système chinois et développer une coopération. Il faudra s’en donner les moyens. D’autant que les thèmes traités par les articles chinois ne peuvent qu’attirer l’attention des professionnels alors qu’ils parlent de : stratégie de l’intelligence compétitive pour la science et la technologie en Chine entre coopération et concurrence, développement de la construction navale en Chine et de l’intelligence compétitive,
 d’établissement d’un centre d’intelligence compétitive territoriale (à travers l’exemple de la province Hunan ), pratique et réflexion de Shanghai pour une plateforme publique d’intelligence compétitive au service de l’innovation des PME et pratique de Shanghai dans la surveillance du commerce international et l’alerte rapide.  «  Etre en intelligence économique avec la Chine  » demande donc de valoriser les travaux des experts chinois, de les rendre accessibles et de développer un réel dialogue en les invitant également en France. Un proverbe chinois dit à peu près ceci : « Celui qui va en Chine trois semaines veut écrire un ouvrage, celui qui y est resté trois mois tentera peut-être un article et celui qui y a vécu plusieurs années ne veut plus rien écrire du tout. » Derrière ce trait d’humour, on voit bien que pour comprendre ce pays qui intrigue ou inquiète, le mieux est sans doute de communiquer avec lui. D’autant que cette reconnaissance de l’intelligence économique « à la française » ne peut que nous conforter dans la voie tracée et nous inciter à donner enfin à un dispositif français qui s’effrite - voire se fragmente - les moyens de ses ambitions. A titre informatif, l’étude comparative sur les pratiques d’intelligence économique en France et en Chine aura été tirée à 5.000 exemplaires et vendu au prix modique de 28 Yuans (soient environ 3 Euros).  Mais nul doute que de nombreux exemplaires seront largement diffusés aux cadres de l’appareil d’Etat à moins d’un an du XVIIIe Congrès national du Parti Communiste Chinois où celui-ci devrait faire peau neuve et voir l’arrivée du « prince rouge » Xi Jinping pour remplacer Hu Jintao. Successeur désigné et figure de la Chine de demain, il est le fils d’un ancien vice-premier ministre qui fut notamment en charge de la création des zones économiques spéciales. Stratège et consensuel, il serait ouvert aux idées de « nouvelle démocratie » et à un plus grand rôle des syndicats et des entrepreneurs.”

  Several years ago, the ACFCI and the Center of Competitive Intelligence of Hunan Province, developed the Franco-Chinese group of cooperation in the field of Competitive Intelligence. Several exchanges were done with the visit of the Hunan Delegation in Paris and the venue of French experts in China. In another hand, China initiated yearly different international meetings to discuss with Chinese Experts and Foreign Specialists new trends in Competitive Intelligence. With these types of exchanges Chinese specialists  enable to see in which directions and with which model the Competitive Intelligence in China could be developed. Then far away from the institutional delegations and systems the Chinese choose the competences to cooperate with a selected group of international experts.

  The book cited in the blog “Les Echos”, represents the visible part of the”iceberg”. Let us cited the books and magazines: Competitive Intelligence, Summer 2007, Shanghai, China  ci_magazine@libnet.sh.cn, pp.2-5, 2007 (French poles of Competitiveness - Forces and Weaknesses, by Henri Dou), Progress in Competitive Intelligence,  2010,  pp.373-386  Chapter, Edition China  isbn 978-7-5023-6781-7 (Recent Development of the Competitive Intelligence In France, by Philippe Clerc and Henri Dou), Symposoium International Competitive Technical Intelligence, Beijing, 17-18 Septembre 2008 (Competitive Technical Intelligence. Methods and tools, application to innovation, SMEs, oles of competitiveness, research institutions and large companies, by Henri Dou), ITICTI Beijing December 2010  (New developments in Competitive Intelligence and Poles of competitiveness by Henri Dou).

Let us also note that the interest of China for the French Competitive Intelligence is not new, witness is the interview of Professor Henri Dou (Director of Atelis, ESCEM group) by Business TV in Shanghai as well as the Master developed by the University of the Mediterranée or the recent initiatives of ATELIS. (for more details see on this site the articles dealing with Asia, and search for China, Beijing, Shanghai, Zao-Zhuang).

Not very far from Competitive Intelligence there is in France some questions about the technological level of China ! Just some facts will help to understand the situation. China likes to seize opportunities, for instance the Professor Montagnier is now the head of a research center in Shanghai to work on some aspect of Homeopathy related research, China also develops research on the thorium nuclear power plants, they send a man around the world, the fast trains (maximum speed 304 km per hour) between Nanjing and Shanghai link both cities every 20 minutes, special incubators for  PhD chinese students abroad or Chinese postdocs in bibological science are created, China is deeply engaged in the Digital - Earth program, the Chinese number of patents (extended to Europe, United States or Japan) is increasing, etc. etc. This very simple analysis shows that if China develops a program of Competitive Intelligence it could be seen in different ways (an not necessarely to acquire foreign technological competencies): to develop the best practices in that field (Public and Private Partnerships Structures and Governance), to push the innovation in SMEs and middle size companies, to set up a system to accelerate the regional development, to  fill part of the gap in certain areas by the development of an actionable knowledge from information (all the Provinces and large cities have an Scientific and Techniqcal Information Centre)….  China is a large country and when discussions or assumptions are done, the size of the country must be carefully understood. It is not possible to extrapolate what is going on in France with for instance the Jiangsu Province (Nanjing Capital) which has 78 millions of inhabitants. Various papers published by Jean Marie Rousseau explain how the potential of the various metropolis are developed and Klaus Solberg shows the development of the Nordic City in China. (both presentations are available on this site under the CTC Competitive Intelligence article (search for France and Corse)).