Competitive Intelligence, a condition for survival. An interview of Yves-Michel Marti (Insead MBA 1990) by Christine Guillou.
Business Link, Insead Business Scholl's magazine. Spring 2005
France still lags behind the United States in Competitive Intelligence (CI), although French companies are doing their best to close the gap. CI is a condition for survival, says Yves-Michel MARTI, chairman of EGIDERIA, a CI company.
Why does competitive intelligence still seem to be on training wheels in France?
It’s true that competitive intelligence is misunderstood in France, unlike the English-speaking countries. History- especially a choice made in the seventeenth century- provides the explanation. While French finance counsellor Sully was basing France’s growth on farming and grazing, Elizabeth the 1st of England was making intelligence and trade the twin pillars of British prosperity. But France is making up for lost time fast. I see a constant demand for CI in business firms. It is also becoming an academic discipline. But we are still ten to twenty years behind the United States, where CI has trended with quality: it is no longer considered a competitive edge, but a condition for survival.
The government seems to have become aware of this: it has appointed an adviser to the president, and MP Bernard CARAYON filed a bill in parliament.
At first glance, yes, but strong central government is still the watch-word. As for his report to Parliament, Bernard CARAYON interviewed senior civil servants and representatives of large groups, but no small businessmen or representatives of competitive intelligence trade associations. His bill is aimed at beefing up the government’s oversight of private service providers in France, but fails to address the foreigners who operate out of Brussels, London and Geneva.
What is the profile of your customers?
Most of them are large groups, but they include very aggressive, export-minded small businesses. Foreigners account for 70% of our turnover. We operate in the competitive- battle sectors – aerospace, automotive, pharmaceuticals, retail, software, and electronics.
Do you note changes in your business?
Our business trends follow those of our customer’ strategies. When Egideria was founded ten years ago, we did a great deal of research and development and innovation work concentrated on North America, the developed regions of Asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore), and Northern Europe. When strong demand regarding China arose, our investigations focused on production and plant-construction there. We are now a third phase. China is still important, but the demand is changing from production to market access, requiring political studies. And we are increasingly asked about production in Eastern European countries- Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Russia, Turkey, and so on.
Is investigation easy in these countries?
Each region has its own problems, which differ from country to country. The Eastern European countries nearly all have mafias. Our work consists of decoding the system, getting an insight into the network of complicities and relationships that a customer firm’s future partner may have.
YVES-MICHEL MARTI is the founder and president of Egideria, one of the leading competitive intelligence providers in Europe. The Financial Times selected his book "L’Intelligence Economique” as the best European management book of 1996.