Tunisia – Economic intelligence, a key element for SMEs.
4 December 2012
Read by 1349 persons
According to Carlo Revelli, founder of AgoraVox, the first citizen journalism website, economic intelligence is: "a process of collecting, processing and disseminating information aimed at reducing the level of uncertainty in any strategic decision-making."
At the CJD (Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants) national congress on the theme: "economic intelligence, a lever for the development and performance of Tunisian SMEs", the squadron leader at the French gendarmerie's Directorate General, Xavier Leonetti, identified economic espionage as a tiny fraction (3%) of all information used for a company's strategic monitoring.
Indeed, in a globalized environment with strong competition, there is no longer room for industrial entities that do not master information and the access tools that allow them to make more optimal and targeted decisions to conquer new markets. This is becoming a real "silent" war between companies and, on a larger scale, between states, where almost anything goes to access information. But we are not there yet in Tunisia. It is, in this case, a matter of improving in terms of economic intelligence.
What is important to know about economic intelligence is that it imperatively requires the implementation of a strategic framework based on an appropriate legal framework and legislation. Furthermore, it is crucial that specific economic policies are implemented. These would be accompanied by good governance, more transparency and, above all, easier access to information.
However, in Tunisia, this prescription is still lacking. Firstly, SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), given the size of their activity, disagree with the implementation of strategic and therefore economic intelligence. Secondly, and again because of their size, SMEs are fiercely competitive in this area by large companies and, indirectly, by industrial groups. The latter therefore have foolproof means of accessing relevant information in a timely manner, and this is how they make life difficult for SMEs. Knowing, moreover, that 97% of the national economic fabric is represented by SMEs, which leads us to say that they constitute the real pillar of the Tunisian economy. However, in the area of economic intelligence, they remain far behind.
Furthermore, in terms of achievements in economic intelligence, Tunisia cannot boast of great achievements, far from it. The progress made in this area remains rather timid, causing the country to lag seriously behind other countries.
According to Fethi Ben Mimoun, president of the Tunisian Association of Economic Intelligence (ATIE), Tunisia suffers from a serious deficiency in terms of a truly formalized, institutionalized and conceptualized public policy combining public and private operators. And he adds that "the ATIE was created because of the observation related to the delay experienced by Tunisia in dealing with the economic intelligence approach. This is far from constituting, at the governmental level, a truly proactive and thoughtful public policy. At the company level, it is far from being recognized as a strategic dimension of management. It is practiced spontaneously and instinctively by managers who rely on their intuition and experience, without being managed and formalized at the organizational and human level."
Therefore, the practice of economic intelligence is still at an embryonic, fragmented and widely dispersed stage, in that it is implemented by a few large companies or certain public and private institutions such as FIPA (Foreign Investment Promotion Agency), IACE (Arab Institute of Business Leaders) and CEPEX (Export Promotion Center). And again, it must be said that even these economic actors practice, rather, monitoring related to their areas of expertise, instead of a real economic intelligence approach.
It must be noted that there are many obstacles to the implementation of a genuine and tangible policy in the field of economic intelligence. One of the most striking obstacles is the lack or absence of collaboration between the public and private sectors. Then, there is also a lack of a culture of collaboration or mutualization between Tunisian companies in terms of experience and expertise in foreign markets. Mistrust and suspicion remain common in this regard and stand as an insurmountable barricade.
Substantial economic issues are hardly the subject of real national debate, issues affecting the future of Tunisia becoming one of the collateral damages of excessive politics. Also, the decline observed in rationality, knowledge in general and culture marks the high point of the absence of economic intelligence. At this level, all actors in the political, social and economic fields are concerned, because it becomes imperative to raise this elementary component to economic progress, from a substitute rank.
Nadya B'chir.
Businessnews.com.tn
Published on December 3, 2012.
Posted online on December 4, 2012.
At the CJD (Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants) national congress on the theme: "economic intelligence, a lever for the development and performance of Tunisian SMEs", the squadron leader at the French gendarmerie's Directorate General, Xavier Leonetti, identified economic espionage as a tiny fraction (3%) of all information used for a company's strategic monitoring.
Indeed, in a globalized environment with strong competition, there is no longer room for industrial entities that do not master information and the access tools that allow them to make more optimal and targeted decisions to conquer new markets. This is becoming a real "silent" war between companies and, on a larger scale, between states, where almost anything goes to access information. But we are not there yet in Tunisia. It is, in this case, a matter of improving in terms of economic intelligence.
What is important to know about economic intelligence is that it imperatively requires the implementation of a strategic framework based on an appropriate legal framework and legislation. Furthermore, it is crucial that specific economic policies are implemented. These would be accompanied by good governance, more transparency and, above all, easier access to information.
However, in Tunisia, this prescription is still lacking. Firstly, SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), given the size of their activity, disagree with the implementation of strategic and therefore economic intelligence. Secondly, and again because of their size, SMEs are fiercely competitive in this area by large companies and, indirectly, by industrial groups. The latter therefore have foolproof means of accessing relevant information in a timely manner, and this is how they make life difficult for SMEs. Knowing, moreover, that 97% of the national economic fabric is represented by SMEs, which leads us to say that they constitute the real pillar of the Tunisian economy. However, in the area of economic intelligence, they remain far behind.
Furthermore, in terms of achievements in economic intelligence, Tunisia cannot boast of great achievements, far from it. The progress made in this area remains rather timid, causing the country to lag seriously behind other countries.
According to Fethi Ben Mimoun, president of the Tunisian Association of Economic Intelligence (ATIE), Tunisia suffers from a serious deficiency in terms of a truly formalized, institutionalized and conceptualized public policy combining public and private operators. And he adds that "the ATIE was created because of the observation related to the delay experienced by Tunisia in dealing with the economic intelligence approach. This is far from constituting, at the governmental level, a truly proactive and thoughtful public policy. At the company level, it is far from being recognized as a strategic dimension of management. It is practiced spontaneously and instinctively by managers who rely on their intuition and experience, without being managed and formalized at the organizational and human level."
Therefore, the practice of economic intelligence is still at an embryonic, fragmented and widely dispersed stage, in that it is implemented by a few large companies or certain public and private institutions such as FIPA (Foreign Investment Promotion Agency), IACE (Arab Institute of Business Leaders) and CEPEX (Export Promotion Center). And again, it must be said that even these economic actors practice, rather, monitoring related to their areas of expertise, instead of a real economic intelligence approach.
It must be noted that there are many obstacles to the implementation of a genuine and tangible policy in the field of economic intelligence. One of the most striking obstacles is the lack or absence of collaboration between the public and private sectors. Then, there is also a lack of a culture of collaboration or mutualization between Tunisian companies in terms of experience and expertise in foreign markets. Mistrust and suspicion remain common in this regard and stand as an insurmountable barricade.
Substantial economic issues are hardly the subject of real national debate, issues affecting the future of Tunisia becoming one of the collateral damages of excessive politics. Also, the decline observed in rationality, knowledge in general and culture marks the high point of the absence of economic intelligence. At this level, all actors in the political, social and economic fields are concerned, because it becomes imperative to raise this elementary component to economic progress, from a substitute rank.
Nadya B'chir.
Businessnews.com.tn
Published on December 3, 2012.
Posted online on December 4, 2012.
