[ISN] Spies like them

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/51240--spies-like-them

By Thomas Watson
Canadian Business
October 20, 2011

Most business schools offer a variety of specialities, from marketing 
and accounting to corporate finance. But there is a school in Europe 
with an MBA program in what faculty members call “defence against the 
dark arts.” The institution in question is well-known to its stated 
enemies—greedy corporate executives who attempt to dominate the business 
world via evil means—but is nearly invisible to the general public. 
Tucked away in the bowels of Paris, down a side street near where 
Napoleon once studied the finer points of waging war, its entrance is an 
unmarked storefront. Window blinds are typically drawn to keep out 
prying eyes. As a result, most people on the street tend to stroll by 
without ever gaining awareness of the powerful forces being taught 
inside.

Don’t be fooled by the reference to fighting dark arts. This isn’t a 
graduate program offered by Harry Potter’s beloved Hogwarts. The 
institution out to conquer evil in this case is the deadly serious École 
de Guerre Économique, known in English circles as the School of Economic 
Warfare, where students are equipped with a unique and controversial set 
of skills that school founders insist are required to successfully lead 
modern corporations on the battlefield of capitalism, 24 hours a day, 
seven days a week.

When most people talk about industrial espionage in the West, the finger 
wagging is typically aimed at China and Russia. In emerging markets, 
more than a few people insist that Uncle Sam somehow manages 
aggressively to deploy the CIA to steal trade secrets for select U.S. 
corporations without raising a legal peep from other American companies. 
But what those concerned talk about when not tossing accusations at 
China or the United States is France—an aggressive collector of 
industrial intelligence since the mid-1700s, when the British naively 
invited French operatives to inspect their mines, smelters and 
foundries. The British Board of Longitude even foolishly let French 
operatives examine John Harrison’s revolutionary marine clocks.

Intelligence experts around the world warn the business community not to 
underestimate the French. But faculty members at the School of Economic 
Warfare have little time for corporate Boy Scouts. They’re more 
concerned with warning executives not to underestimate the risks 
associated with always playing fair. “All is fair in love, war and 
business” isn’t the school’s official motto, but it fits the bill, 
insists faculty member Jean-François Bianchi, a specialist in 
information engineering who teaches courses on the theory and strategy 
of influence and counter-influence.

The School of Economic Warfare was founded in 1997 by retired French 
army general Jean Pichot-Duclos and his partner, business intelligence 
specialist Christian Harbulot. Duclos and Harbulot were concerned with 
the growing acceptance in Europe of the notion that businesses can 
successfully compete on the world stage simply by offering a competitive 
product at a competitive price. Seeing the global marketplace as an 
ongoing battle with no agreed-upon rules of engagement, they set out to 
transfer military know-how to the corporate world. The school has no 
sign, Harbulot once said, “because we didn’t want to upset the 
neighbours.”

[...]

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