| Summary: | In spite of its media coverage, Competitive Intelligence remains a hard-to-grasp process. Its impossible defining is coexistent with its syncretic nature. As it bases itself on the misunderstood culture of intelligence, it is, as a consequence, a source of both worry and reassurance in France. It has nevertheless been judged mandatory, has been elevated to the rank of public policy and is now being developed within firms, slowly but surely. Constantly on the lookout for new operating concepts, Competitive Intelligence is established on field-based methodologies that require strong theoretical foundations. It has to be analyzed as a relative advantage through a model of both agility and paralysis. In order for it to operate, the intelligence concept must be understood and used in a more systemic frame which would link it with action through knowledge : it is a passage from noticing to sensemaking. An ever-working Competitive Intelligence system, focusing on analysis, will therefore put into motion a strategic community of knowledge wherein communication will appear as the centre of attention.
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