Strategic Intelligence for the Future 2

1 From Information Metabolism to Economic Intelligence

1.1. Introduction

Volume 2 of Strategic Intelligence for the Future focuses on information, information research, analysis and the integration of information in decision-making processes. In the first chapter of this work we will, before addressing the technical aspects, attempt to demonstrate the role of the “information function” within organizations. We will consider this “information function” in a broad sense, that is information collection, analysis and creation from the results of analyzing “knowledge for action”. Although everyone agrees that the “information function” should be placed at the heart of economic intelligence, it is rare to find work that analyzes the role of this function in the “evolution” of organizations, businesses and indeed individuals. This aspect is especially important as in many cases, a part of this function, searching for and collecting information, is often outsourced or confined to internal structures remote from decision-makers. We will therefore analyze this function’s role, not in the classical framework of the intelligence cycle (or the information cycle according to the authors), but by exploring more deeply its impact on the behavior of individuals, which forms the substrate for development and the action of institutions and businesses. To do this, we will refer to different works in the information domain metabolism on the one hand, in the context of the individuation of actors ...