The Spectrum of Hybridity: From Economic Intelligence to Economic Espionage in Geoeconomic Competition

Abstract

This article proposes an analytical framework for qualifying and comparing practices located along the continuum that links economic intelligence to economic espionage within geoeconomic competition. Starting from an operational definition of hybridity, it builds a four-dimensional grid, covering the informational, legal, technological and strategic dimensions, and translates each dimension into indicators graded according to the white-grey-black typology. This qualitative grid is applied to two configurations documented through public data and compared in an argued manner: extraterritorial access to data and the covert appropriation of trade secrets. The results show that the shift from competition to predation proceeds through cumulative slippages rather than the crossing of a single threshold. They establish, above all, that the most exposed configuration is not necessarily the most unlawful: the combination of extraterritorial law and the concentration of digital infrastructures produces a high level of risk while remaining formally lawful. The article derives traceable recommendations, tied to the grid’s dimensions and differentiated by actor, for firms, public decision-makers, and economic intelligence officers.