Spy games

After a week dominated by the battle over online retail and the GST, it’s time for something completely different.

And what better way to wind down towards the weekend than with a good old-fashioned spy story.

This one is set in France, deep inside a sealed off area inside the factories of automotive giant Renault. For the last few years, Renault and its joint venture partner Nissan have spent billions developing secret technology for one of the car world’s holiest grails – the electric car.

Just 1,000 dedicated workers (okay, that’s hardly the old James Bond need-to-know thing) have been working on the project behind closed doors, racing to beat rival car companies from China, the Unites States and Europe.

But this week, the game has changed – moles have been discovered. Overnight it was revealed that Renault sacked three senior executives who are accused of stealing and selling secrets around the project.

Exactly who the secrets have been sold to isn’t clear, but that’s not the point – this is cloak and dagger stuff at the highest levels of industry.

Indeed, the problem is so serious that the French government – which incidentally owns 15% of Renault – is claiming it is now in an “economic war”.

That might be a bit strong, but there have been a number of recent cases of industrial espionage in France recently, prompting regulators and business leaders to worry if the men in trench coats are suddenly targeting French industry.

Or maybe it’s all a bit of payback. In an ironic little twist, a Wikileak cable released earlier this week contained claims that France is the “evil empire when it comes to technology theft” and has in fact led Europe in the field of industrial espionage.

Either way, I think it’s fertile ground for a book and movie.

Like me, lots of entrepreneurs might have a chuckle at this story. But there is a serious angle, even for Australian SME owners.

While few businesses would have secrets as worthy as being stolen as Renault obviously done, every business has bits of information or knowledge that it would never want to lose.

This might be product designs or even policies and procedures that provide your competitive advantage.

How do you protect these secrets? Where are they stored? In peoples’ heads, or in locked draws, or are they stored electronically?

What would happen if a competitor got a hold of them?

In an age where standing out from the competition is both crucial and difficult, these are questions well worth pondering.