Economic intelligence index and trade flow analysis

The aim of the research is to explore the natural predisposition of the world’s nations to implement an effective and efficient Economic Intelligence strategy, through the calculation of an index that measures the country’s position in the network of international relations. Economic Intelligence is a new discipline introduced by scholars in order to support the national governments through new information bases designed to succeed in the complex economic environment following the development of globalization. Given that a central role in the international economic relations’ network provides a privileged position for acquiring information useful for supporting the logical aspects of strategic planning, a country with such a role has a natural predisposition to develop a successful Economic Intelligence strategy. Thus, the subject of the research focuses on analysing that predisposition by measuring the significance of the position occupied by a country in the global trade network. For that purpose, the methodology of the Social Network Analysis is used. The assumption is that by calculating the Economic Intelligence Index, that is a weighted average of the main centrality indexes related to each country within the global trade network, it is possible to measure a national entity’s inclination to developing a sound Economic Intelligence strategy. The basic conclusion of the article highlights that, notwithstanding the fact that a prominent role in the global trade network is occupied by the major countries in terms of commercial importing value, other countries characterized by a significant Economic Intelligence Index could be in a position to develop a successful Economic Intelligence strategy.