Corporate intelligence yes... espionage (gathering of intel through clandestine means).. not really so much..
Knowledge and information is power.. and businesses will pay huge sums of money to obtain it.. Many "fortune" businesses have entire units dedicated to sourcing business intelligence.. and yes.. many businesses employ former members of the govt intel communities to help them with the gathering of intel and the analysis of intel... Fancy business terms like market research, capture management, etc are all about sourcing information you didn't have prior, analyzing that information, and making decisions based on the what you learn from the analysis..
But as
@WAB has inferred.. the likelihood that companies that measure their revenues in billions conduct or condone espionage as a matter of practice.. or that officers of those companies participate in espionage is extremely low.. there might be a rogue out there at any given time.. but the risk is way too high.. and those companies and its officers are already seeing significant rewards without having to intentionally violate the law in a way that puts them in an orange jumpsuit for 15-25 if they get caught.. And why do it when most of the information you want is actually available to you legally.. if you just know where to go look for it.. and know what you're looking at when you see it...
For example.. Think back to the early 2000's... Blackberry owned the global "smart phone" market.. and Nokia owned the traditional cell phone market.... Where are they now? Why does Apple now own the majority of the global market? and how did it happen so fast?
Blackberry (and others) all were well aware that Apple was developing a phone.. they actually knew damn near everything about the first iPhone before it was ever released despite Apple trying desperately to keep their project a secret... Apple had tons of leaks.. and there was constant churn within its engineer team that left Apple, went to work for competitors, etc..
Apple, knowing Blackberry was watching and gathering intel, ran several counter intel campaigns in response.. sending out strains of information to push competitors down incorrect paths and make incorrect assumptions.. locking down leaks as they found them, etc..
When the iPhone was ready to be released, Blackberry knew their processor was better than Apples.. their reception capability was better than Apples.. their device was more rugged... their device had a better price point.. etc... They had stayed on top of Apples project the entire time the iPhone was being developed.. None of this information was gained through espionage.. They didn't need clandestine efforts to get all the goods on what was to become a world changing technological development.. it was all available through open source and basic human relationship management..
Where Blackberry (and others) failed was in the analysis of the intelligence they obtained.. and missing a couple of key "concepts" of the iPhone that Apple had kept secret.. Blackberry looked at the iPhone as a "Phone".. and deemed that it wasn't competitive.. It was more expensive, slower, less reliable, etc after all.. and Blackberry already had millions upon millions of users that wouldn't want to change devices and OS's...
Their failure was Apple wasn't developing a "phone".. they were developing a computer that fits in your pocket, that also happens to be a phone.. They weren't after the "cell phone" user market.. they were after the home computer user marker (who all also happen to own cell phones)... Apple didn't care that their "phone" related services were not up to scratch (initially).. they cared that you could surf the web.. get onto your MySpace account, search something through Yahoo, etc.. while walking down the street or hanging out at the mall..
and less than 15 years later.. Blackberry is a completely irrelevant entity..
The entire case is about business intelligence.. and an intel battle fought between two mega billion dollar firms... but lacks any element of espionage..
