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Current firm experiments within a set of knowledge driven segments of the global economy suggest the possible rebirth of the managerial values and commitments to participative leadership and collaborative creativity that flourished in the US in the 1960s. Potential barriers include a focus on short term profits and intellectual property protection that restrict both within and between firm knowledge sharing to drive innovations across complementary markets. While growing knowledge resources suggest possible achievements well beyond previous levels, the required collaborative capabilities appear to demand a recommitment among management scholars to field research and the sharing of insights with managers across levels and firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports that academics and academic research should become more applied and relevant. During the past 100 years, organizations at the leading edge of the economy have moved from a focus on standardization, to a focus on efficient customization, and now toward a focus on "mass" innovation--the organized generation and application of knowledge in a continuous process of creativity and innovation. Accompanying these changes, new organizational forms have evolved. First, matrices and then networks replaced pure hierarchies to accommodate customization. A by-product of network organizations has been a resurgence of interest in trust, both in business and in academia. As firms form rapid partnerships up and down the value chain with organizations from around the globe, the certainties associated with rigid contracts and hierarchical controls have often given way to flexible agreements and customized output worked through and guided by interfirm teams. It is opined that there are increasing opportunities for academic theorists and researchers to use leading-edge organizations as clinical laboratories.