"Ideas Are Free shows managers how to tap all the ideas their employees have and gain significant advantage over their competitors. In today's increasingly competitive business world, only companies that are successful at managing ideas will thrive. Robinson and Schroeder have discovered, through extensive research and work with more than 300 companies - in dozens of industries, from agriculture to high-technology - the key factors that influence the quantity and quality of employee ideas. They provide a roadmap for totally integrating ideas and idea management into the way companies are structured and operate and show how any manager can develop this increasingly critical competency."--BOOK JACKET.