Systemic Practice and Action Research, Vol. 17, No. 1, February 2004( C  2004) Organizing for Research and Action: Implementing Action Researcher Networks David Coghlan, 1,2 Paul Coughlan, 1 and Louis Brennan 1 Received September 25, 2002; accepted March 22, 2003 The article describes and analyzes the process by which action researchers transcend boundaries—including discipline and institutional boundaries, as well as those between academia and industry—to develop effective action researcher networks. The particular empirical setting explored is that defined by the CO-IMPROVE project, a European Union-funded project which addresses the facilitation of collaborative improvement of operations practice and performance in the extended manufacturing enterprise through collaborative action learning among both managers and researchers. KEY WORDS: researcher network; structuring and nondirectiveness; CO-IMPROVE. 1. INTRODUCTION While much of the literature on action research focuses on systems developing their capacity to learn and change, this article explores how the same principle can apply to action researchers working collaboratively. The paper describes and ana- lyzes the process by which researchers transcend boundaries—including discipline and institutional boundaries, as well as those between academia and industry— to develop effective action researcher networks. The particular empirical setting explored is that defined by the CO-IMPROVE project. The objectives of this Euro- pean Union-funded project include the facilitation of collaborative improvement of operations practice and performance in the extended manufacturing enterprise through collaborative action learning among both managers and researchers. 2. CONTEXT: THE EXTENDED MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISE Supply chain management seeks to align deliberately and strategically the value-adding activities in different stages of the supply chain, with the expectation 1 University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed at School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. email: david.coghlan@tcd.ie. Fax: ++353 1 6799503. 37 1094-429X/04/0200-0037/0 C 2004 Plenum Publishing Corporation