I suspect Greenslade commenter ZigZoomer is closest to the truth: "Lewis went to Harvard Business School. One of the standard B-school formulas for changing and revitalising an organisation is to set up a 'skunkworks' away from the main offices. ... You take some of the brightest staff, and remove them from the influence of the naysayers in the main part of the company. There they are free to come up with new ideas and ways of working that are supposed to be more successful than the old ways. "