Jump Associates, a California-based company that comes up with ideas to solve "highly ambiguous problems," represents a quirky legion of idea peddlers that has quietly invented what might be a new discipline and an expanding niche. Giant consulting firms like Bain and Booz Allen Hamilton are peering down at this relatively tiny industry with an eye to co-opting it, says Ram Mudambi of Temple's Fox School of Business. Precisely how Jump's business model could work in a large management firm is unclear. "But what Jump and others are doing is squarely in the management-consultants' space," Mudambi says. "So believe me, they're watching."