Here are some interesting publications which you might find useful:

Leeson, P. T., Ryan, M. E., & Williamson, C. R. (2012;2011;). Think tanks. Journal of Comparative Economics, 40(1), 62-77. doi:10.1016/j.jce.2011.07.004

Li, Y. (2015). Think tank 2.0 for deliberative policy analysis. Policy Sciences, 48(1), 25-50. doi:10.1007/s11077-014-9207-4

Nicander, L., Institutionen för säkerhet, strategi och ledarskap (ISSL), CATS (Centrum för Asymmetriska Hot- och Terrorismstudier), & Försvarshögskolan. (2016). The recipe for think tank success: The perspective of insiders. International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 29(4), 738-759. doi:10.1080/08850607.2016.1177397

Plehwe, D. (2013). Think tanks in america. Critical Policy Studies, 7(4), 471-474. doi:10.1080/19460171.2013.856136

Pautz, H. (2011). Revisiting the think-tank phenomenon. Public Policy and Administration, 26(4), 419-435. doi:10.1177/0952076710378328

Savage, G. C. (2016). Think tanks, education and elite policy actors. The Australian Educational Researcher, 43(1), 35-53. doi:10.1007/s13384-015-0185-0

 Dear Tony, 

Thank you very much for you quick response. I am more interested in think tanks as a group integrated by members of the organization (universities in my research) who through exchange, debate and negotiation, explore situations and produce new ideas to bring these into the decision-makers. I am seeing this group as a strategy to develop organizational change. Do you have any suggestion?

Very interesting. I think some of the above sources still apply. I also have experience of this in different contexts but with different language, where the think tank has become normalised in the structure. This is harder to pin down in research but can include R&D strategic teams, insight teams, and task and finish teams.

Best of luck - in interested to see how this develops. 

Thanks Tony!

Think tanks are most commonly understood to be "stand-alone" organizations that perform research and advocacy on economics and politics; international relations and security; environments, science, and technology, arts and humanities, etc. Most are non-profit organizations; some are funded by governments, advocacy groups, or businesses, or derive revenue from consulting assignments related to their projects. Inside organizations, groups that are typically tasked with generating ideas for organizational change include task forces and working groups (most commonly), often with the help of external (management) consultants, and perhaps (far less commonly) communities of practice or practice groups; evidently, these organizational forms are not the same—hence, the tool should (ideally) match what job must be done.

What with change fatigue, system-wide strategic planning tools that endeavor to co-opt staff for self-led change are being tested; on the first subject, there is Forestalling Change Fatigue, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238600582_Forestalling_Change_Fatigue; on the second, there is Future Search Conferencing, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286440317_Future_Search_Conferencing.

Article Forestalling Change Fatigue

Article Future Search Conferencing

Try to read the book written by Dawson, P. (1994). Organizational change: a processual approach. London: Paul Chapman. It may help you 

Algunas sugerencias

Article Dirección por procesos en la Universidad

Conference Paper LA PLANEACIÓN ESTRATÉGICA CON ENFOQUE DE GESTIÓN DE LA CALIDAD

Thanks! :)