Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative
Driven by Gies College of Business' commitment to achieving the highest standard in faculty excellence and globally renowned research, the Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative (ISOI) addresses unmet demand by academic communities and corporations for interdisciplinary research in strategic organizational design and management.
ISOI conducts, sponsors, and promotes world-class research and thought leadership in strategic organizations and builds upon Gies College of Business’ distinguished history and reputation in both organizational behavior and strategy. Major theoretical innovations in strategic organizations were developed at Illinois, including resource dependence theory, organizational symbolism, managerial cognition, and institutional pluralism.
Purpose
To bring together top scholars and thought leaders to make organizational behavior more strategic, and to make strategy more organizational.
Vision
To establish Gies Business as a global leader in developing theoretical and applied transdisciplinary research on strategic organizations.
Mission
To conduct, sponsor, and promote world-class transdisciplinary research and thought leadership on strategic organizations.
Khessina Wins 2025 ISOI Best Paper Award
The Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative (ISOI) has named Olga Khessina, associate professor of business administration at Gies College of Business, as the recipient of its 2025 Best Paper Award.
Her paper, “Bottled Up or Poured Out: How Product Name Emotions Affect Appeal and Authenticity in the Market for Craft Beer,” published in Strategy Science and co-authored with J. Cameron Verhaal and Stanislav Dobrev, explores how the emotional tone of product names shapes consumer perceptions and market outcomes. Khessina’s research shows that products with names projecting negative emotions are often seen as more authentic and appealing than those with positive names.
Khessina’s work reflects ISOI’s mission to advance transdisciplinary research, bridging organization theory, strategy, marketing, and social psychology to explain why product strategies effective in mass markets do not work in oppositional craft industries as well as to reveal unexpected strategies that do work. These findings help explain how craft beer, once a niche market, has become a major force in a slow-growing industry.
Research and Scholarship that Make a Global Impact
ISOI is committed to engaging with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, the broader academic community, and the world of business through research that cuts across disciplines and subdisciplines.
ISOI at UIUC is a community-building research program on the University of Illinois’ flagship campus. Members participate in workshops and other opportunities to delve into the research of strategic organizations. This program is led by Professor Joseph Mahoney, ISOI Associate Director.
ISOI Global Research Networks engage academic scholars from around the nation and world to create a new research agenda at the intersection of strategic organizational design and management. This program is led by Professor Matthew Kraatz, ISOI Associate Director.
ISOI Strategic Organizations Partnerships joins practitioners and academics through the sponsorship of applied research, data collection, and communication exchange. It seeks to help both parties learn from each other and see theory in practice. This program is led by Professor William Ocasio, ISOI Director.
PODCAST: The hidden costs of cheating - Lessons from MLB scandal
In the second episode of the Research Reverb podcast, Gies Business professors Deepak Somaya and Joe Mahoney unpack three major factors that undermined the Astros’ efforts and draws powerful lessons for businesses.
Study: Division memberships guide where employees make extra effort
Recent study underscores the importance of understanding where employees derive their strongest sense of identity. Do they see themselves more as a member of their specific division or more as a member of the bigger organization?