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.
William Ocasio Named Senior Associate Dean for Strategy at Gies College of Business
William Ocasio has been appointed Senior Associate Dean for Strategy at Gies College of Business - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This role represents an exciting opportunity to apply, learn from, and extend Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative's transdisciplinary orientation — with strategy as the key to accomplishing Gies’ purpose and enhancing our distinctive competencies.In this capacity, Ocasio will work closely with college leadership to advance Gies’ strategic vision while continuing to serve as Director of the Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative at Gies Business. Under his leadership, ISOI remains a hub for research on strategic organizations, strengthening the connections across strategy, organizational theory, and transdisciplinary scholarship that reinforces Illinois intellectual history and thought leadership throughout the last 50 years.
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.
Joseph Mahoney Wins 2025 Dan and Mary Lou Schendel Best Paper Prize
Joseph T. Mahoney, Caterpillar Chair of Business at Gies College of Business and associate director of the Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative (ISOI), has been awarded the 2025 Dan and Mary Lou Schendel Best Paper Prize from the Strategic Management Journal. The Schendel Prize honors work that has had lasting influence on management teaching, research, and practice.
PODCAST: Why High-Status Teams Get More Effort (and What Leaders Can Do About It)
New research reveals that group status within an organization is a major driver of how much effort we put in. In this episode of Research Reverb, Gies Business professor Jeff Lowenstein discusses his work on nested group dynamics.