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.
Ishva Minefee Wins 2026 ISOI Best Paper Award
Minefee was selected for his paper "Taking a stand while abroad? Towards a theory of MNCs’ sociopolitical activism in host countries" with Lori Yue (Columbia Business School). It was published in the Journal of International Business Studies.
Rather than viewing corporate activism as a purely domestic phenomenon, this groundbreaking research applies ISOI's transdisciplinary mission to global strategy. It uniquely flips the script by examining multinational corporations (MNCs) as proactive initiators of social activism rather than passive targets, theorizing how global firms act consistently or inconsistently when addressing sociopolitical issues in the host countries they operate in.
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.
The Benefits of Being an Outsider in Trade Wars
When two giants fight a trade war, the real winners might be playing from the sidelines. In their article "Third-country MNEs, trade wars, and competitive opportunities: a real-options perspective," Gies College of Business professor and ISOI Scholar Joe Clougherty and Hyewon Ma of Indiana University explore the possible benefits of being an outsider in a trade war. Their research examined 3,600 Chinese subsidiaries of large multinational corporations from 51 of those "third countries" - firms whose nations otherwise had no direct involvement in the dispute - to learn how outsiders respond to trade disputes.
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.