The ISOI Research Paper Award is presented annually to honor a published journal article or book that embodies and furthers the mission of ISOI, which is to address unmet demand by academic communities and corporations for transdisciplinary research in strategic organizational design and management.
Ishva Minefee, assistant professor of business administration at Gies College of Business, has been named the recipient of the Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative’s Research Paper Award for 2026.
“This was a passion project that really kicked off in 2020, and I’m thankful that ISOI and Gies College of Business have been so supportive,” said Minefee.
Minefee wrote the paper, titled “Taking a stand while abroad? Towards a theory of MNCs’ sociopolitical activism in host countries,” with Lori Yue of Columbia Business School. Their research examines multinational organizations’ support for social and political causes to determine how those statements and actions translate to other countries in which they have a presence.
The researchers found that, while multinational corporations have in the past been able to remain silent or respond differently in host countries than they do in their home countries, those times are changing.
"If you espouse these moral values at home,” said Minefee, “why are you not doing so elsewhere? That led to our core question: why do multinational corporations that have already engaged in activism on an issue at home respond consistently or inconsistently to the same issue in a host country? At the time, multinationals were essentially missing from the growing literature on corporate sociopolitical activism. We saw an opportunity to establish it as a complementary area for international business.”
The ISOI Research Paper Award is presented annually to honor a published journal article or book that embodies and furthers the mission of ISOI, which is to address unmet demand by academic communities and corporations for transdisciplinary research in strategic organizational design and management.
“Minefee’s outstanding paper shows that a firm’s values are proven not where they are declared but where they are tested,” said Willie Ocasio, Director of the Illinois Strategic Organizations Initiative. “By theorizing when value-consistency survives institutional complexity across borders — and when it fractures — Minefee and Yue give international business a rigorous account of conviction under pressure. It is precisely the scholarship ISOI exists to champion.”
Previous ISOI Research Paper winners include Olga Khessina for “Bottled Up or Poured Out: How product name emotions affect appeal and authenticity in the market for craft beer” and Arkadiy Sakhartov for “Corporate Diversification and Risk: Portfolio effects and resource redeployability.”
Minefee, I., & Yue, L. Q. (2025). Taking a stand while abroad? Towards a theory of MNCs’ sociopolitical activism in host countries. Journal of International Business Studies, 56(4), 510-529.
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