Yusaku Takeda
I am an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the Gies College of Business — the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
For decades, the trajectory of the global economy seemed to point toward convergence. Whether through the lens of free-market neoliberalism or the ideals of cosmopolitanism, the marketplace was often imagined as a distinct, inclusive, and ever-homogenizing sphere. It was idealized as a borderless arena of meritocracy, where universal principles of efficiency would supersede the messy realities of social and political life.
My research confronts the reality of this trend’s reversal.
Today, we are witnessing a shift toward resurgent particularism, in which nationalism, identity politics, and social friction challenge the vision of a borderless world. I study the corporation—one of history’s most powerful inventions—as a permeable site where these societal values and strategic actions collide or, at times, are reproduced or amplified. My work demonstrates how and why organizations actively deploy macro-forces, such as nationalism, to build identity and legitimacy, and with what broader consequences on the organizations and society thereof.
I adopt a historically-grounded approach, combining deep archival inquiry with large-scale quantitative and computational analysis. My goal is to develop a historically grounded theory that opens new fields of inquiry at the intersection of organizational theory, strategic management, and sociology.
Together with my collaborators, I am actively building an intellectual community around this topic through workshops and other field-building activities. Join our Nation and Nationalism Research Network (NNRN).
My research has been recognized with awards from the Academy of Management's OMT Division, including the Best Student Paper Award (2020) and as a Finalist for the Best Paper on Environmental and Social Practices (2022). I was also a Finalist for the Best Conference Paper and Best PhD Paper Prizes at the Strategic Management Society (2020). I also received the Funai Overseas Scholarship from the Funai Foundation for Information Technology—its first recipient in management and organizational studies.
I earned my Ph.D. in Business Administration from Harvard University and a B.A. in Social Studies from Wesleyan University. I have also worked as a research assistant at Hitotsubashi University’s Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Tokyo.
I also teach, practice, and compete in Judo, holding a Sandan (third-degree black belt), and I compete internationally.
I am from Hokkaido, Japan.
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