Strategic Management BS
Program Purpose
The purpose of the Strategic Management program is to develop Christlike leaders who discern truth, make principled and well-reasoned choices, and harness competitive market forces to drive innovation, improve organizational performance, and create lasting value that promotes human flourishing.
What is Strategy?
The field of strategy studies how organizations create, deliver, and capture value to achieve long-term success. It deals with how firms make decisions about their goals, allocate resources, respond to competition, and adapt to changing environments.
The core questions in strategy are:
- In what markets should we compete? (e.g., industries, geographies, customer segments)
- What is the unique value we will offer? (e.g., lower costs, differentiated product features)
- What capabilities and resources are necessary for us to be successful? (e.g., specialized skills, brand, culture)
- How can we sustain our competitive advantage to build a durable business? (e.g., barriers to imitation, network effects)
These are complex, ambiguous, and high-stakes questions requiring the integration of knowledge spanning finance, marketing, operations, economics, and technology.
Tracks and Career Paths
Strategy students may complete one of three tracks each leading to a different experiential learning experiences and career outcomes:
Management Consulting Track
Originally known as the Business Analyst track, the Management Consulting track has formed the foundation of BYU's Strategy program since its inception in 2009. Founded by Jeff Dyer, a former Bain & Company consultant and internationally recognized expert in innovation and strategy, the Strategy major was initially designed to prepare BYU students for consulting positions at top-tier firms. While we continue this mission today, the program has expanded to offer multiple tracks that reflect the growing landscape of career opportunities in strategy.
Management consultants are external advisors to organizations that help them solve challenging business problems, improve performance, and implement strategic changes. Consultants bring specialized expertise, objective perspectives, and a structured problem-solving approach when companies are looking for support to address a particular problem effectively.
Corporate Strategy
The Corporate Strategy track is best for students interested in being internal advisors to senior leadership teams to shape long-term direction, drive growth initiatives, and create sustainable competitive advantages. Corporate strategists operate at the intersection of analysis and execution, translating market insights and organizational capabilities into actionable strategic plans that drive business performance.
Corporate strategy professionals are embedded within organizations as full-time employees, working closely with C-suite executives, business unit leaders, and cross-functional teams to identify opportunities, evaluate strategic options, and guide critical business decisions. Unlike external consultants, corporate strategists develop deep institutional knowledge and maintain long-term accountability for the outcomes of their recommendations, giving them unique insight into what actually works within their specific organizational context.
Product Track
Product managers serve as the strategic orchestrators who bridge the gap between customer needs, business objectives, and technical capabilities to bring innovative products and features to market. Often described as "mini-CEOs" of their products, product managers are responsible for defining product vision, prioritizing features, and coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver solutions that create meaningful value for users and drive business growth.
Product managers work as internal leaders within organizations, collaborating closely with engineering, design, marketing, sales, and executive teams to guide product development from conception to launch and beyond. AI is allowing product managers to do more than ever before and be less reliant on engineering and design teams to decide what gets built.
Students who join the Product track complete 1 of 3 experiential learning experiences:
- Associate Product Manager (APM) Internship: Students complete a 4-month product focused internship (unpaid) starting Winter of their junior year.
- Sandbox: Students build and launch a digital product from scratch starting in the summer after their junior year.
- Crocker Innovation Fellowship: Students design and build a physical product from scratch starting Winter of their junior year.
This track prepares students for careers in product management, entrepreneurship, and innovation roles.
Research Track
The Research track represents the intellectual foundation of strategic thinking, where professionals dedicate themselves to advancing the frontiers of business knowledge through rigorous analysis, original research, and innovative frameworks that shape how organizations understand and navigate complex challenges. This track attracts individuals passionate about deep inquiry and knowledge creation, who thrive on uncovering insights that can transform industries and influence strategic decision-making at the highest levels. Some students from this track will go on to pursue PhD's in Strategy or a related field.
See the Strategy Program Guide for more details.
Courses
| STRAT 401 | Intro to Strategic Management |
| STRAT 402 | Economics of Strategy |
| STRAT 431 | Strategic Thinking |
| STRAT 411 | Competitive Strategy |
| STRAT 412 | Data Analytics for Strategists |
| STRAT 432 | Strategic Thinking |
| STRAT 421 | Strategy Implementation |
Learning Outcomes
Students completing the Strategic Management major will be able to:
Gather and Analyze Data to Discern TruthIdentify, collect, and critically evaluate diverse and credible data sources to uncover truth in complex, ambiguous, and dynamic environments.
Use logic, analytical frameworks, and structured problem-solving to interpret data, assess stakeholder impacts, and evaluate alternatives. Recommend courses of action that will create long-term value for individuals, organizations, and society.
Translate strategic insights into realized value through disciplined execution, wise stewardship of resources, and inspiring others to achieve shared goals.
Integrate moral principles and Christ-centered values into decision-making and implementation to promote human flourishing.
Lead the global conversation on strategy by generating cutting-edge insights, pioneering new approaches, and inspiring others to adopt and extend best practices in both academic and applied settings.
Evidence of Learning
Direct Measures
1. Scores on exams and class assignments, along with any other metrics created by the instructors of each course, will be used to assess how well students have satisfied the learning objectives of the required courses.
Indirect Measures
1. Exit surveys based on interviews with a sample of graduates by the director of placement for the Strategy program.
2. Alumni surveys of recent graduates administered by the undergraduate program director.
3. Feedback from key recruiters as gathered informally from conversations between the recruiters and faculty and compiled by the placement director.
4. Internship and job placement rates as compiled and reported by the director of placement.
Learning and Teaching Assessment and Improvement
After each winter semester the faculty will review how well the program is meeting its leanring outcomes and propose ways to improve.
Faculty members will report the following information about the courses they taught the prior year:
(1) average GPA in each class
(2) teacher and course evaluations (reviewed with department chair during ASIs)
(3) course learning outcomes
(4) evidence of learning
(5) plans for improvement.
Reports on the indirect measures of the program will also be presented and discussed.