Emphasis Program Descriptions

Marketing Emphasis

The Integrated Marketing Emphasis allows marketing students to learn important marketing skills and strategic concepts by addressing actual real-time concerns of a regional or national consumer brand. Typically the semester is divided into three phases:

  1) Phase 1: Consumer Behavior, Exploratory Research and Marketing Strategy Exploratory Phase where students do a Situation Analysis of the client business, looking at competition and the industry, conducting exploratory interviews with current or prospective customers, depending on client objectives. From this they develop hypotheses and tentative strategies. Simultaneously, students study Consumer Behavior Theory and continually apply the conceptual theory to the client's target consumer behavior. This first phase culminates with presentations to the client.

  2) Phase 2: Sales/Negotiations and Marketing Research Skills: The students develop, administer and interpret the results of an online survey conducted among client's current or prospective customers. Results of these studies are then presented to the client. At the same time, all are developing sales and negotiations skills in a concurrent class.

  3) Phase 3: Specialization: students choose between Global Marketing and Internet/Database Marketing  and also between Advertising or Retailing. Application Phase where students in advertising class develop creative ideas to brand and communicate the program; students in retailing class look at retail execution details; During this phase, all students also study Global Marketing or Internet Marketing; however these classes have only limited application to the client. Final Advertising and retail presentations at the end of the semester.

There is also a Marketing Law Class taken online that occurs throughout the semester.

Former clients include Idahoan Potatoes, KLIM snowmobile and dirt bike apparel, Backcountry.com (outdoor gear online) and Idahostatesman.com

Graduates are prepared for entry-level marketing positions in brand management, market research, sales, internet/database marketing, international marketing, retailing, etc.

Successful students develop strong skills in teamwork, problem-solving, applying marketing concepts to real-world problems and opportunities, analyzing data using excel and SPSS.  

Supply Chain Management

The Integrated Supply Chain Emphasis at Brigham Young University-Idaho is designed to prepare graduates for entry level positions and career growth across functions in the supply chain.  Students in this emphasis enroll in four integrated courses (12 credits total):

• Purchasing
• Advanced Operations
• Distribution
• Modeling and Analysis 

These courses roughly correspond to the SCOR Model of Plan-Source-Make-Deliver.  There is a heavy emphasis on real world application as learning is encouraged through the extensive use of case studies, simulations, projects, presentations, field trips, Excel-based modeling and analysis, and exposure to ERP and SCM applications.  BYU-Idaho has also launched a student chapter of APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society) and is making certification training materials available to students who desire to work toward a CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) while in school.

Finance Emphasis

The objective of the Integrated Finance Emphasis is help students better prepare for the workplace.  During their senior year, students select from among three broad job areas for their particular area of focus.  The basic job areas include:

            1. Advanced Investments and Capital Markets

            2. Banking and Corporate Financial Management

            3. New Venture Funding

The method is to involve the student in a broad variety of courses as they apply to their particular area of focus.  Rather taking just four senior level finance courses which may have a more general direction, students take six courses oriented specifically to their area of job focus.  A broader faculty group is involved in developing courses specific to the area of work focus.  For example, a business law professor is asked to develop and provide a one credit course on trusts, wills and estate planning for those students in the Banking and Coroporate Financial Management focus. 

In addition, students in a particular area of work focus are also involved in a work experience project which allows them to integrate their coursework with real world application.