Career in Strategic Management

Encompassing a range of disciplines including planning and organization, formulation of short and long-term strategies, implementation, directing, and controlling, strategic management is steadily being recognized as an important sub-discipline within management studies. Furthermore, companies and organizations, big and small, are hiring aggressively across strategy roles which have led to strong demand for intensive education as well as the necessary technical and professional know-how in both upcoming graduates and early to mid-career professionals. Here are some of the most popular career pathways that graduates in strategic management choose to go for.

Strategy managers are at the core of a business’s decision-making. Often working with corporate executives and management teams, they collaborate across departments to determine and implement operational strategies. This role requires intense analytical ability, a keen business vision, and outstanding communication skills.

The global economy is constantly changing, making the need for effective strategy managers greater than ever. If you want to get ahead in your career and enjoy the personal satisfaction that comes from helping a company succeed, then this might be the right position for you.

Who is a Strategy Manager?

Strategy managers use their business knowledge and personal acumen to identify opportunities for growth as well as threats that could derail even the most successful ventures. It’s their job to create solutions to problems before they become serious issues — and to develop plans that will make their companies more competitive in the international marketplace.

They work with all levels of management, evaluating ideas and proposing solutions based on business goals, available resources, and market trends. They typically work within a company’s largest department or division, performing tasks such as:

• Developing strategic plans for future operations
• Creating procedures for long-term business growth and profitability
• Maintaining budgets for inventory control and capital expenditures
• Identifying potential acquisitions that would increase efficiency 

Required Skills for Strategic Management

As a strategic management professional, there are a few key skills that are instrumental for gaining entry into a role as well as climbing the ladder into senior-level positions. Given below are some of them.

• Analytical Mindset
• Communication Skills
• Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
• Teamwork Skills
• Multitasking
• Coordination with other departments
• Planning skills
• Innovate and Experiment
• Quick Decision Making
• Deadline Management
• Flexible and Adjustable

Who can become a Strategy Manager?

Your career in strategy management begins with your degree program. Students typically choose a concentration in business, economics, or finance. Regardless of your area of study, you’ll learn the fundamentals of business, including accounting, marketing, management, and law.

All students take a variety of business courses, but you can specialize in areas like entrepreneurship and international business. An internship or job will help you apply what you’ve learned in the classroom to a professional setting.

After graduation, strategy managers are employed by businesses or corporations. They work with leaders to develop operational strategies that are aligned with the company’s long-term goals and objectives. This includes everything from evaluating current operations to identifying opportunities for growth and improving efficiency throughout the organization.

Strategy managers also collaborate with other departments to determine the most effective strategies for meeting financial goals. For instance, they may work with finance teams to develop budgets or forecast revenue. They’re typically responsible for tracking performance against budgeted numbers; if the performance is under-or over-budget, they might recommend changing plans to meet targets more efficiently or revise them altogether.

If sales are under-performing, they may need to identify changes in pricing or customer service strategies. 

Careers in Strategic Management

Explained below are some of the leading careers in the field of Strategic Management:

Project Manager

This is a quite concentrated job profile involving the overall planning and strategizing over the completion of a project. In large organisations which are also their primary employers, huge tasks are broken down into small projects to be performed by a small team of expert professionals so as to maintain the high character of work. As a project manager, you lead all the major aspects of planning, designing, and modifying the successful completion of a project efficiently and effectively. Skills of managing multitasking, teamwork, communication are of utmost importance. Significant experience of working in the industry and/or MBA in Project Management is desired to land the role of a project manager. 

Product Strategist

A product strategist is also known as an Experience Lead and the work responsibilities are somewhat similar to that of a Product Manager. The main aim of such a professional is to maximise user engagement and experience, resolve all resulting problems related to it and most importantly, project the company’s ideas of the product immaculately. While it is quite flexible, typical tasks include collaborating with product design, development, content as well as marketing team on a regular basis, collecting and interpreting user feedback, coordinate with various stakeholders involved and much more. 

Consumer Insights Analyst

Combining marketing, strategic management and business administration, a consumer insights analyst is an emerging career profile in recent years. In particular, he/she is in charge of curating consumer-related information, namely, opinions, product behaviour and experiences and its further analysis and interpretation in order to come up with workable insights as to the planning efforts of the company. This extends to current as well as future planning strategies. A master’s degree in strategic management or at least a strong quantitative background is recommended.

Policy Strategist

If you harbour an interest to work in public policy-making and implementation, the job of a policy strategist may appeal to you. Hired generally by governmental departments, NGOs, research organisations and other initiatives, a policy strategist works closely with the formulation, modification, implementation and strategic management of policies in concerned areas. The policies may range from development and welfare-based to environment or rights-based. They work alongside citizens, activists, politicians and bureaucrats to better resolve policy issues and gain insights on future policies. 

Financial Analyst

Companies working in the finance sector require professionals with a stronghold over quantitative and statistical subjects as well as a sound understanding of financial analysis, strategic management and unflinching interest in markets and stocks. Typical responsibilities include analysing stocks related information, making forecasts, finding interesting investment opportunities and finally suggest recommendations to senior management, among others. Establishments you can expect to work in include, hedge funds, portfolio management companies, wealth management companies, investment bankers, insurance and risk management and much more.

Management Consultant

This is a quite senior-level job which requires a significant number of experience of working in the industry. A management consultant is in charge of large scale projects along with catering to clients. Typical responsibilities include the development of long term strategies, plan for performance increment and tackling other challenges.

In addition to the above, there are countless other pathways in this field.

• Business Development Consultant
• Business Analyst
• Account Manager
• Strategic Initiatives Associate
• Research Analyst
• Public Policy Analyst

Strategy Manager

Strategy managers are at the core of a business’s decision-making. Often working with corporate executives and management teams, they collaborate across departments to determine and implement operational strategies. This role requires intense analytical ability, a keen business vision, and outstanding communication skills.

The global economy is constantly changing, making the need for effective strategy managers greater than ever. If you want to get ahead in your career and enjoy the personal satisfaction that comes from helping a company succeed, then this might be the right position for you.

Responsibilities of a Strategic Manager

Strategy managers use their business knowledge and personal acumen to identify opportunities for growth as well as threats that could derail even the most successful ventures. It’s their job to create solutions to problems before they become serious issues — and to develop plans that will make their companies more competitive in the international marketplace.

They work with all levels of management, evaluating ideas and proposing solutions based on business goals, available resources, and market trends. They typically work within a company’s largest department or division, performing tasks such as:

• Developing strategic plans for future operations
• Creating procedures for long-term business growth and profitability
• Maintaining budgets for inventory control and capital expenditures
• Identifying potential acquisitions that would increase efficiency 

Eligibility Criteria for Strategic Management

• Bachelor’s degree in Management or related fields with minimum required marks
• A good score in GMAT or GRE
• Minimum required marks in IELTS/TOEFL
• SOP and LOR

Strategic Management Courses

• MSc Strategic Management
• Master in Strategic Business Development
• MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management
• MSc Management: Strategy Pathway
• MSc Strategic Innovation Management
• Master of Science in Strategic Management and Marketing
• MSc in International Strategic Management
• MSc Strategic Management
• MSc Strategic Project Management
• MSc Strategic Management
• Master in Strategy and Organisation

Top Universities for Strategic Management

• HEC Paris
• University of Vaasa
• University of Manchester
• University of Birmingham
• University of Sussex
• University of Malta
• Lund University
• Tilburg University
• London School of Business and Finance
• Heriot-Watt University
• Pace University
• Vrije University Amsterdam

Top Colleges in India for Strategy Management

• IIT Kanpur
• IIM,Banglore
• International School of Management Studies, Pune
• Amity University, Noida
• IFMR University of Chennai
• Christ University, Bangalore
• Xavier Institute of Management, Bangalore
• Institute of Management NIRMA University; Ahmedabad
• C K D Institute of Management & Technology
• Lovely Professional University

Employment Areas

There are various industries that have a growing demand for professionals with an understanding of strategic management as well as the necessary flexibility to work in high-pressure environments. Some of the sectors and industries you can expect to work in have been mentioned below.

• Wealth Management
• Fund Management
• Insurance
• Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare
• Consulting
• Non-Governmental Organisations
• Education Services
• Manufacturing
• Scientific and Technical Organisations
• Research
• Oil and Mining Organisation
• Utilities

Top Recruiters

• JPMorgan
• Accenture
• Mphasis
• Universal Collateral Management Pvt. Ltd.
• Laundryfie
• Deloitte
• Amazon
• Novell
• Capgemini
• Efftronics Systems Pvt Ltd
• Cognizant
• Reliance Industries
• ICICI Lombard
• IBM India
• Xerox

Average Salary 

Your average salary while pursuing a career as a Strategic Manager would be around-

Profiles	Average Salary
Strategic PlanningManager	INR 13, 00,000
Strategy Manager	INR 19,00,000
Senior StrategyManager	INR 20,00,000
Corporate StrategyManager	INR 19,00,000

FAQ’s

1. What can you do with a strategic management degree?

Strategic management courses open great gateways for you to make a career in the field of strategy, management consulting, Research, Product, and Project Management. Please read more about the field from the section above.

2. Is strategic management a good major?

It is among the topmost courses taken by students and has a great pay scale of$66k(INR-49,00000). The field of strategic management has major openings throughout the year.

3. What is an MBA in strategic management?

In a nutshell, Strategic management helps the organization in allocating resources- from staff and capital to supplies and infrastructure- towards the achievement of its corporate goals. MBA in strategy management helps you understand the competitive environment of corporates, market forces and makes you adopt a holistic approach.

If you are interested in pursuing strategic management as a career or any other advanced degree in the right direction, take the assistance of the experts at Leverage Edu. Signup for our free 30 minutes career counseling session so that you can make the right decision of course and university and take a step towards a fulfilling career.