Jay Barney, a presidential professor of strategic management at the David Eccles School of Business and the Lassonde Chair of Social Entrepreneurship, is one of two 2024 recipients of the Rosenblatt Prize of Excellence— the University of Utah’s top academic honor.

Barney, who is among the world’s top scholars in strategic management (a field he helped establish), has long studied the relationship between firms’ resources and their competitive advantages and explored how entrepreneurs create business opportunities.

In the field of entrepreneurship, he has been a leading voice in the debate over the extent to which entrepreneurial opportunities are discovered vs. created.

Barney is the U.’s most widely cited academic, with more than 225,000 Google citations.  That makes him one of the most cited scholars in the field of strategy and in the broader field of management.

“His early research was foundational in establishing what many would characterize as the most important theory and research stream to emerge within the field of strategy over the past 30 years — the resource-based view,” wrote one scholar in a letter of nomination. “But he has also been instrumental in shaping several other research streams, including foundational work in entrepreneurship, and more recently in stakeholder theory.”

The Rosenblatt Prize is the University of Utah’s highest faculty accolade and is presented annually to a faculty member who transcends ordinary teaching, research and administrative contributions. A group of distinguished faculty members on the Rosenblatt Prize Committee recommends esteemed colleagues for consideration and the university’s president makes the final selection.

The U.’s other 2024 recipient of the Rosenblatt Prize is Cynthia Berg, a distinguished professor of psychology who has served as dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science.

“Bestowing the Rosenblatt award to two recipients this year, instead of one, is a testament to the high caliber of faculty at the University of Utah,” U. President Taylor Randall said. “I was glad to accept the committee’s recommendation to select two exceptional professors, as has been done in times before when the nominees are all so deserving. Professors Barney and Berg are among the U.’s finest faculty. I am grateful for their impact at the U. and beyond.”