Economics
Chair: Rupert Sausgruber
Globalization and regional economic integration, economic growth, income inequality – researchers at the Department of Economics deal with a wide range of socially relevant topics and make a valuable contribution to international economic research. The department’s applied research can be roughly categorized into three clusters: applied microeconomics and empirical industrial organization, macroeconomics and international economics, and economic policy in the broader fields of public economics and labor economics.
Core research areas of the department include development, dynamic economic geography, migration, trade, and FDI, labor economics, behavioral economics, public economics, gender and economics, international taxation, spatial competition models, competition and regulatory policy, and the effects of mergers.
The importance of the department’s research is reflected in the papers published by its faculty in internationally renowned journals and their roles as members of editorial boards, peer reviewers for journals, and organizers of international workshops and scientific conferences.
Finance, Accounting and Statistics
Chair: Stefan Bogner
Fund managers’ performance, liquidity of bond markets, or governance structures for delegated portfolio management – research at the department’s Institute for Finance, Banking and Insurance focuses primarily on the fields of asset pricing, asset management, corporate finance, and risk management. It is a leading academic unit within WU, measured both by the quality and the quantity of its research output. Faculty members publish their research findings in top peer-reviewed international journals, and they present their work both at internationally recognized and competitive conferences and at seminars held at well-known institutions.
The Institute for Accounting and Auditing is a leading institution of legal accounting research in Austria, which is why faculty members publish many of their books and papers in German. Their research findings are an important and relevant input for regulatory authorities as well as for corporate practice and consulting businesses, and contribute to the development and application of accounting, auditing, and tax rules. The institute also aims to contribute to international accounting research.
The Institute for Statistics and Mathematics carries out high-quality mathematical and statistical research for economics and business. Its research agenda includes applied probability, financial mathematics and quantitative risk management, theoretical and applied statistics, optimization, and computing.
Foreign Language Business Communication
Chair: Nadine Thielemann
The researchers at the Department of Foreign Language Business Communication concentrate primarily on languages, culture, and communication in a business context. The department’s work focuses on different forms of language use and communication and their effects on organizations, business relationships, or in the workplace. Further research areas include multilingualism, foreign languages, specialist languages, and language teaching.
Global Business and Trade
Chair: Jan Hendrik Fisch
What drives internationalization and globalization? And what are the consequences of these processes? Researchers at the Department of Global Business and Trade are investigating these and other questions, particularly in the context of the international competitiveness and internationalization of SMEs and larger corporations. Department faculty conduct research in fields like internationalization processes and strategies, foreign direct investment, foreign trade, international value chains, and risk diversification. Further key research areas include analyzing, creating, and maintaining national and regional competitiveness through factors like location choice, environmental conditions, and participation in networks and collaborations. Global supply chain management and international logistics, international HRM, global leadership, and the financial management of MNCs are also included in the department’s research profile.
The department has been successful in acquiring external funding for its research and plans to increase its efforts in this direction by applying to the FWF Austrian Science Fund, OeNB, and the EU.
Information Systems and Operations
Chair: Edward Bernroider
Digitally enabled business operations have become part of every company’s daily work. These include efficient data management, sustainable supply chain management, inter-organizational workflows, and technology-supported knowledge transfer. But how is the optimal process designed? This department’s research focuses on improving processes in companies and supply chains, governments and non-profit organizations, and society as a whole.
By integrating the fields of business and information systems and operations management, the department covers a wide research area, including business process modelling, data and knowledge management, mathematical modelling, decision support, and information system design and evaluation methods.
Department faculty cooperate extensively with highly reputable international research partners and industry players and contribute regularly to externally funded research projects. Publishing in high quality journals, co-organizing research conferences and seminars, and collaborating with the international research communities are important features of the department’s research strategy.
Management
Chair: Wolfgang Mayrhofer
Social inequality, illiteracy, sustainability, or public-private partnerships – the research conducted at the Department of Management focuses on these and other socially relevant issues. The researchers’ work describes, explains, and influences different aspects of the behavior of collectives (e.g. organizations in the for-profit, non-profit, and public sectors) and individuals (e.g. employees). Not only companies but also political decision makers profit from the research results generated at the Department of Management.
The department’s work is based on business administration with a strong emphasis on neighboring disciplines, especially sociology, psychology, and business education. A multi-level perspective focusing on the individual, the organization, and society allows for a broad research agenda.
Department researchers contribute regularly to the relevant discourse in science and business, especially by publishing, and by participating in and presenting at national or international conferences and workshops.
Marketing
Chair: Martin Schreier
“Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business” (Peter Drucker). In practice, marketing is about creating value (successfully introducing products and services into the market), communicating it clearly (strategy, targeting, positioning), and making sure it reaches people (distribution). But marketing also means building up and maintaining customer relations, developing brands, and, in a nutshell, getting people enthusiastic about the product or service on offer. The focus of all of these activities is the customer. Marketing research uses a wide palette of methods to help understand customers and their problems, develop successful strategies, and then implement appropriate marketing programs. It is not surprising, then, that marketing quality is closely correlated with corporate performance.
The Department of Marketing with its six institutes acts as a competence center for research and teaching in core marketing disciplines such as international marketing management, consumer behavior, service marketing, retailing, interactive marketing, and social media. The department’s research goal is to generate relevant, top quality marketing knowledge. In teaching, department faculty give students the tools they need to become marketing experts and constructive problem-solvers. Each year, over 600 students enroll in one of the department’s six specialization areas at bachelor’s level or the English-taught Master’s Program in Marketing, successfully preparing for a national or international career in the field.
In its research and teaching, the department actively seeks contact and collaboration with the business community. Faculty members have many years of experience in project-based research in cooperation with numerous national and international corporations, SMEs, and start-ups in a wide variety of sectors, in both for-profit and non-profit sectors. Depending on the research question at hand, state-of-the-art and time-tested qualitative and quantitative methods are applied (including eye-tracking, A/B testing, machine learning, and more) and comprehensive solutions developed.
In basic research, the department is increasingly gaining recognition as a strong brand of its own. Top scientists from the world’s best universities are frequent visitors, and faculty members’ papers are published in the best international journals like the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and Marketing Science. Research done at the department is also frequently featured and discussed in the national and international media.
Private Law
Chair: Franz Marhold
Researchers at the Department of Business, Employment and Social Security Law focus on a wide spectrum of areas: employment contract related issues like invalidity or sudden termination of an employment contract, questions dealing with anti-discrimination laws, pension law, and more. Their work also extends to issues like migration and social security, how companies behave in global markets, and the influence of the constitution on civil law.
Department faculty conduct research and teach in almost all fields of business and private law, including contract law, tort law, inheritance law, property law, civil law, employment law, banking law, capital market law, antitrust law, mergers and acquisitions, and CEE business law. This makes the department’s research relevant to practically everyone.
An additional focus is on European and international developments, especially in the field of comparative employment and social security law.
The department maintains extensive networks within the scientific community, especially in the fields of company law, capital market law, accounting law, IT law, business civil law, insolvency law, and procedural law. In addition to strengthening existing contacts, the department plans to work on building stronger institutionalized research networks.
Public Law and Tax Law
Chair: Michael Holoubek
The Department of Public Law and Tax Law’s research activities cover all areas of public law relevant to business and economics, especially Austrian, European, and international public business law, tax law, and economic criminal law.
Constitutional law issues concerning European integration, the protection of human rights in European and international contexts, the development of a European economic criminal law (EU corruption and the European Public Prosecutor), and fiscal penal law are key research areas, as are state organization, general constitutional law, data protection law, infrastructure law, media law, and procurement law. In the field of international tax law, special focus is placed on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).
Socioeconomics
Chair: Ulrike Schneider
One major research area integrating all parts of the department is global transformations and sustainability. The researchers’ work aims to contribute to a better understanding of complex processes and to a more sustainable society. The effects of potential alternative political interventions is a central question when investigating real-life economic and social problems.
Current research projects focus on sustainable resource use, strategies for coping with demographic change (especially the consequences of immigration and an ageing population), the future of work and employment policy, wealth distribution and social mobility, efficient and fair health care, regionally individualized development, and responsible innovation. Key areas also include (multi-level) governance for sustainable development in individual political contexts and sustainability-related value and cultural changes.
In 2017, researchers were engaged in nearly 60 third-party funded projects, a third of which were new projects. A wide variety of disciplines, multilateral thinking cutting across subject and disciplinary boundaries, and collaborations with practitioners make the department the ideal partner for contributing to the solution of problems faced by society today.
The department hosts several internationally visible scholars and leading researchers. Well-established international networks ensure high-quality research and facilitate the dissemination of the results. The department takes care to maintain these networks as well as its close ties to partners from the business community, society, and politics.
The Department of Socioeconomics, with its high standards and research activities, supports WU in its efforts to make active contributions to academic, economic, and social development.
Strategy and Innovation
Chair: Gerhard Speckbacher
Business model innovation stands for the idea that long-term success is based on innovative corporate strategies and permanent strategic development. The Department of Strategy and Innovation develops and implements strategy-based architectures and organizational designs on a company and business-unit level, helping companies create added value for their customers. One key area is research on the processes of strategic decision-making and corporate governance, and another is strategy implementation, i.e. the design of diagnostic control mechanisms and new organizational forms to enable learning, creativity, and innovation while ensuring consistency, efficiency, and control.
Department researchers collaborate closely with internationally leading researchers, organize high-quality research seminars and conferences, and publish their research results in the most prominent international journals.