The CEMS International Business Project (IBP) is a consultancy-like project in which international MSc students work with CEMS corporate partners (in the following named CPs) to help them solve real-life business problems. The project is a one-semester part-time activity in which the students will be able to apply their competences, tools and knowledge while adding value to the CP. Each student is expected to work approximately 200-250 hours on the project. They will deliver a consulting-type project report and present the findings to the partner.

IBP D, coordinated by prof Dikova, is designed and managed by two CPs: zeb Consulting and RBI.

IBP with zeb Consulting is titled "AI and Banking"

AI has evolved from an experiment into a structural force in banking, redefining customer interaction, operations, and workforce design. This project begins with a market analysis of AI adoption—focusing on customer experience, front-office assistants, and back-office automation—while addressing critical questions regarding where AI provides a competitive edge versus where human touch remains essential.

The analysis moves beyond hype to evaluate AI-only vs. hybrid models, considering ethical, regulatory, and trust-based constraints in sensitive areas like credit and advisory.

Building on this market overview, the project deep-dives into selected, high-potential banking markets and use-case clusters where AI penetration is both feasible and value-accretive - particularly in operationally intensive areas such as KYC/AML, credit operations, customer service, and internal knowledge management.

A special focus lies on relieving customer-facing and back-office employees through intelligent automation while increasing service quality and speed.

The final outcome will be a pragmatic AI roadmap with prioritized use cases, quantified impact analysis and a clear articulation of benefits for banks, presented as a "selling pitch" to the CP to show that you thought like a strategic partner that not only understands AI, but translates it into ethically sound, regulator-ready, and business-relevant transformation programs for banks.

IBP with RBI is titled "Physical Risk Assessment"

The main pillar of the project is physical risk assessment, aiming to provide a systematic framework to measure physical risks from a bank´s perspective. Students should present an overview and benchmarking of methodologies used by major ESG data providers - such as Moody’s, MSCI, and S&P Global - to understand how they transform environmental threats into financial risk scores.

In addition, students should explore how physical risks manifest across different industries, for example, asset damage in real estate versus crop yield volatility in agriculture. This includes analyzing why certain sectors are more exposed to acute events like floods, while others are more affected by chronic changes such as rising temperatures.

Furthermore, students should provide some examples of existing methodologies that other banks (global or Austrian ones) use to assess physical risk in their loan portfolios. A key area of focus will be examining how Artificial Intelligence can address the “data gap” problem—specifically, by using machine learning to automate the extraction of location data from unstructured corporate filings.

The final objective is to propose a streamlined assessment process that leverages AI to accelerate the identification of high-risk assets.

During the business project, students will:          

-          investigate and structure a complex management challenge that the organization faces

-          provide an in-depth analysis of the current situation

-          provide alternative solutions that are viable under the given organizational and financial constraints

-          propose a decision for the most promising solution based on hard data and empirical findings

The feedback from the faculty and the corporate partner is a very important element for reflection with regards to these activities and the final outcome of the projects.

In-between the core meetings (kick-off, mid-term, final presentation), there are usually rather flexibly scheduled input and feedback sessions in which CP representatives interact with the student group and in which the academic supervisor gives input to the students. These meetings can be in-person or virtual, but they all require mandatory presence. 

IBP is a consultancy-like project in which international MSc students work with CEMS corporate or social partners to help them solve real-life business problems. This requires a rather flexible course content, which is not taught in the traditional academic form (i.e., lectures) but is co-created by the joint effort of the students and supervising faculty. There is no pre-set list of readings or course material, the course material is largely a result of the research done by the students.

The Business Project might provide insights into confidential company data for both students and WU advisors. As we in the CEMS community are very concerned with trust and long-lived relationships, we take confidentiality seriously. Therefore, we have developed a standard confidentiality form, that may be signed by all parties involved, if the firm so desires. This form is in line with overall WU confidentiality principles and is in accordance with Austrian Law. The CEMS office at WU has more details.

Group component (80%)

- Mid-term Presentation (PowerPoint Document): 10%

- Mid-term Presentation and Fielding of Questions: 10%

- End-term Presentation (PowerPoint Document): 30%

- End-term Presentation and Fielding of Questions 20%

-Sustainability Impact (New element): 10%

Individual component (20%)

- End-term peer rating: 10%

- Participation in discussions: 10%

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