Austria and especially Vienna have gained a strong reputation as a CEE hub due to its very good strategical position between East and West. More than 200 foreign multinationals have established their regional CEE headquarters in Austria, including big players such as Henkel, Mondi and Lukoil. Besides that more than 1,850 Austrian companies have their subsidiaries in at least one of the CEE countries. Austria is the biggest foreign investor in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia and according to WKO, there are in total more than 400,000 employees of Austrian companies working in the CEE region. In addition, firms from Austria continue to be heavily interested in investing into the region due to persisting labor shortages at home and low labor costs in the region. Despite this interest, firms lack detailed knowledge on where to invest, what to expect from local management practices and how to deal with some CEE region specific issues.

This only shows that many of the current students might get a chance to work in a CEE subsidiary, regional headquarters for CEE or do consulting projects for companies in the CEE region. For this reason, the objective of the course is to better understand CEE business environment, reasons behind management decisions related to organizational structure and which things they need to have in mind when developing a strategy for CEE countries. We start with key economic and business characteristics of the region, followed by business characteristics from centrally planned and transition economies that still reflect the business environment in CEE today. We continue with analyzing organizational changes and factor markets in CEE (such as labor and financial markets) and finish with the main business challenges (such as management practices, ease of doing business and macroeconomic factors) and further perspectives of CEE economies. We will also visit one regional CEE HQ where we will discuss with managers the real organizational issues they are facing when working in the CEE region.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will:

1. Develop the skills needed for solving the challenges faced by firms when working in the CEE region;

2. Have an l understanding of the most important historical events and strategies that shaped the CEE economies and business environment;

3. Demonstrate an increased understanding of the business culture of the CEE region ;

4. Understand current business issues regarding management practices, factor markets, ease of doing business, macroeconomic situation and further perspectives of the region.

The course will be held 100% online.

Dates & Times:  

Corona Update: All the lectures and tasks will be posted latest until 16.04. at Learn@WU (you will get an email once it is posted). A guest lecture and Q&A session with our guest (strategy consultant for CEE) will be posted latest until the end of May.

Deadlines (all 23:59):

19.04. Case study 1 and summary of lecture 1

26.04. Case study 2 and summary of lecture 2

04.05. Case study 3, questions for our guest lecturer and summary of a report

04.06. Final report (executive summary) and presentation

11.06. One-page report of the final presentation of another team which will be assigned to you

This course is comprised of lectures, in-class case analyses, one company excursion, a team research project and and a team research executive summary. This is a highly interactive course. Thus, students are expected to be fully engaged and participate in class discussions. The course is designed in such a way as to maximize your learning by balancing between lecture and your involvement in discussions, cases, and exercises. All course documents, assignments, lecture notes, etc. will be posted on the course website on Learn@WU.

Assignments with percent of total grade:
Class assignments (summaries of lectures, case study reports and questions for visiting lecture) 40%

Team presentation 20%

Team research executive summary 40%

Assessment will be based on both individual and team performance.

Corona update

Instead of active participation during lectures and case solving, students’ assignment will be to write:

- A short report (1 page maximum, Times New Roman 11ppt, 1.5 spaced) for each lecture 

- A short report (1 page maximum, Times New Roman 11ppt, 1.5 spaced)  one case study per lecture

- 2 questions for our guest lecturer (instead of visit to the company)

- A report of a final presentation of another team which will be assigned after the submission of final presentations (1 page maximum, Times New Roman 11ppt, 1.5 spaced)