Entrepreneurial innovation and international growth are two preconditions to sustained competitive advantage. Especially in small and medium economies like Austria, companies must expand beyond their national borders at a very early stage. Leveraging your competitive advantage in foreign markets requires in depth knowledge about these markets and a financial strategy that accounts for the additional risks in cross-border business. In an ever accelerating, globalizing world, companies must sustain their entrepreneurial initiatives through supportive internationalization and financial strategies. This course uses a real life example of an entrepreneurial corporate partner company to teach how to apply international strategic management in an entrepreneurial environment. Students will develop recommendations for strategic product innovation, international expansion and financing strategies. The corporate partner company will be Montana Aerospace Group, an international conglomerate of aerospace suppliers.

During the course, students

• Study academic theories on International Entrepreneurship, International Business and International Finance
• Apply these theories to a real-life case company
• Learn to work on interdisciplinary tasks and business cases
• Work in teams to develop business cases for the case company
• Develop their analytical capabilities using real-company data
• Pitch their entrepreneurial and financial concepts to company representatives

Attendance of all virtual and/or presence sessions is mandatory.

In the core sessions 1 & 2, lecturers present the academic foundations of the course. Core sessions will be made available to students in a digital format (lecturecast or slide set).

(1) Introduction to Montana Tech            (Entrepreneurship)

(2) International Business                        (Markets)                  

(3) International Finance                          (Capital)                  

After the core sessions, students are assigned to six groups for their corporate projects. Two groups each analyze one of the following market segments and develop strategic recommendations for the future:

· Commercial Aircraft

· Drones

· Space

Each of the three topic is covered by two competitive student groups of four students. Between core sessions and the touch-down session, students should work intensively with their groups to develop their business cases for the case company. After the core sessions group coaching session I with academic supervisors Prof. Puck and Dr. Müllner will be held to support groups.

In the Mid-term presentation session, students submit their mid-term presentations. The task for the mid-term presentation is to give an overview of the business analysis and strategic recommendations . Presentations are graded by corporate partners and instructors. The mid-term presentation session is followed by an online coaching session II which will be followed by an online exam on the content core sessions.

At this stage, we plan to hold a physical touch-down presentation event at our corporate Partners Montana Tech. The event will be moved to an online format if the pandemic situation makes it necessary. If the event can take place physically, international students will be able to attend virtually. All students must block the time in their schedule until further notice.

At the touch-down event the six student teams present their competing business cases to academic faculty and company representatives (30 minutes).

· Theory exam                                                              30 %                19.05.2021

· Mid-term presentation (group):                                  20 %                05.05.2021

· Competitive case presentation (group):                      50 %                09.06.2021

Jakob Müllner             Jakob.muellner@wu.ac.at

Jonas Puck                  Jonas.puck@wu.ac.at