In this course, there will be multiple projects into which the students will be split up.

The project partners for this semester are:

• Kearney: Consumers’ Take on Sustainability in the Beauty Industry
  This business project invites students to address the question of what customers understand by sustainability in the beauty industry and how industry players can most efficiently and effectively identify and implement impactful sustainability initiatives valued by the customers. Students should provide quantitative insights into consumer perceptions of sustainability in beauty for different target groups; derive key purchasing criteria for different target groups in the sustainable beauty context; combine consumer insights with market offerings from global beauty players in order to derive strategic directions; and, outline impactful corporate sustainability initiatives & potential paths to implement sustainability in products and processes that are valued by the consumer and differentiate a company’s offering from the competition (e.g. based on packaging).
   
• Accenture: What Makes Sports Fans Tick and Click
  A Market Segmentation Approach to Leverage Digital Sponsorship Value at Scale
  The goal is to better understand the psychology of fandom. Sports teams and leagues are fighting for the attention of their fans, especially amongst younger demographics, and for the spend of sponsors underpinning their ongoing financial viability. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the industry into creative solutions to retain fans’ attention and provide the promised value for their brand partners. We aim at looking deeper into what drives fan engagement and find new, digital ways for sponsors to cut through the noise to reach fans with no barriers or obstacles. To increase sponsorship ROI, you must know fans for real and get them engaged with relevant, hyper-personalized content to produce “clicks“ and actionable data.

In all projects the challenge is to connect theory to a real-life business case, paired with data collection and evaluation. Constant status meetings will ensure the exchange of ideas and feedback among all three groups as well as the academic supervisors and the partner companies.

Please note that due to the nature of projects, information as stated on this page is subject to potential changes (e.g., the times of the first or the last class may change). Specifically note that most classes will be reserved for work-on-project and/or coaching sessions. However, there are some dates on which we will have class (more information on this in the Kick-off Session). In addition, however, a maximum of 1 or 2 additional meetings dates will come up to allow for extended interaction with the corporate partner. Also, telephone conferences may be arranged outside of the indicated hours.

The aims of the projects are

• to investigate and structure a complex management challenge that an international company faces
• to provide an in-depth analysis of the current status by undergoing a thorough survey
• to provide strategic solutions that are viable under the given organizational conditions

After completing this project students will have

• gained insights into what challenges a global company faces in an international management environment and how it deals with such issues
  
• learned how to analyze and structure real-life management situations in a global context
• combined and applied several theoretical concepts to the international management challenge
• received feedback from practitioners on the outcome of their analysis and the viability of their recommendations

• develop critical thinking and defend their developed arguments in class and in front of practitioners
• organize teamwork including presentation skills
• present and "sell" their solutions in a professional way, through presentation skills and support of suitable media

IMPORTANT: Generally, you need to attend all sessions. However, we will not meet in class at every unit indicated in the course catalogue as some of those sessions are blocked for group work. Hence, you will not have to attend all of those meetings but only those for your group (please block all of them in your calendars for the time being though). More information will be given during the first session.
Sessions with required attendance (further dates to be announced in due time):
- 15/03/2023
- 22/03/2023
- 26/04/2023
- 24/05/2023

The process will be split up in a way that ensures crisp project work with the company on the one hand as well as detailed feedback and reflection on the other hand.

For the former, the students will work closely and independently with the company.

For the latter, several status meetings will be held during the semester in which the groups are to present their project, reflect critically as well as give and receive valuable feedback. Furthermore, the two sessions will include parts of the academic supervisors giving theoretical and practical background information and guidance. 

Allocation to one of the projects, after successful registration for the course, is done considering preferences and student CVs.

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

michael.wolfesberger@wu.ac.at; jonas.puck@wu.ac.at

Please note that due to the nature of projects, information as stated on this page is subject to potential changes. Specifically note that most classes will be reserved for work-on-project and/or coaching sessions (except for the ones indicated above). Consequently, you most probably do not have to be in class every week all the time (but reserve them for the time being. In addition, however, additional meetings or telcos will come up to allow for extended interaction with the corporate partner (these will be arranged flexibly between you and the corporate partner). Midterm and final presentation dates not incluede yet.