COURSE PARTNERS: Organized by WU’s Energy & Strategy Think Tank, this business project offers the unique opportunity to work with and learn from Austria's leading industrial firms, Verbund and Wien Energie.

COURSE FOCUS & PHASES: Students will develop ways to drive strategic decisions for mutually managing sustainability and digitalization (an idea the European Parliament has coined ‘twin transition’) within an incumbent, with a particular focus on innovation, product portfolio analyses, and strategic positioning, for the cases of Circular Economy and Venture Building. Equipped with state-of-the-art tools to foster strategic management capabilities, manage complex projects, analyze innovation and strategic potential, students will take the role of top-management consultants and work in teams over two phases. Students will first analyze ways to nurture strategic decisions about sustainability and digitalization to then develop implementation roadmaps and derive concrete recommendations for our corporate partners.

COURSE EXPERIENCE & STUDENT SUBMISSIONS BEFORE COURSE START: Similar to managerial practice, every business project hosted by the Energy & Strategy Think Tank is unique, resulting in unique learning experiences every semester. Reflecting the approach of top management consultancies, teams will be compiled based on individual background, competence, and industry experience. To that end, each student that is successfully registered to (and thereby can take this course) is asked to 1) submit his/her CV and 2) fill out a short survey until Friday, 24th February 2023 2pm. Details will be provided in time to registered students.

After completing this highly interactive and practice-oriented course, students will have advanced their knowledge of and skills in…

Technology Management and Strategic Decisions-Making
- Analyze the implications of digitalization, sustainability, technological innovation, industry trends and changes (such as digital transformation), as well as strategic positioning for incumbents to foster personal and corporate strategic managerial capabilities and to identify innovation and strategic potential
- Use and state-of-the-art concepts and tools to develop solutions tailored to client needs
- Develop roadmaps for project implementation

Top Management Consulting & Project Management
- Successfully work with high-profile clients in consulting projects
- Apply tools to organize and coordinate complex and demanding consulting projects
- Work in heterogenous and virtual teams
- Know how to build industry-related knowledge on a transforming industry that is pivotal for sustainability transitions

Team Management & Communication Management
- Successfully and joyfully work in interdisciplinary and international (virtual) teams
- Present with impact in front of senior executives
- Communicate complex findings in a structured and easy way

Mandatory attendance of ALL students at 1) kick-off (first two days of the course), 2) mid-term presentation, 3) final presentation

Mandatory attendance of a minimum of members per team for remaining sessions - for details see kick-off

• Interactive theory inputs and best practice inputs
• In-class discussions
• Intra- and inter-teamwork
• Team coaching
• One-on-one coaching
• Collecting and analyzing archival data
• Conducting and analyzing expert interviews
• Presentations in front of senior executives

•     50% Project Deliverables (Group Assessment)
•     15% Mid-term Presentation (Group Assessment)
•     15% Final Presentation (Group Assessment)
•     20% Professional Growth and In-class Contributions (Individual Assessment)

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TEAMWORK: Compiled teams will be announced at the first class that provides tools and background information as well as lays the ground for successful and joyful teamwork. Each team will have a team leader who will receive an individual certificate that states his/her leadership skills and tasks in the project, thus receives a valuable signal for the job market. As this person focuses on leadership tasks, he/she will be less involved in other tasks. Every registered student can state if he/she wants to assume the role of the team leader.

COURSE TARGET GROUP & CAREER OPPORTUNITY: This course expects students to dedicate to constant high performance and to create excellent deliverables. In return, students participating in this course will receive a hands-on training pivotal for becoming a(n) (innovation) manager or a top management consultant with an entrepreneurial mindset. Students will also acquire in-depth knowledge of the energy industry and thereby of an industry that is pivotal for sustainability transitions. Students from previous business projects were recruited by firms such as BCG, Novartis, IBM, and innovation consultancies.