The CEMS International Business Project (IBP) is designed as a real-life learning experience for students, providing a unique opportunity to gain insights into corporate practice of an international player. Student teams deal with a real-life management challenge as a one-term activity tutored by university faculty and the CEMS IBP partner.

Focus: strategy, marketing, banking, real estate, sustainability, EDI

Project partner: Raiffeisen Bank International

Students will have the opportunity to engage in one of two inspiring projects:

Project A – Energy efficiency: The aim of this CEMS IBP is to adopt a holistic understanding of the Real Estate sector in Austria, Romania and Slovakia in order to assess the current market potential, likely drivers and barriers to customer engagement and promising trends, particular in relation to environmental sustainability.

Project B - Gender equality: The aim of this CEMS IBP is to develop a holistic understanding of the current state of gender equality in the Real Estate sector in Austria, Romania and Croatia. Specifically, students are expected to assess the current state of gender equality and parity, explore how diversity and inclusion can be fostered, and how a potential pay gap can be reduced in these markets.

These two projects both comprise secondary as well as primary research. Considering the former, the students shall explore academic research as well as existing business insights on this topic. While there are no limitations considering the materials chosen, the students should focus primarily on Austria, Romania and Slovakia. Students are expected to choose a suitable primary research approach based on their specific project focus. Based on these analyses, students will derive strategic recommendations and are encouraged to elaborate on the relevant measurement and key performance indicators to address the aforementioned challenges and opportunities.

Useful prerequisites: Besides interest in and previous knowledge about corporate sustainability, students with in-country experiences in Austria, Romania and Slovakia as well as associated language skills will bring valuable assets to this IBP.

The aims of the CEMS IBP are

• to investigate and structure a complex management challenge that an aspiring international player faces
• to provide an in-depth analysis of the current state of affairs
• to provide strategic recommendations that are viable under the given organizational conditions

After completing this CEMS IBP students will have

• gained insights into what challenges an international firm faces in its management environment and how it deals with such issues
• learned how to analyze and structure real-life management situations
• combined and applied several conceptual approaches to the international management challenge
• received feedback from various stakeholders on the outcomes of their analyses and the viability of their recommendations

Students will have the ability to

• develop critical thinking and defend their arguments in front of corporate representatives
• organize teamwork and "sell" their solutions in a professional way, based on in-depth research and through solid presentation skills

Attendance of all sessions and meetings is a firm requirement for participation in this CEMS IBP project.

Please note the following:

• Possible changes: Due to the dynamic nature of projects, all information, contents, and dates can be subject to change
• 
  Workload: When you plan your semester, consider that the CEMS IBP will require substantial time (approx. half the workload of a full semester). Thus, have in mind the workload of a CEMS IBP when determining your semester's workload.
   
• Attendance: Continuous attendance of all scheduled sessions and meetings is a firm requirement in this CEMS IBP. 

The sessions involve a mix of presentations, discussions, and workshops with both the project partner and WU faculty. Attendance of all scheduled sessions and meetings is absolutely essential as it is critical to the success of the project and will determine your grade. In order to support your work throughout the project, you will have plenty of opportunities to get qualified input and feedback.

Students' grades will be determined as follows:

55% team grade

• 5% work-plan presentation
• 15% mid-term presentation
• 25% final presentation
• 10% presentation feedback

45% individual grade

• 10% IBP commitment (attendance, contributions to discussions, dealing with questions from faculty and project partner, etc.)
• 20% peer review
• 15% final reflection report

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