A Decision-Making Basis for Internationalising the WU Vienna Executive MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The WU Executive Academy’s Vienna Executive MBA Entrepreneurship & Innovation (VEMBA EI) holds a premium position in European executive education, built on triple accreditation, an international faculty, and the cultural and professional prestige of Vienna, a combination the Academy frames as the “European Dream”. Yet while the program markets itself to a global elite, most participants are drawn from a narrow regional catchment, and the international students who do enrol carry a recurring logistical and financial burden from the strictly on-campus, monthly-module format. This project develops a structured basis for decision-making on how to reconcile the premium face-to-face value proposition with the practical barriers that limit international participation. 

Goal 

The objective was to provide a decision-making basis for the strategic development and positioning of the VEMBA EI. This breaks down into three sub-goals: analysing the competitive market for part-time E&I executive programs against European and international benchmarks; exploring the relevant target groups, their professional backgrounds, expectations, and motivations; and deriving concrete recommendations for a sharper value proposition and for opportunities to further develop and expand the program. 

Methodology 

The analysis combined three pillars. A PESTEL-based trend analysis mapped the macro-environmental forces and four sector trends reshaping executive education: AI as a core management competence, the AI-driven restructuring of the MBA market, the rise of shorter and alternative credentials, and ESG as a ranking and location factor. A choice-based conjoint analysis with 50 respondents and 500 choice observations quantified how candidates trade off five program attributes, namely duration and degree, tuition fee, delivery format, international immersion, and curriculum focus. An expert interview with the Academy’s marketing lead and internal cohort data grounded the findings in the program’s real decision context. 

Results 

The findings point consistently in one direction. Delivery format is the second most important attribute, carrying 24.4% of the decision weight, and a blended model is the single most preferred level in the entire study, ahead of pure on-campus delivery and well ahead of a strongly rejected online format. The European network outweighs the Vienna location as a decision driver, most clearly among CEE candidates, who score highest on network value while rating the cultural appeal of a European capital comparatively lower. Stated willingness to pay sits below the current list price of €43,200, and curriculum focus carries little weight, with a generic AI framing statistically indistinguishable from the existing EI label. Four recommendations follow: introduce a structured hybrid delivery model that keeps the monthly Vienna modules as the in-person core; make the existing partial scholarship framework more prominent and accessible to close the price gap; reorient external communication around the European network rather than the Vienna setting; and develop a distinctive module on regulatory AI governance tied to the EU AI Act, where Vienna’s proximity to EU institutions offers a credible and largely unclaimed position. 

Cooperation Partner 

• ​​WU Executive Academy  
  Welthandelspl. 1, Gebäude EA, 1020 Wien 
  Austria 
  executiveacademy.at 
   

​​Contact Person​

• ​​Sebastian Kortmann  - Sebastian.Kortmann@wu.ac.at 

•  
  Claudia Peter-Sharman - Claudia.Peter-sharman@wu.ac.at 
   


 

Student Team 

• ​​​Valentina-Maria Gailer, Jakob Gröber, Bastian Glaser, Leon Mayr, Jakob Molisch ​​ 

Project Manager 

• ​​Diana Lauer, Jakob Riener, Melina Mazzucato​