News RSS

Headquarters in Austria: “A great way to enter the European market”
Chiara Fabrizi from WU’s Institute for International Business is the co-author of the first comprehensive study on headquarters in Austria. We asked her what she had learned from analyzing 1,500 Austrian headquarters – and what she would recommend to policymakers who want to attract international businesses.
A Community Effort Towards Reproducible Management Science
Whether we can really trust scientific studies depends on one important factor: reproducibility. Data can only be reproduced by other researchers if it is documented transparently. A team including Ben Greiner, Miloš Fišar and Christoph Huber from the WU Institute for Markets and Strategy has investigated the extent to which this applies to management science. They have summarized their most important findings here.
Less is more: CEOs cutting their own pay increases employee motivation
When managers give up part of their salary, this can boost the motivation of the entire workforce – especially when they do so of their own free will and the money benefits the employees or a good cause. This is the finding of a study by WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business).
How the retail industry can reduce food waste
Globally, 1.3 billion tons of edible food per year is wasted in retail and consumption. This equals around 35 % of food produced along the entire supply chain, from production to consumers. WU researcher Gerald Reiner (head of the Institute for Production Management) and his team are conducting research on food waste and what the retail industry can do to avoid it. In recognition of his research, Gerald Reiner has been named Researcher of the Month January.
Social enterprises in Austria: Innovative, female, challenged during the pandemic
With the “Austrian Social Enterprise Monitor,” the Social Entrepreneurship Center (SEC) at WU Vienna presents a comprehensive study on the importance, influence, and financing of social enterprises.
How city administrations use collaboration to tackle the challenges of the future
Global pandemics, migration, climate change: Complex problems cannot be tackled by individual organizations and collectives all by themselves. Collaboration is imperative. Dennis Jancsary has teamed up with fellow WU researchers Renate E. Meyer and Markus A. Höllerer and Douglas Creed (University of Rhode Island) to investigate how city administrations are trying to motivate different stakeholder groups to work together to make cities more resilient in the face of major challenges. In recognition of his work, WU is naming Dennis Jancsary Researcher of the Month.
Socialism and the private sector: The making of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’
In the late 1970s, the Chinese government launched an ambitious program to promote private sector development – after decades of suppression and violent condemnation of anyone engaged in private capitalism. A study carried out at the Vienna University of Economics and Business investigates the precarious work done to reintroduce economic activities that had previously been considered illegal, immoral, and anachronistic. The study finds that such seemingly ‘transgressive’ change was facilitated through the negotiation and construction of regulatory and rhetorical distinctions that progressively reshaped understandings of what was (or was not) consistent with Chinese socialism.
Individual incentives: How pay influences performance
How should companies design individual pay incentives? Do employees automatically work harder if they receive more pay? Isabella Grabner from the Institute for Strategic Management and Managerial Accounting at WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Melissa Martin (University of Illinois) have investigated the effects of pay dispersion, i.e. the variation between salaries. The result: Individual differences in pay levels are only accepted as fair if they clearly correspond to different levels of performance. Only in such cases will individual pay incentives have positive effects on performance.
Public-serving organizations hit by crises: Trust outlives scandals
For public-serving organizations, securing the trust of stakeholders is crucial. But what happens if an organization’s reputation is tarnished by allegations of abuse, misuse of donations, or corruption? If such a crisis hits a public-serving organization, it has a strong negative impact on stakeholders, especially those who care deeply about the organization’s mission. However, such stakeholders are more emotionally invested in the organization and therefore also appear to be more forgiving during the recovery phase. These are the results of a recent study by Professor Jurgen Willems, head of WU’s Institute for Public Management and Governance.