Position at IIB, other positions and academic career

Prof. Phillip Nell is a Chaired Professor at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. He is the head of the Institute for International Business. Before joining WU, he was professor at Copenhagen Business School. At WU, he currently services as the Academic Director of WU's flagship program, the Master in International Management/CEMS as well as of the Executive MBA Bucharest Program.

Phillip Nell has studied Business in Germany, France, and Italy. He received his doctorate and habilitation from WU. Before joining academia, he gained considerable industry experience as a strategy consultant with Roland Berger. He has conducted projects and research in cooperation with firms such as A-Tec Industries, Beiersdorf, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mondi, Henkel, dcs+, Oracle, SAP, Gerresheimer, Kone, Raiffeisen Bank International, and T-Systems as well as non-profit organizations such as Diakonie, giving him lots of insights into management practice.

Phillip Nell is widely experienced both in degree-course and executive education and his teaching has received multiple awards such as CEMS course of the year awards. Besides Copenhagen and Vienna, he has taught at ESADE Business School in Spain, and at the universities in Helsinki, Oslo, Padova, Linz, St. Gallen, Prague, Brussels, and Rio de Janeiro.

Research interest

His research interests are centered on the organization of the multinational corporation, the management of subsidiaries, and the strategic role headquarters play in large and complex organizations. His research has been accepted for publication among others in Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Global Strategy Journal, and Research Policy.

Current research projects:

• The effect of relative performance information on task performance in different hierarchical setups

• Specific and general HR Slack and its impact of performance in multi-business service organizations before and during COVID

• Culture and its effect on AI reliance in the context of startup valuations

• Cognitive exhaustion and its effect on AI reliance in multi-evaluation contexts (evaluating startups)

• Decision preparation skills in the context of problem solving in hierarchies (contains an AI component)

• The impact of corporate accelerator participation on startup development

• The impact of stereotypical male language on startup pitch evaluations in a corporate accelerator

• Selective intervention climate and its effect on subunit strategy implementation

• Strategic problem solving: a systematic literature review

• International relocations of entrepreneurial venture – a theory-based view

• Intermediate headquarters’ cross-border relocations

• Problems of hypothesis testing in IB research