Global Business Management

At the forefront of global research and knowledge exchange, our projects focus on green transformation and AI. The Circular Academy promotes sustainable practices through international collaboration, while AI for SMEs (Catalyst for SMEs and AI SDT-Lab) bridge the AI knowledge gap for small and medium-sized enterprises and public administration. By combining research, empirical insights, and academic dialogue, we drive a sustainable, AI-powered future for business and public sectors. Innovation and knowledge converge here.

Circular Academy

Online Knowledge Platform as Support for the Green Transformation

Companies are under pressure to reduce resource use, especially in the face of climate change. Sustainable, circular operations are essential for both industries and SMEs, but they face many challenges. By collaborating with research institutions and business support organizations (BSOs), theoretical knowledge is transformed into practical solutions, providing SMEs with insights into circular business models.

The developed online knowledge platform serves as both a learning resource and a communication network, facilitating knowledge transfer through formats such as “Policy meets Business” and a Roadshow. For internationally active companies, taking sustainability aspects into account and complying with environmental standards is crucial to increase export opportunities, minimize trade barriers and open environmentally conscious markets. Cross-border partnerships are essential for innovation, competitiveness and sustainable growth in global markets.  The Circular Academy project supports companies to act more in the spirit of a circular economy. 

AI Catalyst for SMEs

Driving Innovation through Social Design Thinking Labs and a Shared Knowledge Platform

In the transformative years of 2020 and 2021, AI began reshaping Marketing, Sales, and Export in Austria and the Czech Republic, yet less than 11% of businesses, mainly SMEs, have tapped into this potential. Introducing "AI Catalyst for SMEs" – a project set to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world application, igniting innovation across sectors, driven by the innovative GSM study program. At its heart lies an innovative online platform featuring AI Readiness Radar tool. This tool promises to supercharge business potential in Marketing, Sales, and Export by assessing and fueling AI readiness. Additionally, the project will introduce the game-changing AI Days program, a revolutionary series tailor-made to empower industry professionals with avant-garde AI proficiency, propelling them to the vanguard of their fields. Beyond mere tools and training, this innovative project holds the power to sway the course of AI policies in Austria and the Czech Republic, wielding insights to engineer actionable strategies for futuristic technological advancement. With a target audience spanning from forward-thinking businesses, especially SMEs, to policymakers and academia, "AI Catalyst for SMEs" is on a mission to catalyze AI adoption and integration, ushering in a new era of growth and ingenuity in the expansive realm of business.

AI Social Design Thinking (SDT) Labs for SMEs

The AI SDT Labs expand with data, applications, and case studies for hands-on experimentation during AI Days.

Despite AI’s potential, SMEs and public administration in regions like South Bohemia, Upper Austria, and Vienna use AI far less compared to other regions. This project aims to build a cross-border network to (1) identify AI opportunities, (2) apply AI to optimize processes, and (3) overcome obstacles to AI adoption.

Intercultural Management

The Cross-Cultural Management and Emerging Markets Centre of the study programme Global Sales and Marketing connects intercultural education with the research of intercultural management topics. The centre also translates research into practice through its business consulting services, e.g. intercultural competence trainings and workshops for companies.

The SIMM (Steyr Intercultural Management Model) developed by GSM is a model encompassing history, religion, philosophical background of development, political system, law and society as cultural areas and is designed to explain the challenges encountered when dealing with people from other cultures. Together with people from industry and other organizations, the centre organizes a series of events and studies with the aim of bringing together business people, professors, researchers and students interested in intercultural management issues and business opportunities outside of Austria, namely Upper Austrian Export Days, Cross-Cultural Business Conference, Intercultural Trainings, Intercultural Business Talks, Field Trips, Barometer studies (Marketing, Sales and Export Activities), research projects on welcome culture and the MPICO model to measure ones intercultural competence which is available here: https://www.global-business.at... .

Thanks to the Cross-Cultural Communication Network (CCCN) the newly created network of the two universities, intercultural training concepts will be developed jointly by the two partners. These training concepts will be adapted to the different target groups (universities, schools, vocational schools and companies). Based on the knowledge gained in the project, practice-oriented seminars on intercultural competence are developed and offered at different educational levels.