Who we are

Our core team consists of internal and external researchers at the WU Institute for International Business and is led by Prof. Dr. Phillip C. Nell. Each group member focuses on specific aspects related to HQs. The current team consists of the following people:

• Prof. Dr. Phillip C. Nell is a Chaired Professor at WU Vienna and heads the overall HiA research project.

• Tom Brennacher is a doctoral student at WU Vienna and focuses on social comparison processes in organizations, especially the effect of top management commitment.

• Jelena Cerar is an Assistant Professor at WU Vienna. Her main domains of research are hierarchical decision-making processes in multinational corporations (with special focus on the role of AI and cognitive processes) and headquarters-subsidiary relations.

• Jan-Oliver Distler is a doctoral candidate at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. His research focuses on Artificial Intelligence and its impact on decision-making processes of individuals and organizations.

• Alexandra Gillung is a doctoral student at WU Vienna and focuses on corporate parenting activities and HQ value add.

• Sebastian Hitziger is a PhD student at WU Vienna, he focuses on the topics of Slack and optimal use of resources in multinational companies.

• Julian Jonathan Markus is a PhD student at WU Vienna and he focuses on organizational behavior and human resource management subjects in the international business context.  

• Katarina Nossakova is a PhD student at WU Vienna and focuses primarily on HQ interventions.

• Carolin Oberst is a doctoral student at WU Vienna, she focuses on anchoring ESG principles in corporate governance and organizational structure.

• Dr. Vladimir Preveden is an expert in strategic business transformation, author and lecturer. He contributes his knowledge in the areas of strategic resilience, digitalization and sustainability.

• Jan Schmitt is an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and received his PhD degree from WU Vienna in 2021. In his research, he focuses primarily on HQ (re)location decisions.

• Martin Sehner is a PhD student at WU Vienna and focuses on strategic problem solving in Multinational Corporations.