WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) is pleased to welcome three new professors to the ranks of its faculty: Marius Lüdicke is WU’s new professor of marketing in a global economy, Reinhard Prügl takes over a professorship on family business, and Franzisca Weder is joining WU as a new professor of business communication.

About Marius Lüdicke

Marius Lüdicke, aged 49, obtained his doctoral degree from the University of St. Gallen in 2006 and earned his venia docendi at the University of Innsbruck in 2012. His academic career has included stints at Witten/Herdecke University (Germany) and universities in the USA, Canada, and Denmark. In 2012, he started working at Bayes Business School in London (UK), where he was appointed professor of marketing in 2022. He is an expert on brand strategy, and his research covers aspects such as cultural trends and social conflicts related to diversity, ecological consumption, and technological change. Marius Lüdicke also advises small and medium-sized companies in the UK, Germany, and Austria on brand strategy and growth. On September 1, he assumed the professorship for marketing in a global economy at WU’s Department of Marketing, where he will also be heading the Institute for International Marketing Management.

About Reinhard Prügl

Reinhard Prügl, aged 46, received his doctorate from WU in 2006, and his subsequent academic activities included, among other things, a stint as a visiting researcher at the MIT Sloan School of Management (USA). In the fall of 2008, he was appointed professor of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen (Germany), on the shores of Lake Constance, where he headed and further developed the Friedrichshafen Institute for Family Entrepreneurship (FIF) following its establishment in 2010. He conducts research at the interface between entrepreneurship and management, with a special focus on the future viability of family businesses and entrepreneurial families, for example looking at the challenges and opportunities of family business management when it comes to succession issues and generational change, entrepreneurship and corporate venturing, corporate and family governance, and business, innovation, and brand strategy. His research also addresses aspects such as identity and reputation in the context of family businesses. On September 1, he joined WU as professor of family business at the Department of Management, where he will bring his international research and business practice network to bear in the further development and expansion of the Institute for Family Business.

About Franzisca Weder

Franzisca Weder, aged 46, obtained her PhD from the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in 2006, and she also earned her venia docendi at this university in 2011. During her academic career, she has worked at renowned institutions around the world, including the University of Alabama (USA), the University of Waikato (New Zealand), RMIT Melbourne (Australia), and TU Ilmenau (Germany). After a 14-year stint at the University of Klagenfurt, Franzisca Weder spent the last four years at the University of Queensland in Australia, where she also headed the Master of Communication program and, most recently, held the position of Director of Equity, Sustainability and Wellbeing. In the course of her academic career, Franzisca Weder has built up expertise in a number of fields. She has for example investigated storytelling and sustainable consumption and behavior in everyday life, and she has studied societal issues such as social movements and activism. In one of her most recent projects, she looked at the development of sustainability issues at international energy companies and at how credible communication can be achieved in this context. In another project, she analyzed the role that journalists, communication consultants, influencers, bloggers, science communicators, and activists as well as different communication styles have played in strategic communication in Europe, China, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand over the last 10 years. Franzisca Werder always combines her academic experience with a practical perspective and also works, among other things, as a consultant for agencies, cultural and media institutions, and sustainability networks. On August 1, she took up her professorship at WU’s Department of Business Communication.