Students from the Master’s program in Organizational & Human Resources Development at FHWien der WKW were honoured for the best student paper of 2025. Their academic contribution prevailed in the international network of the renowned MOC program and was awarded as the best submission.
‘Good news from Harvard!’ – this was the subject line of a very special message received by the Master’s students: their paper had been named the best student paper of 2025 by Harvard Business School. At the end of February, Head of Study Programs FH-Prof. Dr Christina Schweiger presented the graduates with their certificates at a ceremony. ‘Such international recognition opens doors – you can be rightly proud of this,’ she congratulated the authors.
The award-winning work focused on the ‘Swiss Chocolate Cluster’. The group of students – consisting of Judith Eder, Hanna Gruber, Franziska Hansel, Jaqueline Herrmann, Hedwig Lambert and Theresa Gangl – analyzed the international competitiveness of the Swiss chocolate cluster using Porter’s Diamond Model. The aim was to identify key success factors, structural strengths and current challenges and to derive well-founded recommendations for action. In addition, a comparison was made with competing clusters such as Belgium and Mexico.
FHWien part of an international network of excellence
The paper was written as part of the course ‘Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC)’ led by Prof. Dr. Tina Haisch. Students analyze real clusters and competitive strategies and develop evidence-based recommendations for business and politics. This course concept was developed by Professor Michael E. Porter at Harvard Business School. It promotes strategic thinking, analytical skills and international networking – key qualities for future leaders.
The MOC Network is an international academic network based on the course developed by Professor Michael E. Porter at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. More than 140 universities and institutions worldwide belong to this network. With this award, the students and FHWien der WKW underscore their international competitiveness and the high quality of academic education in the Master’s program in Organizational & Human Resources Development.
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