In a practical project with Lidl Austria, students in the Bachelor’s program in Management & Entrepreneurship developed innovative approaches to promote female leaders in sales management roles.
How can leadership positions in middle and upper management in the retail sector be made more attractive to women? Sixth-semester students addressed this question in collaboration with Lidl Austria as part of a practice-oriented cooperative project.
The starting point was a key challenge facing the company: although women make up a large portion of the workforce, they remain underrepresented in leadership roles — particularly in sales management. The goal of the collaboration was therefore to develop concrete solutions to make internal talent more visible and to sustainably strengthen career paths for women.
Michael Bogner, Regional Managing Director at Lidl, highlighted the benefits of the collaboration:
“The practical project with students from FHWien der WKW provided us with valuable and, above all, practical insights into how we can support women in leadership roles even more effectively through innovative part-time models. All in all, it was a truly wonderful project with inspiring results.”
To develop the concepts, the students employed a well-rounded mix of methods: In addition to conducting interviews with sales executives and HR staff, they analyzed existing work models, performed industry comparisons and utilized strategic tools such as SWOT analyses. Louisa Böhringer provided expert guidance to the teams throughout the entire project.
The solutions developed combined organizational measures with modern employer branding approaches. These included, among other things,
- flexible part-time leadership models,
- mentoring programs,
- development programs for emerging leaders and
- communication initiatives to increase the visibility of women’s careers within the company.
A particular focus was placed on an adapted 3-3-3 work model, designed to enable a better balance between leadership responsibilities and personal life without losing operational connection to day-to-day business.
At the final presentation at FHWien der WKW, the students presented their results to representatives from Lidl Austria, including Michael Bogner (Managing Director of the Großebersdorf Regional Company), Anna Hartig (Head of HR, Regional Company) and Elvir Hokic (Head of Talent Acquisition, RG GRD). The concepts developed impressed with their strong practical relevance, strategic thinking and innovative solutions to current challenges in human resources management.
>> More information about the Bachelor’s program in Management & Entrepreneurship