Background

Wolfgang Messner is a clinical professor at the Darla Moore School of Business. He earned his Ph.D. in economics and social sciences from the University of Kassel (Germany), MBA in financial management from the University of Wales (UK), and B.Sc. and M.Sc. in informatics and economics from the Technical University Munich (Germany). Messner also spent time as an exchange student at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and the Università per Stranieri di Perugia (Italy).

Prior to coming to the University of South Carolina in 2016, Messner was a professor of international management at the MYRA School of Business in Mysore (India). As an adjunct faculty, he also taught at the Indian Institutes of Management Bangalore, Indore and Kozhikode (India), Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (Germany), Royal Docks Business School at the University of East London (UK), and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany). During that time, he co-founded GloBus Research in the UK and India as a niche consulting and training company with the objective of helping resolve international business and leadership challenges. Messner provided trainings in big multinationals like Capgemini, Ericsson, Hitachi, Infosys, McKinsey, Microsoft, Siemens, and selected mid-caps across industry verticals. He conceptualized the India module of the Leadership Excellence Program marketed by CIO Magazine, DXC Technology, and WHU.

Before joining academia, Messner worked for 18 years as a business analyst, project manager, and management consultant with Capgemini (2006-11), BMW Group (2003-05), The Information Management Group IMG (1999-2002), and Deutsche Bank (1995-99). During that time, he was based in Germany with two expatriate assignments to India. Project assignments with clients like CDU Federal Office, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, Symrise, and Thomas Cook took him all around Western and Eastern Europe, plus Singapore and the United States.

Born and brought up in Germany, Messner spent three years in the UK and lived seven years in India before moving to the United States. His international education and global work experience have given him a unique perspective of the world of international business, which he is keen to pass on to the next generation of business leaders. His experiential learning courses in collaboration with the Folks Center of International Business and the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers are repeatedly featured in the Moore School’s press room and alumni magazine.

Research

In his research, Messner attempts to advance methods for measuring cultural differences and diversity. He develops novel approaches that include the use of machine learning and other advanced data analytics methods. His findings are published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Journal of International Management, Journal of International Marketing and Journal of World Business.

In a second stream of research, he aims to better understand how consumer behavior differs across countries and cultures. He pursues this program by examining how culture influences customer engagement and postings on online opinion platforms. The results are published in the Journal of Air Transport Management, Journal of Strategic Marketing and Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing.

More recently, he has also looked at cultural differences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results are published in Health Science Reports, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, PloS ONE and Public Health.

Taken together, Messner has published 27 peer-reviewed articles, 11 book chapters, and 27 articles in practitioner magazines and periodicals. Additionally, he has authored five books and edited three handbooks, which are published by Palgrave Macmillan and Springer. He has designed five teaching cases on aspects of global marketing and business, which are published by Ivey Publications and SAGE Business Cases Originals. His research was featured in the 2021 Breakthrough magazine by the University of South Carolina. Messner was awarded the 2020 Moore School professional track faculty research award. Additionally, he has also received a number of external recognitions, such as the Emerald Literati Network Awards of Excellence (highly commended, 2016 and 2014) and being a best-paper finalist at conferences (AIB US SE 2020, AIB 2018, and AIB US SE 2017).

Education

• Ph.D., University of Kassel, Germany, 2004
• MBA, University of Wales, UK, 1998
• B.Sc. and M.Sc., Technical University Munich, Germany, 1995