Austria 2025 – Competitiveness, Location Factors, Market and Product Strategies Pursued by Austrian Enterprises and Positioning in the International Value-added Chain

Austrian manufacturing provides an important contribution to the high per-capita income in Austria. In order to identify the impact that industrial policy has on the competitiveness of Austrian companies, WIFO conducted a survey, asking over a thousand of the largest Austrian enterprises on their market strategies, embedding in international value-added chains and location policies. According to this survey, competitiveness in this highly internationalised sector is based increasingly on technology and competences that allow firms to implement differentiated strategies in their product portfolio and target markets. Consequently the challenges for Austria as an industrial location and for its economic and technological policies are getting more variegated.