Austria 2025 – Industry 2025: Competitiveness, Location Factors, Market and Product Strategies and Positioning of Austrian Companies in the Global Value Chain

Structural analyses of the Austrian economy show that structural change concentrated on within-industry changes and has been driven by improvement in the quality of goods and services produced (upgrading). However, since the financial market and economic crisis a deceleration of growth in the Austrian manufacturing sector and in foreign trade can be observed. This raises questions relating to the future of Austria as a location for manufacturing industries. An exploratory enterprise survey provides indicators of past, current and future changes in value creation strategies (in particular product, sourcing and market strategies), changes in the positioning in global value chains and in the core competencies of Austrian companies. Implications for industrial policy are discussed.