About Us

Who we are?

Marketing and communication are “mirrors of our society” and are influenced by societal changes. No matter whether it is digitalization, demographic change, increasing urbanization, climate change or the effects of migration – constant upheavals in our population and our living conditions determine the future environment in which companies have to assert themselves.

In all of these areas, it is our goal to achieve relevant research results that master the balancing act between theory and practice. With this approach, we take our social responsibility seriously. Our credo is to question existing practices and theories with regard to their sustainable social and ecological benefits and, through this approach, to develop sustainable business models that are regionally and internationally competitive and create profit and societal value.

My roots are in Vorarlberg (Austria). Ever since I have turned 18, I have always been curious to discover the big world. I lived in Great Britain, Hong Kong and Buenos Aires. At some point I ended up in Germany – where I still live with my family until today.

I have been Head of Marketing & Relationship Management (MRM) since September 2015.

My professional career has always been a mixture between science and practice. If you want to know more about me and my topics, click here – www.christine-vallaster.de

Our team

I grew up not far from Salzburg in the Salzkammergut, where I discovered my love for nature at an early age. In addition, I have always been interested in social contexts, which is why I decided to study cultural sociology and philosophy at the University of Salzburg.

Since graduating in 2011, I have been involved in national and EU projects.

As a genuine Salzburg native, I represent the role of a local in our department.

My focus in research and teaching lies in the areas of multi-sensual marketing, online marketing and advertising success measurement.

In addition, I am a contact person for all those who want to discuss quantitative research designs.

As a native German, I came to Salzburg for my Erasmus exchange semester in 2018.

Since 2019 I have been working at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences as a junior lecturer and international coordinator for the business administration department.

At the same time, I contribute to the research team at the New Design University in St. Pölten in the project “Entrepreneurial resilience and cooperation in the use of digital marketing technologies”.

Although Vienna became my second home, after 15 years I moved back to Salzburg where I currently live with my family.

I have been working as a Senior Lecturer and International Coordinator at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences since October 2018.

In addition, since March 2019 I have been contributing to the research team of the project “Entrepreneurial Resilience and Cooperation in the Use of Digital Marketing Technologies (Virtual and Augmented Reality).

As a junior researcher, I am happy to support the Marketing & Relationship Management department with research and teaching activities.

As a nature-loving Pongau resident, I moved away from the mountains for my studies in 2015. I studied business administration at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and focused on marketing and logistics. In 2017, I spent my semester abroad at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, Canada

Grown up in St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut, I moved to Salzburg at the age of 19 to start my studies. After five years as a business administration student at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, I am now looking forward to the teaching perspective in the lecture halls.

I deepened my knowledge in the field of Marketing & Service Management and gained professional experience at zooom productions GmbH, an advertising and communication agency in Fuschl am See.

Born in Carinthia, I moved to Vienna to study. I worked as an assistant professor at the Institute for Trade and Marketing (WU Vienna). I have a lot of practical and research experience and would therefore describe myself as a marketing nerd with a southern-friendly mentality.

What I particularly like about the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences is the friendliness and commitment of the students and colleagues. Also, it is simply in a nice “spot”.

our extented team

Günter Berger (Head of the Business & Management Department of the Forest Products Technology and Timber Constructions study program.

Born and living in Oberalm, exactly between the two locations of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, I teach business administration, SME and IMT courses in both facilities. From generating ideas to market launches, from business models to marketing concept – this holistic approach makes every project extremely exciting for me as a trained technician and economist. Since I am a trained management consultant, for me it is very important to focus on managerially relevant topics.

Wolfgang Irlinger has been a full-time employee in teaching & research in the Design & Product Management Department since 2015. As a statistics expert, Wolfgang mainly teaches quantitative methods, applied mathematics and statistics in the field of market research.

Wolfgang Irlinger comes from Bischofswiesen, his studies of business administration took him to Passau, where he worked as a research assistant in teaching and research after completing his diploma at the Department of statistics.

Mario Jooss studied business administration and communication science. With a doctorate in media economics, he leads the tourism research department at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

He brings his expertise to the Marketing & Relationship Management department by supervising bachelor and master theses.

Markus Tatzgern completed not only his diploma in telematics at Graz University of Technology with distinction, but also his doctorate in the research area of augmented reality.

Since 2015, he has been Senior Lecturer and Head of Department for Game Development and Mixed Reality at the MultiMediaTechnology study degree at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

Before that, Markus conducted research for Handheld Augmented Reality (AR), one of the world’s leading research laboratories for AR solutions at the Christian Doppler Laboratory.

Dominik Walcher studied architecture and economics in Stuttgart, Munich and Berkeley (California). He received his doctorate from the Technical University of Munich in the field of innovation management.

In 2006, Dominik accepted the professorship for marketing and innovation management at the Design and Product Management study program at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

Unser Externes TEam

Michael Radner is a brand lover, strategy fanatic and proud Upper Austrian, although he has lived in Tyrol for many years and has almost forgotten how wonderful glowing red sunsets look between cider trees.

Michael Radner studied business administration in Linz, learned about the art of consultancy at IMP – Innovative Management Partner in Innsbruck and has been an independent consultant for brand-leading companies in a wide variety of industries for more than ten years. He is at ease to move between addressing small companies like the small optician just around the corner or Germany’s third largest fund company in Heart of Frankfurt.

Since 2012 I have been teaching “Sales and Distribution Management” as an external lecturer at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and I would like to emphasize, that I really enjoy the professional teamwork with the students at this institution.

With interest I follow how the topic of sales is getting more and more important for companies and together with my customers, I have already been able to solve numerous challenges relating to questions of sales management.

As a pricing expert, I have been advising companies for over ten years and I am regularly teaching at universities and management workshops.

I am the managing director and founder of “Pricing Experts” and support companies in shaping their products and prices. The core of my projects are data-driven product and price optimizations by taking customer needs and benefits into account. My support includes the creation, realization and implementation of a suitable strategy. The reasons for this are desired business improvements and the increasing digitization.

Perth, Australia, has been my home for more than 25 years. To Salzburg, it will be a journey of 22 hours, 13471 km – but a longer journey started in the 1980s after my MBA (NY). I have been involved in university teaching, marketing & management consultancy, industry practice, textbook & case writing, and more recently, global travel. Still learning. Still sharing.

My experience has taught me that students are eager for a classroom experience that is engaging, and relevant to the challenges of the real-world. It must be more than what “Googling” can offer. It may only be a 3-year investment, but for a return that lasts 40 years and beyond. I am committed to their transition by instilling practical application & relevance into my courses – of observation, critical thinking and persuasive communication.

As managing director of the company “TransferMonitor”, my main activities not only include positioning of products in various markets, but also the strategic development and overall operational responsibility.

After completing my studies, I pursued a very diversified and instructive job in the field of sports marketing at Red Bull. With interruptions I worked for this company for more than 12 years.

I am professor for marketing & market research at the department of business administration at the Munich University of Applied Science.

My main activity encompasses analyzing customer behavior, with a greater focus on digital influences. Before I accepted my professorship, I held management positions at GfK (Association for Consumer Research) in the areas of brand- and communication research (e.g. for BWM & MINI) and analytical panel research (e.g. for Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Unilever and many others).

I am South Tyrolean and worked in sales in the industrial sector for many years in different countries (Spain, Germany, Italy).

Since 2016, I have been supporting the Marketing & Relationship Management department of the Business Management study program at the Salzburg University of Sciences, where I am teaching aspects of distribution and sales management.

How we work: Curious, creative, desire to discover

Curiosity shapes our approach to research, we work in an interdisciplinary manner. We are interested in the holistic and try to recognize the connections and discover patterns. Most of the time – not always – we think ‘out-of-the-box’.

We work “method-uni-sex”, we research qualitatively and quantitatively – and are enthusiastic about unconventional approaches.

In terms of content, we work in the following subject areas: