Headquarters Landscape in Austria: International HQs

Austria is home to several intermediary headquarters (HQs) of large multinational corporations (MNCs). With this study, we deep dive into the international HQ landscape of Austria and study its composition and characteristics in terms of types, location, size, sector, and origin of its international HQs. This report is meant to be an addition to our previously published report on “Headquarters Landscape in Austria: An overview” (2022). Therefore, it focuses on a subsample – represented by the population of international HQs in Austria – of the initial database of HQs in Austria. What emerges from the study is that Austria and especially its capital city Vienna is the seat of different types of international HQs: both divisional and regional HQs. Moreover, the countries that are most commonly choosing Austria as an HQ location are the neighboring DACH countries (i.e., Germany and Switzerland) and the US. Finally, even though the number of international HQs is considerably smaller than that of domestic corporate parents, the size of the former is much bigger (with an average turnover of more than 10bn€). This emphasizes the relevance of international HQs for the Austrian economy.