Background

Wolfgang Messner is a Clinical Professor in the Sonoco International Business Department at the Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. He brings three decades of international experience spanning industry, consulting, entrepreneurship, and academia.

Messner began his career in technology and financial services, holding leadership roles at Deutsche Bank in Germany and India, where he contributed to the design of core banking systems and early large-scale offshoring initiatives. He later worked in strategy and digital transformation consulting with the Information Management Group (IMG), BMW Group’s Softlab/Cirquent, and Capgemini, managing cross-border teams, architecting enterprise solutions, and leading complex analytics, customer relationship management, and service-delivery initiatives. He subsequently co-founded GloBus Research, an executive education venture delivering customized leadership and international management programs across Europe and Asia.

He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Kassel, an MBA from the University of Wales, and a BSc/MSc degree in Computing Science from the Technical University of Munich. His academic training included early work in neural networks, computer graphics, and customer analytics – areas that continue to shape his AI-centered scholarship today.

At USC, Messner teaches courses on artificial intelligence, data analytics, strategy consulting, international marketing, and cross-cultural team management. He collaborates closely with industry partners on applied AI and data-driven strategy projects.

Research

Messner’s research advances the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data-analytic methods to international business, marketing, and cross-cultural analysis. He develops novel approaches in explainable AI (XAI), designs deep learning and large language model (LLM)-based frameworks for modeling country differences, and explores how generative AI can enhance – or distort – group-level insights in global organizational contexts.

His recent projects include using large language models to quantify cultural practices across 216 countries, identifying cultural self-perception biases in LLMs, evaluating the reliability of AI-generated marketing insights, and building deep learning models that challenge traditional assumptions in trade theory. His work demonstrates how AI can serve as both a measurement instrument and as a conceptual lens for understanding diversity, consumer behavior, and international market dynamics.

Messner’s research is published in leading journals such as the Journal of World Business, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, World Development, Applied Soft Computing, and others. He is the author of five books and co-editor of three handbooks published by Palgrave Macmillan and Springer. He also contributes to public discussions on AI, with his commentary appearing in outlets such as The Conversation and major international news media.

Education

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