Chair of Mobility, Trade & Logistics

When man in a remote valley in the south of France suddenly had the time to create works of art on cave walls in the Chauvet Cave 35,000 years ago, the spark of globalization jumped over. Planned action, economic activity based on the division of labour, and the willingness to trade overcame scarcity and created free time. A principle that still creates free time today, in which change, innovation and ideas are driven forward.


When free time is made possible, creative spaces are created. Mobility as the need to escape spatial monotony, trade as the necessity to obtain new things and logistics as a systematic tool to enable mobility and trade have been the drivers of a humane society ever since.


To look at mobility, trade and logistics from a purely business perspective is too one-dimensional and too normatively linked to the goals of companies. The chair is therefore fundamentally oriented towards economics. Macroeconomic dimensions and microeconomic subtleties are taken into account, addressed, researched and interpreted. If business administration moved towards microeconomic theory with the evolutionary theory of individual economics of institutions as the doctrine of entrepreneurial functions, the Chair of Mobility, Retailing and Logistics develops a new way of thinking that substantiates the economic explanation theories of business administration from an economic theory perspective.


In the same way, the Chair understands its mission to impart knowledge. Mathematical symbolism is to be replaced by the ability to explain observable facts in economic terms, to measure them empirically and thus to act entrepreneurially and generate economic benefits.
Our research is driven by the question of necessary, possible and impossible changes. Technological innovations open up completely new possibilities, production-related limitations are overcome. In contrast, climate change, dependence on scarce energy resources, and overloaded infrastructures in conurbations are leading to new limitations that must be solved in order to maintain sustainable, fair and safe mobility while meeting user requirements.


Distributed Ledger Technology offers a wide range of new possibilities that can be used in mobility, trade and logistics, unleashing undreamed-of efficiency potentials and arbitrage gains. Blockchain technology is considered the ultimate solution to realize decentralized governance structures and digital identities. A so-called web-of-trust scheme can create the basis for trustworthy transactions by presenting all (anonymous) transactions in a comprehensible way. This ensures transparent and efficient resource management, which also makes a significant contribution to increased cyber security.


In the automotive sector, the mega-topics of the future "electrification", "autonomous driving" and "sharing economy" dominate the discussion, which is fueled by many studies, scenarios and visions of the future. In order to link these topics efficiently, the topic of artificial intelligence plays a significant role in the research area of the Chair of Mobility, Retail and Logistics. Last but not least, space mobility and satellite communication (which is indispensable for autonomous driving in terms of communication, data transmission and networking) is moving to the center of current research and teaching activities.


Is mobility becoming more individual?
Multimodal?
How is the role of the automobile changing against the background of emerging cooperative systems?
How can means of transport be networked and what does this mean for the competitiveness of each individual means of transport?
What role does AI and DLT technology play in the creation of new mobility concepts and services?

These questions concern individual mobility as well as logistics and trade.
New mobility concepts and mobility solutions are the focus of our research.

Courses Spring Semester 2021:
Lecturer: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Schulz

| Macroeconomics
| Mobility Innovations & Digitalization
| Making Mobility Work: Framework Conditions and Impacts