Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna

Programme Overview

Structural reform and robust competition policy underpin sustainable economic transition, market efficiency, and public sector modernisation.⁣​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌⁣ This comprehensive five-day executive programme in Vienna equips senior policymakers and technical specialists with the frameworks needed to disassemble anti-competitive structures, streamline market access, and enhance institutional governance. Drawing upon established European and international regulatory experiences, participants evaluate the microeconomic fundamentals that stimulate productivity, foster private enterprise, and protect consumer welfare across critical commercial and infrastructure sectors.

The curriculum addresses the practical complexities of regulatory design, state involvement in commercial markets, and public enterprise oversight. Participants examine market surveillance methodologies, competitive neutrality principles, and regulatory impact assessment processes aimed at removing administrative and structural entry barriers. Through structured comparative analysis of OECD frameworks and European Union competition instruments, the training demonstrates how to systematically identify market distortions, manage state aid, and design regulatory solutions that encourage fair private sector investment.

Delivered through an applied policy execution lens, the programme prepares officials to draft, sequence, and monitor structural reform agendas that support macroeconomic resilience. Working through practical case exercises and institutional scenarios, attendees explore the operational interface between competition authorities, sector regulators, and central ministries. Participants conclude the course with actionable strategies to steer complex market transition initiatives, implement state-owned enterprise governance reforms, and support national economic diversification targets effectively.

Public institutions across transition economies face urgent mandates to diversify their revenue bases, attract foreign direct investment, and stimulate productivity amid persistent fiscal constraints.⁣​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌⁣ Implementation of major development initiatives, such as the US$600m Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth programme, demands sophisticated analytical capacity to execute market opening policies, reform state-owned enterprises, and enforce competition rules without destabilising vital public services. Mastering modern competition tools and regulatory impact assessment methodologies is essential for governments seeking to dismantle entrenched monopolies and establish resilient, market-led economic frameworks.

Delivered by Risalat Consultants International in Vienna, Austria, it combines expert-led sessions, real cases and group work, so that participants can apply what they learn in their own institution.

The Programme Strengthens Institutional Capability

• Economic principles of competition, market definition, and contestability
• Substantive assessment of horizontal restraints, cartels, and concerted practices
• Abuse of dominance frameworks and detection in concentrated domestic markets
• Comparative overview of the EU competition acquis and international standards
• Workshop: Identifying anti-competitive practices within network industries
• Methodologies for screening statutory barriers to market entry and expansion
• Operational application of the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit
• Licensing, permit rationalisation, and administrative burden reduction
• Project initiation and planning
• Scope, schedule and work plans
• Budgeting and cost control
• Risk and issue management

It is designed for directors and senior officials from ministries of national economy and finance, case handlers, economists, and legal analysts from national competition authorities, members of inter-ministerial structural reform task forces and implementation units and others who want practical, current skills in project and programme management.

The Growing Importance of Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna

Many projects fail not for lack of funds but because of weak planning, unclear roles and slow decisions. Financiers and governments expect projects to be delivered on time, within budget and with the agreed results.

Project teams in public bodies and donor-funded projects must combine planning, risk management, procurement, financial control and reporting. Strong project management skills make these parts work together.

Organisations increasingly require professionals capable of:

• Plan projects with clear scope, schedule and budget
• Manage risks and issues before they become delays
• Coordinate procurement, finance and technical work
• Report progress clearly to financiers and management
• Lead teams and manage stakeholders

Strong project and programme management systems help organisations:

• Deliver projects on time and on budget
• Reduce delays and cost overruns
• Meet financier requirements
• Achieve the agreed results

This Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna programme brings these elements together in a practical format, so that participants understand not only what good practice looks like but also how to introduce it in their own setting, with the people and resources they have.

Who Should Attend This Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training?

This programme is designed for:

• Directors and senior officials from ministries of national economy and finance
• Case handlers, economists, and legal analysts from national competition authorities
• Members of inter-ministerial structural reform task forces and implementation units
• Policy advisers responsible for private sector development and deregulation strategies
• Senior managers overseeing state-owned enterprise restructuring and governance programmes
• Technical specialists from sector-specific utility and infrastructure regulatory agencies
• Civil servants managing regulatory impact assessment units and legislative drafting teams
• Technical advisers supporting economic modernisation and diversification agendas
• Policy professionals and economists from government economic planning institutes
• Project and programme managers
• PIU coordinators and staff
• Planning and monitoring officers

The programme suits experienced professionals as well as those moving into new responsibilities. Groups that mix institutions and countries are encouraged, because participants learn a great deal from each other’s experience.

Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate market structures to detect anti-competitive behaviours, cartels, and abuse of dominance
• Apply OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit guidelines to identify and eliminate legislative barriers
• Formulate competitive neutrality frameworks to govern state-owned enterprises in commercial sectors
• Conduct thorough Regulatory Impact Assessments to gauge proposed policies on market contestability
• Design phased institutional roadmaps for structural reform implementation across domestic markets
• Structure effective state aid monitoring systems aligned with international best-practice standards
• Synthesise evidence-based policy proposals to support national macroeconomic resilience programmes
• Explain the project cycle and the role of each stakeholder
• Prepare a project plan with scope, schedule and budget
• Build a work plan and Gantt chart

Each objective is practised during the programme through exercises, cases or group work, so that participants leave able to do it, not only to describe it.

Programme Contents and Structure

Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training Methodology

The training employs an applied adult learning methodology combining expert presentations, comparative policy analysis, and rigorous syndicate exercises.⁣​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌⁣ Participants work directly with recognised international diagnostic frameworks to dissect real policy scenarios, draft technical assessments, and review empirical case studies of market reform. Facilitated peer discussions encourage cross-institutional knowledge sharing, while hands-on workshops enable participants to apply regulatory assessment tools immediately to their own national legislative and institutional contexts.

The programme combines:

• Expert-led sessions on current practice
• Regional and international case studies
• Group work and practical exercises
• Simulations and role plays where relevant
• Discussion of participants' own challenges
• Peer learning across institutions and countries
• Practical tools and templates to take back to work
• Daily reflection and action planning

Before the programme, a short pre-assessment helps the facilitators understand each participant’s role and priorities, so that examples and exercises can be adjusted to the group. Each day ends with a short reflection in which participants note what they will apply at work.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training, participants will be able to:

• Proficiency in identifying regulatory and administrative obstacles to fair market competition
• Capacity to conduct structured competition assessments using the OECD Toolkit methodology
• Practical skills to design and implement robust competitive neutrality policies for state enterprises
• Ability to execute rigorous ex-ante and ex-post Regulatory Impact Assessments on commercial legislation
• Preparedness to manage institutional coordination across sector regulators and economic ministries
• Capability to sequence, draft, and monitor comprehensive national structural reform strategies
• Plan projects with clear scope, schedule and budget
• Manage risks and issues early

Participants leave with a personal action plan and practical tools they can use in their institution from the first week back. Institutions that send several participants can use the programme to agree shared methods and templates across teams, which makes improvements easier to sustain.

Institutional Application of Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training

This programme supports organisations in strengthening:

• Project planning
• Risk management
• Coordination across functions
• Progress reporting
• Stakeholder management

Participants return with practical tools to improve:

• Work plans
• Risk registers
• Progress reports
• Mission preparation
• Lessons learned

The programme is built so that learning moves from the classroom into the institution. Participants work on their own processes and documents where possible, and leave with an action plan that their managers can review and support.

Regional Relevance & Application

Europe

European institutions apply project and programme management within detailed regulatory frameworks and reform agendas. Participants from Europe can compare their practice with colleagues from other regions and test how established methods work under different conditions.

Africa

Across Africa, ministries, agencies and project teams working in project and programme management increasingly operate alongside donor-financed programmes that expect clear systems and evidence. The programme helps participants adapt good practice to the institutions and resources they work with.

Middle East

In the Middle East, national development strategies and diversification plans place growing demands on project and programme management. Participants explore how to build the capability these plans need inside public bodies and companies.

Asia

Institutions across Asia combine rapid growth with ambitious modernisation programmes. Participants from Asia can share their experience of scaling systems quickly and learn from approaches used elsewhere.

Pacific

Small island and Pacific states face particular constraints of size, distance and capacity. The programme highlights practical, proportionate approaches to project and programme management that suit smaller institutions.

Holding the programme in Vienna, Austria brings participants together away from their daily pressures, so they can compare how project and programme management is handled in different settings. The same programme can also be delivered in-house for one institution, in its own country or online, with cases taken from its current work.

Host Country Profile – Austria

Programmes, Workshops, Exposures, Training Courses in Vienna, Austria by Risalat Consultants International

Studying away from their own country gives participants time to focus, a fresh view of their own institution and the chance to build a network with colleagues from other countries.

Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training Deliverables

Participants receive support before, during and after the programme, so that preparation, learning and follow-up form one continuous experience.

Before the Programme

• Participant Pre-Assessment
• Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Readiness Assessment
• Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Resource Pack
• Preparatory Reading Materials
• Complimentary Visa Support & Advisory

During the Programme

• Airport Pickup & Welcome Assistance
• Accommodation with Breakfast
• Welcome Networking Dinner
• Risalat Training Kit (Bag, Bottle, Mug, T-Shirt, Cap, Passport Cover, Pens, Notebook, Magnet & Keychain)
• Comprehensive Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna Training Manual
• Project Plan Template
• Work Plan and Gantt Template
• Risk Register Template
• Progress Report Template
• Practical Workshops & Simulations
• Group Discussions & Peer Learning
• Daily Lunch and Refreshments
• Full Access to Training Venue Facilities
• Mini Pad / Tablet with Digital Learning Materials
• Field Visit (where applicable)
• Entertaining City Tour

After the Programme

• Certificate of Completion
• Risalat Programme Participation Recognition Award
• Post-Training Reference Materials
• Supervision Mission Preparation Checklist
• Lessons Learned Template
• Post-Training Support & Follow-Up Guidance
• Programme Report

Institutions can also request a tailored in-house version of this programme, delivered at their premises or online. Request a proposal.

Common Challenges in Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna, And How This Training Helps

How can institutions plan projects with clear scope, schedule and budget?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (Foundations of Competition Policy and Market contestability), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions manage risks and issues before they become delays?

The programme addresses this directly on the second day (Regulatory Barriers, Entry, and Market Surveillance), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions coordinate procurement, finance and technical work?

The programme addresses this directly on the third day (State-Owned Enterprise Governance and Competitive Neutrality), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions report progress clearly to financiers and management?

The programme addresses this directly on the fourth day (Regulatory Impact Assessment and Policy Design), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions lead teams and manage stakeholders?

The programme addresses this directly on the fifth day (Structural Reform Sequencing and Macroeconomic Resilience), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where does the Structural Reform Implementation and Competition Policy in Vienna programme take place?

It runs from 15 Feb 2027 to 19 Feb 2027, in Vienna, Austria. The registration deadline is shown at the top of this page.

Who should attend?

The programme is designed for directors and senior officials from ministries of national economy and finance, case handlers, economists, and legal analysts from national competition authorities, members of inter-ministerial structural reform task forces and implementation units, policy advisers responsible for private sector development and deregulation strategies, and others who want practical skills in project and programme management.

Will I receive a certificate?

Yes. Participants who complete the programme receive a Certificate of Completion from Risalat Consultants International.

Can this programme be delivered for our institution only?

Yes. We can deliver a tailored in-house version at your premises, in another city or online, built around your own cases. Use the proposal request on this page.

Do I need prior experience in project and programme management?

No specialist background is required beyond experience in a related role. A short pre-assessment helps the facilitators adapt the sessions to the group.

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