Dr. H. Christopher (Chris) Peterson is the Homer Nowlin Chair of Consumer-Responsive Agriculture and professor of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University. He is Director of the MSU Product Center Food-Ag-Bio. The Center focuses on assisting agricultural, food, natural resource, and bioeconomy firms in the development of new markets, products, and associated supply chain relationships. Dr. Peterson has his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University and his MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. Dr. Peterson serves on the state advisory board for the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Centers and the Executive Committee of the Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project. He has served as an outside director on three major cooperative boards, and on the international advisory board of TransForum, a public/private consortium dedicated to scientific and practical discoveries to enhance the sustainability of agriculture in the Netherlands and globally.
His research and outreach activities span the areas of strategic management, value-added ventures and differentiated product development, cooperative theory and financial practices, entrepreneurship, business innovation, the emergence of the bioeconomy, vertical coordination strategy, and supply chain management. Dr. Peterson also does “futuring” to craft scenarios for the evolution of the agri-food and bioeconomy systems. Based on this work, sustainability is a growing area for his research and outreach. Rounding out his scholarly interests is a focus on qualitative research methods, most especially case study research.
Professional Interests
- Strategic management of agribusinesses, including globalization strategies, supply chain management, cooperative finance, scenario analysis, and strategic planning methods and practices
- Product-oriented agricultural marketing, and cooperative strategic and financial management
- Entrepreneurship and venture development
- Sustainability with related work on multi-stakeholder engagement and transdisciplinary knowledge creation
Selected Publications
Peterson, H. Christopher. 2011. An Epistemology for Agribusiness: Peers, Methods, and Engagement in the Agri-Food Bio System. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 14 (5): 11-26.
Dentoni, Domenico, Peterson, H. Christopher. 2011. Multi-Stakeholder Sustainability Alliances in Agri-Food Chains: A Theory of Reasoned Action Approach. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 14 (5), 83-108.
Dentoni, Domenico, Calantone, Roger J., Tonsor, Glyndall T., Peterson, H. Christopher. 2011. Animal Welfare Practices along the Food Chain: How Does Negative and Positive Information Affect Consumers? Journal of Food Products Marketing 17 (3), 279-302.
Dentoni, Domenico, Tonsor, Glyndall T., Calantone, Roger J., Peterson, H. Christopher. 2010. Brand Information Mitigating Negative Shocks on Animal Welfare: Is It More Effective to Distract Consumers or Make Them Aware? International Food and Agricultural Management Review 13 (4), 17-56. IFAMA 2010 Best Paper, Innovation Award.
Peterson, H. Christopher. 2011. Invited Paper Case Study Discussion. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 93 (2), 648-649.
Funded Research Projects
- MAES/GREEEN Development of Agri-Food Strategy Center and Strategic Information Resources
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