Prof. Dr. Vera Bitsch

Professor

Email: bitsch@tum.de

Academic Career and Research Areas

Prof. Bitsch conducts research in the fields of agricultural economics and agribusiness management. Her research focuses on sustainability and its assessment in the value chain, with emphasis on social sustainability, organizational behavior and development, human resource management, as well as strategic management.

Prof. Bitsch studied horticultural science at Leibniz University Hannover. For her doctorate, she analyzed performance ratios in horticulture. During her post-doctoral research at Hannover, she researched management skills, strategic management, and management of personnel, including job satisfaction and motivation. Her habilitation on qualitative research in management and economics made an essential contribution to the further development of the methodology discussion in that field. In 2000, Prof. Bitsch accepted an assistant professor position at Michigan State University. In 2006, she was promoted to associate professor with tenure. Her roles involved research, teaching, and extension in the area of human resource management in agriculture. She joined TUM in 2010.

AWARDS

• Fellow Award, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (2020)
• Honorary Doctorate, Swedish University of Agricultural Science (2018)
• Best Paper Award, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, together with Meike Rombach for “Sector Blending: Evidence from the German Food Banks” (2017)
• Award for Professional Excellence – Distinguished Extension/Outreach Program, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, USA (2008)
• Excellence in Outreach Award, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, USA (2006)

KEY PUBLICATIONS (all publications)

• • Fratini, L. & Bitsch, V. (2024). Mission and vision of Foodsharing Cafés in Germany. Sustainability 16 (15), 6352.
    Abstract
  • Braun, C.L., Bitsch, V. & Häring, A.M. (2023). Creating spaces for change: Boundary work in emerging agri-food value chains. Journal of Cleaner Production 424, online.
    Abstract
  • Braun, C.L., Bitsch, V. & Häring, A.M. (2021). Behind the scenes of a learning agri-food value chain: lessons from action research. Agriculture and Human Values.
    Abstract
  • Rombach, M., Köhl, L. & Bitsch, V. (2019). Multi-layer Agency Problems in a Non-profit and For-profit Collaboration: A Case Study of a Delicatessen Product in Support of a Minority. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review.
    Abstract
  • Alpmann J, Bitsch V. (2017). Dynamics of asymmetric conflict: the case of the German milk conflict”. Food Policy 16 (1): 62-72.
    Abstract