Once you make your first billon, it's no longer about getting to the top - it's about staying there. For Tyson Foods Inc., the drive to stay on the top began $26 billion ago, and the company, which released more than 420 new products this year, still is sharp enough to know that staying at the top of the food game comes down to two words: research and development. This forward-looking septuagenarian is not about to let size or solid success slow down the thinking process, and to that end has broken ground on a $52 million R&D facility, called the Discovery Center, smack in the middle of its Springdale, Ark., headquarters campus. The project team includes Charles Wyche, senior director of R&D, and Bob Love, vice president of R&D, who provides oversight and direction for the project. But such a center would be just another building without a corporate attitude toward research and development that is dedicated to exploration.
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