Strategic Management: A Competitive Advantage Approach, Concepts and Cases, 16/e

History

Back in 1929, John Tyson moved his family from Missouri to Arkansas and began transporting cheap southern chickens to cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis, where Tyson could command a high price. His business was so successful that he quickly began to backward integrate by purchasing and operating his own chicken farms. By the 1960s, Tyson had divested its chicken farms to focus on meat processing, establishing an elaborate system of buying from contract famers and paying each farmer based on timely and quality chicken production. Recently, however, Tyson has backward integrated again by purchasing its own farms to gain better control of sanitation and quality of chickens, especially in China.

In 2001, Tyson Foods acquired IBP, ...