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Article: biz buzz.(Business)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- February 15, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods Inc., is known for his down-home talk. He didn't disappoint last week at Regent University's Executive Leadership Series.
On his best-known offering: "Pork is the safest product to eat. ... Overcook it, and you can wear it as a belt."
On business visits to Wal-Mart, which Pope said was Smithfield's largest customer: Even if you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, "you get in line, you go through a metal detector, and you only get one hour." If you hit the big time, "you get to go into a senior vice president's cubicle, and bring your own chair."
On Smithfield, Va., home ...