International Harvester went belly up in 1984, leaving primarily one surviving division: IH trucks. IH was the 800 pound gorilla in the harvester and working truck space since being founded I think in 1902. Pretty much the same early strategy as GM: buy up the competition to corner the market. Money makes you smarter and gives you the ability to control the customer and the employees.

In the 70's Deere and Caterpillar outpaced IH with new products on the high end. Kubota undercut them on the low end.

IH blamed its horrific failure in the early eighties on a 5-month UAW strike. The company had been poorly managed and out of touch for decades. The '84 sell-off turned out lights in plants all over: Memphis, Milwaukee, Louisville, Chicago, Canton, and many other US cities and overseas.