Well..... The demise of IH is complicated. It had more to do with greedy management and an attitude of "we can do no wrong" than it did with economy.
Here are some key factors:
*High interest rates which made buying a new machine unpractical.
*Low grain prices as the US had imposed a grain embargo on the USSR.
*A major strike in '79 that hit IH in the "shorts"
*Major, major expense in designing, tooling, training, building the new '88 series tractors
*A main production facility (Farmall Works Plant) that was in need of upgrading and incredibly inefficient.
*Management.
I will not take credit for this knowledge as I have studied, and studied International Harvester. Some of the info given is from Ken Updike's book International Harvester Tractors 1955-1985. If you are really interested in the demise of IH there is one, and only one book chronicling the events that led to one of the greatest farm machinery makes ever to go virtually bankrupt. The book was written by Barbara Marsh and is called A Corporate Tragedy. I do not yet own the book as it is out of print, and very hard to find..... for a reasonable price. Most copy's I have seen were selling in the $200 range. I will find one.....
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