The average life of a major American corporation is 40 years. JD reinvented itself in about 1961 before it could start it's climb up the corporate ego ladder. It is inevitable that sometime in the not so distant future that JD's star, like all the other major ag machinery corporations before it will, if it has not already, begin the downward path to a catastrophic decline. It will be something simple that will undo JD. Maybe AGCO with it's international outlook and it's recent history of flexibility will design combines and ag machinery in the USA and start producing it's machinery in China or India. Maybe a $100,000 off the build price of a combine immediately. The chinese are already starting to show that they can develop excellent quality control. That would murder the opposition, including JD. After all, who would have guessed 15 or 20 years ago that those mighty and invincible American institutions GM. and Ford would be on the skids with enormous losses and maybe considering filing for bankruptcy while an upstart Japanese corporation, Toyota out competes them and takes their market from under them. Be careful with your sarcasm Green Machine! Just possibly AGCO or it's successors may still be around long after a sclerotic JD has long disappeared. Cheers!
