Cub Cadet

In May of 2009, MTD Products closed the Cub Cadet manufacturing facility in Brownsville. The closing of the plant resulted in the loss of 200 full-time jobs and 280 part-time jobs. It was a huge blow to the local economy.

The big question left behind was, why did this happen? First, it might be useful to understand a bit of the history of the Cub Cadet company. You can read a bit about the history of Cub Cadet here. Cub Cadet was eventually bought by Yanmar, a Japanese company. You can read a bit about the company here. Yanmar also has a Wikipedia page which provides some useful background information.

What happened to Cub Cadet and Brownsville is just a small part of a bigger picture. To understand whats happening with the local economy, you need to understand globalization.

Discuss the following questions in class:

1. What changes in American society encouraged International Harvester to get into the lawn tractor business?

2. What was the primary selling point for the Cub Cadet brand?

3. Why do you think Yanmar would be interested in getting into the lawn tractor business in the US? What additional information would you like to know?


Assignment: Write a paper in Google Docs titled "Cub Cadet." Answer the questions above in a paper formatted to 12 point double-spaced, Time New Roman. Put your name and page number in the header of the paper. Your paper will be graded using the following rubric:

Formatting: 1-3 points
Spelling and Grammar: 1-3 points
Completeness of answers: 1 point per question. (4 points total)

Maximum points: 10