# What are some companies that are known for two or more disparate products? (Better explained in OP) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 16, 2026, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927 "2026-06-16T01:13:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/161 "2026-09-15T02:37:40Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Singer is known for their sewing machines and their WWII M1911A1 pistol Wellllll, for some definition of “known”, I guess. I think most people with any awareness at all of Singer sewing machines have no idea that the company ever manufactured firearms. Anyway, the following doesn’t count as disparate “products” so much as rather disparate “identities”, I guess? Namely, the Indian automotive manufacturing behemoth Tata Motors makes not only the iconically Indian Tata cars and commercial trucks, but also… the iconically British Jaguar and Land Rover automobiles. Who knew. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/162 "2026-09-15T02:47:36Z")
Speaking of sewing machines, Japan’s Brother Industries, best known for making office equipment (formerly including typewriters, now most famously printers), machine tools and manufacturing equipment, starting out as a sewing machine manufacturer and still makes a good line of home machines. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/163 "2026-09-15T03:43:11Z")
Tata Motors is a small subpart of **[Tata Group - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group)**. Tata Group is a ginormous holding company that has been buying random unrelated businesses all over the world for decades. A classic do-everything conglomerate which is much more financial engineering than business acumen. They bought Land Rover and Jaguar out of bankruptcy for a few rupees. And operate it/them as separate businesses unrelated to Tata Motors except for lines of reporting. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/164 "2026-09-15T16:46:23Z")
Mercedes Benz manufactures both luxury cars and cargo trucks. Not completely disparate, but fairly distinct categories of output. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/165 "2026-09-15T16:58:22Z")
Maybe it has been mentioned already, but (and I didn’t know this till a couple years ago) Morton-Thiokol, of solid-rocket booster fame, the Morton part of it is the salt people. “When it Rains, it Pours”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/166 "2026-09-15T17:04:10Z")
Morton and Thiokol split in 1989, but prior to that, they also made ski-lift equipment and Snowcats, large tracked vehicles for use at ski resorts and other snowy applications. [![](https://skicatcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Skicat_Future-Thiokol-Snowcat_Featured.jpg) ](https://skicatcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Skicat_Future-Thiokol-Snowcat_Featured.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/167 "2026-09-15T18:15:54Z")
Morton-Thiokol was covered back in post #60. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/168 "2026-09-15T19:20:15Z")
Yeah, a lot of stuff seems kind of obvious from the outside, and especially in hindsight. But I figure it’s got to be a much different call when you’re inside the company and you’re in charge. I mean, in graduate business school (MBA) in 2002-2003, I remember writing two papers that stood out in my mind, because they made predictions that came true. Mostly because from the business school perspective, these things were super obvious. In one situation (video rental vs. streaming), it was resistance to change and doubling down on the current business, and the other (photography companies) was far more of a situation where they saw the tsunami coming, but there was nowhere to flee. I mean, there wasn’t too much Nikon (or Canon, Olympus, Pentax, or Minolta) could have done in the face of the mass shift to smartphone cameras by the non-hobbyist public. What we suggested was for those companies to license their names and potentially technology to smartphone companies- maybe someone would be excited about maybe having a Nikon lens or something on their Motorola phone, vs. whatever the iPhone had. But even that wouldn’t offset the crash of an industry that sold 120 million cameras a year into one that sells 7 million 20 years later. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/169 "2026-09-15T19:26:14Z")
I just got an email about a company getting into a niche market you wouldn’t expect. Sig Sauer is now making (or at least licensing) martial arts uniforms and gear. I suppose they’re trying to appeal to the tough guy’s Tough Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/170 "2026-09-15T19:38:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Samsung > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Mitsubishi > [@HeyHomie](#): > > Yamaha A lot of the Japanese and South Korean conglomerates are like that. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/171 "2026-09-15T19:39:52Z")
And upthread, someone mentioned Tata, which is an Indian conglomerate. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/172 "2026-09-15T20:44:13Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Sig Sauer is now making (or at least licensing) martial arts uniforms and gear. I suppose they’re trying to appeal to the tough guy’s Tough Guy. See the Judo guy just struck by a bullet! See what’s more efficient! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/173 "2026-09-15T23:35:59Z")
The next big thing in tacticool will be martial arts uniforms w bulletproof woven Kevlar panels. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/174 "2026-09-16T12:43:39Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Morton and Thiokol split in 1989, but prior to that, they also made ski-lift equipment and Snowcats, large tracked vehicles for use at ski resorts and other snowy applications. I first learned about the Thiokol snow equipment when I watched the 1982 version of _The Thing_, and someone suggests meeting outside “in the Thiokol”. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/175 "2026-09-18T08:17:14Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I have two somewhat corpulent animals here who would like to express their **EXTREME GRATITUDE** to her. From preceding post to this, we go from circular notes to circular cats. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927/176 "2026-09-18T08:25:41Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Lamborghini is known for seven-figure cars and … tractors. I think Mercedes Benz makes most of the public city buses in Germany; at least I saw a lot of their buses when I was there. Obviously it’s just another kind of motor vehicle, but not the sort of thing we associate with with the brand in the United States. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-companies-that-are-known-for-two-or-more-disparate-products-better-explained-in-op/1030927.md?page=8)