Found this interesting article about Westinghouse Electric Corporation and why it failed. This article is from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and though it is a rather long read, with multiple pages, it fills in a lot of the blanks.
http://old.post-gazette.com/westinghouse/prologue.asp

To me, Westinghouse sort of an older example of what GE has currently doing. GE sold off most of their consumer divisions over time. Since they sold off their small appliances to Black and Decker in the 80s, and now had sold off their appliances to Haier a few years ago, and now are even selling off their lighting. They are becoming a financial, medical and aerospace company mainly. Westinghouse did similar many years ago, although their name lives on as a name on lighting and appliances, but not the real thing.