Britain’s Inter-War Radio Industry

Radio experienced even faster diffusion in Britain than in the United States. The stakes for control over the industry’s profits were thus particularly high. Marconi initially used its monopoly over fundamental payments to extract huge rents from the set makers. Then in the 1930s, when Marconi’s fundamental patents began to expire, the two major producers of radio valves (thermionic tubes) sought to use patents to gain control over the industry—offering packages of radio patents to manufacturers in return for tying the manufacturer to buying their valves. Yet this strategy proved unsuccessful, as independent firms such as Ekco, Pye, and Murphy were able to develop strong brands that counteracted the market power of the valve manufacturers, eventually giving them the upper hand in patent negotiations. This chapter explores the battle for control of the radio value chain.