Appropriation and Independence: BTM, Burroughs, and IBM at the Advent of the Computer Industry

Seeking to refocus the examination of British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM), this article compares the cases of BTM and Burroughs Corporation, an American competitor that was somewhat similar in size, customer base, and organizational capabilities in electronics. These long-established business machine firms faced similar challenges in the mid-20th century in terms of struggling to create products in an emerging technology and assimilating R&D resources from acquisitions.