The Bryant & May company is well known for its operations in Britain. Historians have paid less attention to the actions of the company overseas. The opening of a new Australian subsidiary factory in 1909 marked an early venture in multinational manufacturing within the British Empire. This article uses business records and newspapers from both the British and Australian archives to examine the day-to-day operations of this multinational, with a particular focus on the human dimension of the interactions between London and Melbourne. The Bryant & May case study reveals the evolving, sometimes tense, relationship between the “home” and “subsidiary” branches in the context of British imperialism and Australian federation in the years preceding World War I. Business, personal, and imperial relationships intertwined. While business historians have developed theoretical frameworks to understand why companies embark on multinational operations, work remains to be done on the longer-term operations of companies in particular political, social, and cultural contexts. We examine the building of the Empire Works match factory in Melbourne, the nature of transnational management, labor relations, and key production challenges up to the Interstate Commission of 1914. We reveal how Melbourne managers, sometimes against the inclinations of the London directors, were prepared to drive a hard bargain with local politicians and workers. Bryant & May successfully, and sometimes controversially, gained competitive advantage as a “local” company with access to preferential tariffs. This placed the firm in an ideal position to prosper when international trade was disrupted during World War I.

Bryant & May 公司以其在英国的业务而闻名。历史学家较少关注该公司在海外的行动。1909 年，一家新的澳大利亚子公司的开业标志着大英帝国跨国制造业的早期冒险。本文使用英国和澳大利亚档案馆的商业记录和报纸来研究这家跨国公司的日常运营，特别关注伦敦和墨尔本之间互动的人文层面。Bryant & May 案例研究揭示了在第一次世界大战前几年英帝国主义和澳大利亚联邦的背景下，“主”和“附属”分支机构之间不断演变的、有时是紧张的关系。商业、个人和帝国关系交织在一起。虽然商业历史学家已经开发了理论框架来理解公司为何开展跨国经营，但在特别是政治、社会和文化背景下的公司长期经营方面仍有工作要做。我们考察了墨尔本 Empire Works 火柴厂的建设、跨国管理的性质、劳资关系，以及 1914 年州际委员会面临的主要生产挑战。我们揭示了墨尔本的经理们有时如何违背伦敦董事的意愿，准备与当地政客和工人讨价还价。Bryant & May 作为一家获得优惠关税的“本地”公司，成功地（有时是有争议的）获得了竞争优势。