This work provides an analysis of a British international business organisation of the nineteenth century, the Borneo Company Limited, which represents an excellent example of the use of networks in the development of foreign direct investments. Further developed and published as Cox, H and Metcalfe, S (1998), 'The Borneo Company Limited: Origins of a Nineteenth-century Networked Multinational', Asia Pacific Business Review, vol. 4, no. 4, pp.53-69.