The influence of firm-specific and country-specific advantages in the internationalization of emerging market firms: evidence from Turkey

•This study explores the firm-specific (FSAs) and country-specific advantages (CSAs) that five Turkish firms employed as they internationalized. Drawing from institutional theory, the study employed case-study methodology.•The findings show five major firm-specific factors ranging from financial and operations supremacy to adaptability in foreign markets.•The study also points to five major country-specific factors such as government policies supporting internationalization and availability of low cost resources.•The findings inspire new research questions. A key question among these asks whether and the extent to which emerging market MNCs can skillfully blend portfolios of FSAs and CSAs to achieve competitive superiority over developed country MNCs in the markets they enter.