Organizational slack as an enabler of internationalization: The case of large Brazilian firms

•The study informs the literature on the drivers to internationalization of the Latin American MNEs, the so-called ‘Multilatinas’.•Drawing from the organizational slack theory, we find that acts as an enabler of the internationalization process.•Our study unveils a convincing link between financial, operational and managerial slack and changes in domestic market conditions.•We reveal that a “critical incidence” in the home market is required to trigger the use of the slack resources for intense international forays.