We examine four State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and compare the international strategy and performance of those two controlled by the central government with the two owned by a subnational level of authority. After a thorough qualitative analysis, we find that subnational ownership creates a more gradual market driven international expansion while centrally owned SOEs is explained by non-market factors (i.e. government’s international political agenda). We show how the different availability of resources between subnational and centrally owned SOEs as well as the financial autonomy of these firms play a key role to understand their international performance and evolution.