This paper investigates a tyre manufacturer as a case to explore the essence of international competitive advantage of Chinese export oriented firms and its implication to theory through analyzing the challenges and strategies when the tyre manufacturer entered the native country. The paper suggests that owning firm-specific advantage is not necessarily the premise of internationalization, but should be the source of sustainable international competitive advantage and benefits. Finally, we further analyze the theoretical significance of the case in the current theory development, and argue that it can be another perspective of expanding the research in the internationalization behaviors of companies in emerging markets.