Recent research in the field of international entrepreneurship have been increasingly focused on the discovery, creation, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities across national borders, in order to create future goods and services. The present study investigated the process of recognizing opportunities in foreign markets of two Brazilian publishers. The factors - and their possible combinations - that influence a company, both positively and negatively, to recognize opportunities for international expansion were explored. The study was qualitative in nature and the method used was the case study. Interviews with senior executives responsible for publisher s international department were conducted and secondary data were collected. In parallel, an analysis of the publishing industry and its internationalization was developed. The results allowed to trace the evolution of the internationalization process of such enterprises, identifying steps, important events and factors that determined the recognition of the key opportunities in the international market, being confronted with the literature on the subject.