We contribute to the discussion on internationalization speed (IS) by looking at it through a firm’s development through changing historical contexts from 1917 until 2020. We conducted a historical case study on a world-leading paper company currently known as UPM-Kymmene. We recognized four major trade regime changes – labeled as critical junctures – in the constantly evolving geopolitical context of the era. We then studied documents revealing (i) how firm’s internationalization pace and rhythm varied and (ii) how the managerial reasoninging was in the context of these four critical junctures. Our contribution is related to building a contextualized understanding of IS. Our model highlights the importance of contextual reference points and synchronization in relation to geopolitics and industry.