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Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs’) internationalization process in emerging Islamic markets and to introduce the factors affecting SMEs’ entry modes into a foreign country with emphasis on the role of country-of-origin image (COI) in these processes. Design/methodology/approach This study provides a case study to investigate the internationalization experiences of one successful SMEs in Turkey. First, this paper conducted face-to-face and semi-structured interviews with the company’s senior executives through open-ended questions. Second, this paper considered the company documentation and researchers’ observations. Finally, this paper did several classifications of the data, analyzed data by the Nvivo 10 software and extracted the results. Findings The results demonstrated that SMEs’ internationalization process designed in three stages by four key structures contained decision-making for entering and target market selection (pre-entry stage), entry mode and factors affecting it (entry-stage), designing and using control mechanisms (post-entry stage). Findings also showed that information and knowledge level, the risk level in a foreign country, the control level and supply of resources in the international market, the level of trust in knowledge, political and economic structures that governing in a foreign country are important factors influencing SMEs’ entry strategies. In particular, the results revealed that the COI significantly determines the impact rate of the factors influencing the decision to enter the international market. Research limitations/implications The most important limitation of this research is the use of a case study to investigate the subject. Findings showed COI has a significant impact on SMEs’ internationalization processes and especially on adopting a suitable entry strategy. Therefore, SMEs should pay more attention to the role of COI in the internationalization process. Originality/value This case study provides new empirical insight into the SMEs’ internationalization processes in the emerging Islamic economy. Findings introduce the factors that influence the strategy of SMEs entering foreign markets and provide a new research model for future studies.