There has been much written on why and how firms become involved in entering international markets. There is less material on the production/operations actions taken by such firms. This paper investigates the differences in competitive capabilities and manufacturing performance improvement plans between globally-oriented and domestically-oriented firms. It uses data collected from 140 New Zealand manufacturing companies. The results indicate that both groups emphasize the same competitive capabilities, but the globally-oriented group is placing more emphasis on some action plans involving quality assurance, improving existing processes and design for manufacture. Their most favoured action plans are similar to those of firms in most advanced manufacturing countries which participate in the Manufacturing Futures Project.