The paper explores how sanctions affect international business (IB) and how firms respond to sanctions. We propose that firms’ reactions to sanctions can be analyzed through the lenses of leading IB theories, including institutions-based view and resource-based view. We argue that IB scholars can go beyond existing approaches to explain how firms act when facing sanctions. Moreover, we suggest that studies of firms facing sanctions help to reassess some of the assumptions underlying the prevailing theoretical explanations. We contribute with systematic view on strategy options that international and domestic firms may implement when faced with sanctions.