Country image and nation branding provide a competitive advantage for small and medium-sized enterprises in their internationalization. This paper analyzes the influence of Turkish nongovernmental organizations on forming country image of Turkey and developing the country brand using public diplomacy in the African continent. The published interviews and statements of Turkish and African politicians, business people and intellectuals argue that these organizations are effectively using public diplomacy to create the country brand. This paper focuses on the most active organization, the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON) which supports to its members in communicating with their potential customers in several occasions, and having a differentiating statement and a competitive advantage by promoting the brand image of the country. This civil society support is significant, especially for the small and medium enterprises of developing countries, when considered the weak international image and reputation of these countries.

Social business networking is a socioeconomic activity of likeminded entrepreneurs who share the same goals and social concerns. Participating in the social business networks at international level is an option for small businesses to penetrate and develop competitiveness in export markets. Social business networks are instrumental in overcoming the export barriers especially for inexperienced entrepreneurs since participating networks provide them with opportunities and enhance the performance of their enterprises through penetrating and developing competitiveness in overseas markets. Business networking relations of entrepreneurs provides valuable and specialized knowledge and competencies for entrepreneurs to overcome export barriers arising mainly from lack of prior knowledge of external markets and experience. The studies on export performance have addressed these barriers as impediments or limitations on the export performance of companies in general and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular. Most of the empirical studies in export literature mainly focus on internal or controllable factors such as managerial factors, company characteristics and competencies, and export marketing strategic capabilities, since they are significant determinants in overcoming the export barriers.This study attempts to assess the impact of engaging in the networking activities on export performance of SMEs referring these firmlevel controllable determinants of export performance. The survey data collected from 248 Turkish SMEs were analyzed with SPSS AMOS 23 employing structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the validity of the hypothesized model. The findings of the study point out the positive correlation between engaging social business networks and the export performance of the enterprises. The findings also provide valuable information about the influence of firm level factors, such as the degree of internationalization, the education level of the manager, export marketing competency, size and export experience, on the relationship between engaging in the networking activities and export performance.

Collaboration in social business networks is instrumental for small businesses in establishing initial business contacts and developing abilities to compete with large companies in domestic and overseas markets. This paper is composed of a short discussion on the influence of social business networks established by nonprofit business associations. Organizational networking alludes to the dynamic collaboration among the engaging entrepreneurs with an aim to improve their performance. Business associations, in this regard, may facilitate networking among the small business owners. However, as Barry & Wilkinson (2011) argue, business associations have not captured the attention of the researchers as a form of coordination among the employ. Moreover, there is little known about the functions of the business organizations since literature often treats them as marginal players. This study, analyzing business associations as network facilitators, attempts to highlight their significant role in social business networking.

and Myanmar) have worked tightly since decades to improve Asia economic. These ten countries' leaders had agreed to form ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a consortium for better flow of information among members, free movement of goods, capital and investment. In order to achieve this target, all members need to reach mutual understanding and make sure their national Single Window is well implemented before enter into ASEAN Single Window. However, the differences in ICT infrastructure, various institutions, IT literacy, etc. within and among ASEAN members may become the obstacle. With no delay, AEC was formed in 2015 and its following 3 years performance was significantly ineffective as expected by many economists. It is due to most of ASEAN members' single window is not well prepared due to their country's development from the perspective of technology and other political factors. This study is important to re-evaluate the readiness of ASEAN members in AEC by comparing the Information Technology (IT) development among all members. Furthermore, European Union (successful Economic Community) was chosen as an example to review the requirements for a single window which can be served as the improvement for ASEAN Single Window.