The effect of network theory on the internationalization of organizations in the entrepreneurship stage

Small and Medium-Sized Organizations (SMEs) are entrepreneurial organizations managed by their leaders with strict control and are an essential part of the global economy with their contribution to the national economies. Both commercial and non-profit organizations can take part in this status. The efforts of these types of organizations to ensure sustainability by taking a role in the international arena appear as their focus. An important factor that distinguishes the internationalization processes of entrepreneurial organizations from relatively larger and well-established organizations is the desire to manage the process by giving importance to their organizational networks. With the use of organizational networks, it enables organizations to act in the market within the framework of the information coming from the connections they have, to shape their activities accordingly, and to help organizations minimize their concerns such as gaining legitimacy in their environment. In this study, the organizations related to the determined organized industrial zone and the sector were designated and the internationalization processes of them are tried to be explained within the framework of network theory, considering the connections of the organization and the environment in which the organizations are located. In this direction, the organizations that entered the internationalization processes in the sector were identified and the ego networks of the company owners and senior managers were determined, and the study was started. Main purpose is to reveal the connections of entrepreneurial organizations that reflect the characteristics of their leaders. The relevant actors in the network were determined and the network was analysed. As a result, the fair organizers, their representatives, and the organizations that support the entrepreneurial organizations in this sense appear as the most important actors in the network. It has been determined that these actors play a kind of intermediary role, especially in the internationalization processes of entrepreneurial organizations. Finally, a model has been presented that shows the internationalization process of entrepreneurial organizations.