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.
Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
