Evaluation of domestic partner relationships and environmental uncertainty on degree of localization and performance of enterprises: The case of Iranian small and medium enterprises

With the development of organizations and their expansion, and connection to free business global market, the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will appear in space of global competition day to day. Now, these organizations must increase the power of self competition with appropriate visions to gain the ability of competition in the world competitive markets. This research studies the impact of both domestic partner relationships and environmental uncertainty on Iran SMEs’ localization strategy and assesses whether this strategy influences the performance of firms. Results showed that environmental stability and domestic network partnerships influence the degree of localization positively and this in turn influences the firm’s internationalization performance. The research findings can help SMEs’ managers, in that the effective use of localization strategies and also can help them to gain competitive advantage and achieve superior performance.   Key words: Internationalization, performance, growth, small and medium enterprises, Iran.