The internationalization process of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has often been found to be driven by their business networks. Network competence, the ability of firms to develop and manage key business relationships with their suppliers, customers and other key actors, has a positive relationship with the propensity of SMEs to enter and grow outside domestic markets. However, so far no attempt has been made to find out whether network competence is something SMEs develop before entering foreign markets, or if it is only when operating internationally that they have the need and the resources to do so. This study aims to find out which is the case, by examining how network competence of a rapidly internationalizing Finnish SME has developed over time during their internationalization process. The results suggest that it is only after entering a number of foreign markets that such a firm has the resources and the organizational structure to develop substantial network competence.