This paper analyses the policy-making approach taken in the last three decades in Chile as a move away from the former unsatisfactory ISI regime and as an affirmative response to the rule of free trade and globalisation. After many years of successful economic growth, the country seems to arrive at a turning point. Indeed, the position of Chile -as other small countries- in such a new globalised appears too weak to be able to compete
with stronger country competitors. A different kind of answer is needed, that builds upon the voluntary and collective strategic approach to policy-making and that tries to reconnect an industrial system that tends to atomise as a result of the growing competition in the global market. The paper goes through the economic structure of the country to analyse in detail the policy framework and the basic decisions taken by the
national decision makers. The paper starts identifying the present difficulties of the neoliberal approach, which are seen through the lenses of the practical operations of the national support agencies. In contrast and as a conclusion, a different type of approach is outlined, that melts together the importance of market responsiveness with strategic policy-making, in order to integrate the modern with the traditional sector and insert the country's productive system competitively within this challenging international scenario.