Abstract

This article developed in the framework of the Business Development Centers in Chile program aims at obtaining a higher impact on the growth and productivity of smaller companies. The initiative led by the Technical Cooperation Service (SERCOTEC) began the implementation of a network of 51 Business Development Centers with national deployment, whose purpose is that “entrepreneurs, micro and small enterprises of all productive sectors improve their management skills and economic performance. The article’s main conclusion suggests that the first economic impact results show that the assisted enterprises in the Region of Arica and Parinacota, especially in the agricultural segment, exhibit certain analogies in most areas of business assistance that explain their positive performance in increasing sales. Also, it is argued that the sustained capacity to identify new market opportunities and make efficient use of their productive resources (due to the local soil and climate conditions in the middle of the Atacama Desert) induce them to innovate permanently, stimulating the insertion of their products transversally in more profitable markets, which also explains their better economic performance.