In this paper we analyze the relationship between survival, employment growth and firm size in Chile, an economy that has reduced largely its trade barriers in the last three decades. We are particularly interested in analyzing whether small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have experienced negative effects on their survival probability and employment growth. Our results do not support some popular claims that SMEs are highly damaged by globalization. To better identify these effects, we exploit differences in external exposure of manufacturing industries. We find that compared to firms of the same size in less globalized industries, SMEs are more likely to survive in industries more exposed to external competition. Moreover, in terms of employment, SMEs are generally more able to grow in more globalized industries.