In the last decades public policy-making had borrowed approaches and methods from the business world. Managers in business firms are seen, as role models for public policy-makers in their acting. Strategies have become the key concept in public policy-making. Public policymaking has become strategic management. By applying the strategic management approach regions, nations or the EU are regarded as organizations comparable to firms like Google. But states and regions are not organizations with owners, top management and employees like a company. They are territories populated by inhabitants, entrepreneurs, firms and organizations each of them with their own agenda but acting inside the institutions decided by an elected political assembly. These institutions represent the rules of the game to be followed by the actors playing on the territory. Otherwise they are free to ignore public strategies and act in accordance with their individual aspirations. The lack of dedicated support for public policies, among many actors make that historical circumstances normally exerts a greater impact on social and economic development than public strategies. Strategic management has gained popularity because its signal effect. It is a way for policy-makers to send a signal on their willingness and determination to create a better future. The major weakness of the approach is that the willingness of the policy-makers exceeds the policy-makers’ capability. © 2017 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.