Rethinking technological economy of scale

Until about a decade ago, American business still believed in the "economy of scale". Big was better in every aspect of industry. This myth has been crumbling in view of the decline in US industrial competitiveness. There has been a shift from centralized, big machines and capital-intensive processes to smaller systems characterized by "do it yourself" and, in some cases, "just in time" operations. The natural course of almost any technology leads to fragmentation and smallness. Technological economy of scale is temporary, but has been perpetuated for too long both by monopolists and advocates of centrally planned economies.<>