18 
plants would count as small (or lower medium) sized, and 
output per man would accordingly have a maximum at this level. 
I cannot find anything enlightening in this use of language, 
but it does in itself, of course, not contradict my picture 
of the relations of technical progress and scale, which 
requires in any case a description of the plant in terms of 
several variables (man, output, capital). 
I turn now to a point on which I would like to correct myself 
again: Just as I was wrong to play down diseconomies I was too 
unfavourable on the chances of the small firms, although my 
remarks on their shrinking degree of independence were borne 
out by the developments since. 
One has to take into account the emergence and vast growth 
of new industries mostly composed of small firms (new types of 
service industries of various kinds, like repair shops and 
laundries etc.). Further, the tendency for large industrial 
concerns in some industries to subcontract work has been 
widespread. In retail trade and service industries a kind of 
polarization seems to take place in advanced industrial 
countries/ On the one hand the bulk of essentials is traded 
in self-service shops which are best carried on on a not too 
small scale? on the other hand, special shops with expert 
and personal service are established on a fairly small scale 
in certain goods ("boutiques" for women's dresses etc.).