ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the interconnections between product, process, scale, structure and consumption. It argues that relocalisation is the basis for viable alternative business models, providing economic resilience to local communities, and a key route to sustainability. Critics of unsustainable business find little difficulty in identifying the problems, but arriving at remedial solutions has proven more difficult. The over-arching concept is that of micro-factory retailing which is a business model for the automotive industry in a distributed economy. The business plan included two aspects of relevance to relocalisation. Moteur Developpement Internationale has tried a quite different approach with respect to its business model, and one that has interesting pointers to achieving relocalisation. Embedded within this is the idea that relocalisation is a dynamic process of progression towards local self-sufficiency. From the perspective of centralisation and relocalisation the General Motors concept offers elements of both.
