I'm no expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
There are two ways economies can grow:
* More customers.
* More value.
The first is obvious, just grow the population (and it's one reason a shrinking population is bad), but the second is more subtle.
When someone invents a new product, say when the vacuum cleaner was invented, whether or not it adds value is determined by how much the product helps its user either:
1) Save time (so that more time can be spent creating something else of value).
2) Make something else of value possible.
3) Increase the quality of life.
In the case of the vacuum, it does at least 2 and 3 (less dust is definitely better quality of life).
But when it comes to growing economies, things that do number 1 and number 2 are huge. That was why the Industrial Revolution and Computer Revolution were so huge; both produced things that did 1 and 2. And because time was saved and not things became possible, those things started to get done, growing the economy.
And all of that included companies growing big, but in the presence of 1 and 2, the growth of companies isn't necessary to grow the economy.
There are two ways economies can grow:
* More customers.
* More value.
The first is obvious, just grow the population (and it's one reason a shrinking population is bad), but the second is more subtle.
When someone invents a new product, say when the vacuum cleaner was invented, whether or not it adds value is determined by how much the product helps its user either:
1) Save time (so that more time can be spent creating something else of value).
2) Make something else of value possible.
3) Increase the quality of life.
In the case of the vacuum, it does at least 2 and 3 (less dust is definitely better quality of life).
But when it comes to growing economies, things that do number 1 and number 2 are huge. That was why the Industrial Revolution and Computer Revolution were so huge; both produced things that did 1 and 2. And because time was saved and not things became possible, those things started to get done, growing the economy.
And all of that included companies growing big, but in the presence of 1 and 2, the growth of companies isn't necessary to grow the economy.