"Local businesses recirculate dollars in their communities. An analysis of bookstores in Austin showed that, of every $100 spent in a locally-owned store (Book People), $45 were circulated back into the community, whereas only $13 made its way back into the community when $100 was spent at the nearby corporate chain store (Borders)."
Presumably the community local to wherever the Borders dollars end up is ok with this.
My point is that this kind of analysis stops half way. So what if business A doesn't channel its dollars to community A? Maybe it channels them to community B instead, or spreads them out over communities A, B, C, D etc. Perhaps there is a problem, but to figure out whether there is, the more important point to analyze is: when you add it all up and average over all businesses, is it a wash? After all, those dollars must be going somewhere, and I would think that they're making some communities somewhere pretty happy.
Presumably the community local to wherever the Borders dollars end up is ok with this.
My point is that this kind of analysis stops half way. So what if business A doesn't channel its dollars to community A? Maybe it channels them to community B instead, or spreads them out over communities A, B, C, D etc. Perhaps there is a problem, but to figure out whether there is, the more important point to analyze is: when you add it all up and average over all businesses, is it a wash? After all, those dollars must be going somewhere, and I would think that they're making some communities somewhere pretty happy.