In light of the new methods currently implemented by companies to mobilise thier forces, rural areas are not without signifcant advantages, onthe codition that difficulties due to past situations not inhibit actors from adapting to the new situation ripe with potantial. The rural world has changed, as has industry. In numerous regions, rural areas may no longer be considered the opposite of urban areas, but rather a necessary complement. What is more, current trasofrmations in production systems, the developement of network-based organisations, trands toward specialisation and the use of nex techniques in both the production and marketing fields would all seem to be working in favour of rural areas. With the developement of new forms of competition, it would seem that the establishment of compagny premises, for certain types of small compagnies, outside of urban areas not noly no longer constitutes a handicap, but may represent a significant advantage in terms of enhanced independence and flexibility, to say nothing of the potential goodwill locally, all points that are apprently major elements in a new school of managerial thought. The set-up of small compagnies in rural areas is now evaluated less in terms of available infrastructure, once the sole preoccupation, that in terms of combining different types of projects. The latent possibilities zre greater than they would appear and economic activity in rural areas is no longer the asket cse that it once was, totally dependent on state intervention. In the french context, with its history of a strong central state, that is without a doubt the main change in attitude still tobe carried out.