The goal of this book is to create awareness for a change in mind-set that we will all have to face and go through. The necessity for this new mind­ set is being driven by the situation that a completely new business world, a new reality, is being created at the point where the phenomenon commonly referred to as the "new economy" converges with the well-known old economy. During the very late 1990s, this new reality was being driven by an almost incredible increase in yields in the financial markets, where conventional but value-driven and stable stocks such as Philip Morris, General Electric, or Bayer, did not attract as many investors as before - if we can call some of them investors at all. Companies in the high-tech or the new market segments are all part of the new economy. This new economy has created new business ideas, business models, and a new reality, in which chief executive officers (CEOs) were in the mid twenties and had basically no clue as to what real business is and how much a dollar counts. Now, as this convergence is happening, the painful reality and the business rules of the old economy get us back down to earth. The CEOs become more senior, business plans are validated more carefully, and just having the famous ". com" in your company name does not get you any further or lead you to any of required money.

Assisted by: L.B. Juszczyk