Consider the following business landscape: With an enormous range of options, investors increasingly seek exceptional performance at the expense of security, and shift their portfolios toward high–growth industries and companies.Despite poor industry fundamentals, leading competitors deliver superior returns and continuously "raise the bar" on performance by publicly establishing stretch goals.Performance–based remuneration for corporate executives and many employees has become the norm, with returns to shareholders relative to competition the most heavily weighted determinant of compensation.Share performance is increasingly influenced by perceptions of management's ability to sustain growth in earnings and cash flow.The prevailing industry sentiment is that the "easy" route to enhanced earnings – through cost cutting and reengineering – has run its course.The most talented workers seek careers in growth businesses and readily jump ship when their employers falter. Welcome to 1997 and the realities faced by companies operating in mature industries. Over the past five years, the top performers in these industries have significantly reduced costs, grown earnings, and in some cases produced shareholder returns that have handily outpaced broad market indices. In many instances, executives of these firms have reaped large bonuses and exercised options at eye–popping values.