Passage 1

For all of human history the source of success has been controlling natural resources- land, gold and oil. Suddenly the answer is knowledge. The king of knowledge economy, Bill Gates, owns no land, no gold or oil. How does one use knowledge to build wealth? The knowledge-based economy is asking new questions, giving new answers and developing new rules for the success game. Information technology has opened up opportunities for new products with much higher levels of productivity. //
    A successful knowledge-based economy requires large public investments in education, research and development. Sometimes successful businesses must be willing to destroy the old while it is still successful if they wish to build the new that will become successful. Of what were the twelve American companies at the beginning of the 20th century, eleven were not around to see the beginning of the 21st century. Technological breakthroughs occur, the economic environment changes, and they could not adjust.