Point of view opens with Viktor Mashinsky's article “We are All Being Threatened by Communal Services Chaos” where the author analyses the destructive trends having been accumulated during decades of negligence and mismanagement in this sector in Russia and proposes his ways of reforming it.

Sergei Turko's article “Private Helicopter as a Mission of an Organisation” describes how the real motivation of corporate leaders may greatly differ from the declared one and how management consultants should always bear in mind the visible and invisible motivation of the top-managers of their client companies if they want to achieve success.

Password to the Future starts with Sergei Rubtsov's analysis called “The Classics of Strategy on the Rules of Horse Riding” where the author distinguishes between the two ways of designing the strategy, targeted inwards and outwards. Henry Minzberg, who was once the source of inspiration and much deserved respect for the author also becomes the target for his moderate criticism in this article.

Alexei Yamoldin of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations gives the most comprehensive analysis and forecast of the different implications which the broadening of presence of international insurance companies may have on the Russian insurance market. His article “The Pros and Cons of European Expansion to the Russian Insurance Market” will be a valuable source of the most current data and strategic ideas for everyone interested in future developments of this highly dynamic Russian market.

Mineral Resources and Energy again presents our regular contributor, Igor Petrov, who this time speaks about the importance of considering both technologic and economic factors in market research of minerals and metals, giving very illustrative examples from his long-standing personal and corporate carrier in this area of business.

Anna Lapteva's “Global Echo of Chinese Tungsten” analyses the historic background of the present Chinese dominating role in this market, with focus on various attempts at regulating the visible and less visible segments of the Chinese production of this metal.

Around the World begins with Alexandr Vorontsov's article “Will the Trains Go from Pusan to Brest?” The question refers to the ambitious plan to connect Europe and Russia with the Korean Peninsula by joining the two major railways - Trans-sib and Transkor.

Vladimir Lopatov in his article “African Bauxite Market Has No Limits” examines the vast potential of the black continent as a source of a major raw material for aluminium production, which may change the continent's future role in the world economy.

The Small Towns of Russia, a new rubric, which first appeared in the previous issue of the magazine, presents an interview with Yelena Rozanova, the Director of the Open Society Institute — Russia (Soros Foundation) Programme “Small Towns of Russia”. The readers are invited to discover the most pragmatic but very appealing mission and objectives of this highly ambitious Programme, and also get acquainted with the promising results of the pilot phase which took place in 2000-2001. The interview is followed by a detailed report by the Programme Chairman, Grigory Marchenko, illustrated with a number of useful ratings of the Russian consulting companies and strategies they developed for the participating towns.

These two stories are followed by a number of articles written by most distinguished authors themselves being reputable consultants or governors, who give their own views and recommendations on how their colleagues should handle the most common problems of small towns.

Young Businessman's File presents a new Theory of Phased Transformations of Business advocated by its founder, a leading Russian consulting company. The article throws a new light on the development of management systems, as well as on understanding the multiple forms of crises threatening business at its different development stages.