(FORTUNE Magazine) – CORPORATE PERFORMANCE/Cover 48 AMERICA'S FASTEST-GROWING COMPANY Disk drive maker Conner Peripherals keeps rivals at bay with shrewd marketing and nonstop innovation. by Andrew Kupfer

55 AVOIDING GROWTH'S PERILS Rapidly expanding businesses must cross three hurdles. by William E. Sheeline

MONEY & MARKETS 60 THE GREAT S&L FIRE SALE OF 1990 Horse farms, truck stops, golf courses, churches: The Resolution Trust Corp., which Congress created to dispose of failed savings and loans, has amassed a multibillion-dollar grab bag of assets. Using an auctioneer's gavel, the government will chip away at the $130 billion cost of the thrift bailout. Whatever it can't sell, the taxpayer will have to buy. by John Davidson and Erik Calonius

SELLING 68 COKE GETS OFF ITS CAN IN EUROPE The Atlanta powerhouse figures that's where the greatest promise is in the Nineties. So it has adopted a risky new strategy that should interest every Euromarketer. by Patricia Sellers

72 HOW COKE IS INVADING EAST GERMANY

TROUBLE 75 DONALD TRUMP JUST WON'T DIE By rights this overextended erstwhile billionaire should be bankrupt by now, but his artful deal with his banks -- 70 of them -- makes the Donald look like a survivor. by Stratford P. Sherman

THE ENVIRONMENT 81 RECYCLING BECOMES A BIG BUSINESS Today's crushed soda bottles may turn into tomorrow's sleek surfboards, as a plucky new industry begins to transform the nation's trash. Your garbage could be next. by Peter Nulty

COMPANIES TO WATCH 89 PIONEER'S BRIGHT PICTURE The Japanese company best known for its stereos and car radios spent 13 years cultivating an obscure and frustrating technology -- laser video players -- before reaping a payoff. The wait was worth it. Just ask Madonna. by Brian O'Reilly

Also: Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Cognex, and Gehl.

MANAGING 93 TAKE ME OUT TO THE GOLD MINE Doggedly employing market research techniques that made Levi Strauss an apparel powerhouse, a team of young executives turned baseball's sorriest club, the Oakland A's, into world champs -- and a business worth $100 million. It's a story to inspire any manager. by Brenton R. Schlender

INNOVATION 102 PRODUCTS TO WATCH Snickers' new ice cream bar freezes out the competition, an executive chair / that doubles as an exercise machine, a digital receptionist for harried managers, and more. by Frederick H. Katayama

THE ECONOMY 104 THE NEW MIDDLE CLASS: HOW IT LIVES Getting ahead is harder than it used to be, but Americans are persevering. The majority have more money and more choices than ever. In this composite, Fortune traces a wide-ranging map of the trends. Eight representative families and individuals show how this new, bigger, more diverse middle class is fulfilling its aspirations and weathering its tribulations. by Louis S. Richman

DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITOR'S DESK 8 INDEX 12 NEWS/TRENDS Tough times for college grads, what the U.S. should do about the Soviets, Japan runs out of Japanese, books CEOs are reading, and more.

21 FORTUNE FORECAST Don't count on interest rates staying down for long, despite the intimations of the Federal Reserve's Alan Greenspan. by Vivian Brownstein

37 PERSONAL INVESTING After a disappointing decade, growth stocks are ready to lead in the 1990s. by Andrew Evan Serwer

Also: A profit opportunity in Mexico, discount brokers for the thrifty, and Portfolio Talk with William Maloney of Institutional Capital.

114 OFFICE HOURS You can learn a lot from the soon-to-be-departed, but only if you question them adroitly. Interviewees, watch what you say. by Walter Kiechel III

116 FORTUNE PEOPLE Khashoggi -- with Marc Rich? -- back in business, a new chapter for Bill Simon, the motel mogul who won't check in, and more. by Mark M. Colodny

117 ON THE RISE

118 LETTERS TO FORTUNE

119 KEEPING UP Flunking the Labor Department, saying ''Huh?'' to Bush, tense moments at CBS, hurray for yuppies, and other matters. by Daniel Seligman

ABOVE: R. Ian Lloyd shot a ''clean room'' at Conner Peripherals Singapore.

COVER: CEO Finis Conner with a hard disk drive. Photo by David Strick (Onyx).