B physics – a theoretical review

This overview of what we can hope to learn from high-statistics experiments in B physics in the next few years includes (a) a review of parameters of the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa (CKM) matrix; (b) direct determination of magnitudes of CKM elements; (c) forthcoming information from studies of kaons; (d) CP violation in B decays; (e) aspects of rate measurements; (f) the role of charm–anticharm annihilation; (g) remarks on tagging; and (h) effects beyond the standard model.