The conditions of n=most businesses change so fast that strategic management is the only way to anticipate future problems and opportunities. Much will be said in this book about changes businesses face and how these changes have increased dramatically in the last half – century. Of course, the amount of change and the severity of it is not equal in all businesses. Perhaps you know what a washboard is. Your grandmother washed clothes on one. Several companies still make them in 1980. Obviously, the environment facing American washboard is not as fast-changing as that facing IBM. Strategic management allows a firm’s top executives to anticipate change and provides direction and control for the enterprise. It will also allow the environment and reduce its risk because it anticipated the future. It also helps ensure full exploitation of opportunities.