If you stop to think about it for a moment, it is difficult to conceive of any system as being fully closed. All systems must have some interaction with rheir environments if they are to survive. Probably the most relevant way in which to look at the closed open diChotomy is to consider it as a range rather than as two clearly separate classifications. In this way, we can explain that the degree to which a system is opened or closed varies within systems. An open system, for instance, may become more closed if contact with the environment is reduced over time. The reverse would also be true. General Motors, from its through the carly1960s, operated as if it were basically a closed system. Man agement decided on the products it