Аннотация:Abstract. The paper determines the relevance and purpose of the study. The characteristic and functions of a Strategic management . The conditions of strategic management, its components and importance, and the reasons for its application. The ways of using strategic management in business organizations are considered. The directions of Levels of strategy, including strategies at the level of strategic business units, strategies at the organization level, strategies at the functional level. AIn the study phase, the reasons why organizations are interested in developing a good written wording of their mission and dissemination to stakeholders was considered.Keywords. Strategic management, haracteristic and functions, strategies at the organization level, strategies at the functional level, conditions of strategic management1 Introduction. All business organizations in our time, whether public or private, production or service, face many challenges as a result of rapid and continuous changes, and in front of these hectic challenges, the traditional management with its operations and means has become unable to make the organization capable of competition. This makes it imperative for these organizations to use management methods that are characterized by wisdom, vitality and permanent development in light of these dynamic changes, in order to be able to raise their actions to the level of developments taking place in their reality.In order for the organization to adapt and control the variables that occur in the environment surrounding its work, in order to allow it to maintain its competitive positions, and improve it relative to its competitors or relative to what it was in the past. It must resort to the application of the strategic management method, as it represents an intellectual approach characterized by modernity and leadership, and is characterized through its operations and means, the ability to increase the competitiveness of the organization, and develop its performance. It is true that some organizations may succeed as a result of chance in the short term, without a serious and conscious exercise of strategic management, but in the long term they cannot remain unless they practice this method of management in a serious manner. From here, our public and private organizations practice the strategic management method in a good way, an urgent and inevitable necessity, if they want to increase their competitive capabilities, develop their performance, and even become the only way for their survival and continuity in economic markets, especially after the increasing trend towards more openness and globalization.The research problem will focus mainly on shedding light on the conditions that make strategic management a very important management practice in business organizations. In addition to explaining the concept of strategic management, its importance and the steps for its implementation.2. Methodology and methodsThe descriptive analytical method was relied on for the most important things that came in the Arabic and foreign references in the research literature.Our study focused on clarifying the scientific and practical steps to be followed in strategic management, and the importance of seriously applying strategic management as an effective method to increase competitiveness and develop performance in business organizations.3 Results and discussion.The concept of strategic management Achieving a single and agreed-upon definition of the meaning of strategic management is difficult to achieve, as is almost the case in other social sciences in general, and administrative in particular.Strategic management as seen by Glueck: is the set of decisions and actions that lead to the development of an effective strategy or strategies, in order to achieve the objectives of the organization.David defines it as the formulation, application and evaluation of decisions that would enable the organization to put its goals into practice.It is defined by Thompson and Strickland: it is the development of appropriate strategies for the organization and the selection of the appropriate pattern for its implementation.According to the Stanford Institute, it is the way an organization allocates its resources and organizes its major efforts to achieve its purposes.Dr. Saad Yassin defines it as a system of integrated processes related to the analysis of the internal and external environment, and the formulation, implementation and evaluation of appropriate strategies, in order to ensure the achievement of a strategic advantage for the organization, and to maximize its achievement in various business activities. Dr. Zakaria Al-Douri believes that strategic management is a process that includes the following steps:1- Formulating the mission of the organization and defining its objectives. 2- Strategic analysis. 3- Formulating the strategy. 4- Strategic choice. 5- Implementation of the strategy. 6- Evaluating the strategy.There are many definitions of strategic management, but they all flow from the above. The researcher concludes that there are definitions in the following definition:Strategic management: The process that includes designing, implementing and evaluating strategies that will enable the organization to achieve its goals.It is worth noting that it has been spread in the literary works of a number of writers that strategy is the fruit of a formal planning process in which top management plays the most important roles. However, Mintzberg presented a view related to the true essence of strategy, as he believes that not all organizational strategies have to be the result of planning practices Formal strategy, as strategies usually emanate from the depths of the organization without prior planning, and thus the strategies achieved for the organization, are the product of either planned (intended) strategies, or unplanned (contingent) strategies, which are an unplanned response to unexpected circumstances, and in practical life we find The strategies in most organizations are likely to be a mixture of intended and contingent strategies.The importance of strategic management for business organizations Strategic management is a necessity and not a luxury, because it leads to raising the performance of organizations now and in the future, if it is applied well, and this is what all global business organizations that use the strategic management method agree on. The following are the most important benefits of adopting a strategic management style: 1- Defining a road map for the business organization that determines its position within the geography of business in the future.2- It develops the ability to think strategically and creatively among managers and makes them take the initiative to make events and not receive them. 3- It enables the organization to make efficient use of the resources. 4- It gives the organization the possibility of having a continuous competitive advantage. 5- Contributes to increasing the organization's ability to face intense local and international competition.6- It provides opportunities for the participation of all administrative levels in the process, which leads to reducing the resistance that may occur when making change, in addition to that it provides homogeneity of thought and administrative practices among the managers of the organization.- Reasons for using strategic management in business organizations:Business organizations today face many challenges that increase the importance of adopting the strategic management method. These challenges are summarized as follows: 1- The acceleration of quantitative and qualitative changes in the business environment: The increase in the speed of changes taking place in the business environment in terms of quantity and quality contributes greatly to creating a state of environmental uncertainty. The importance of strategic management as an intellectual approach (characterized by modernity and leadership) helps the organization to anticipate changes in the surrounding environment, as well as formulate and implement appropriate strategies to deal with it.2- Intensifying competition: Economic globalization has changed the limits of competition widely, and this picture becomes clear in: the emergence of new competitors constantly, the increasing intensity of competition in general in the local and global markets, which is represented by many manifestations, including the continuous production of innovative services and products of high quality, the intensity of successive innovations, the tendency of business organizations to search for strategic alliances Open with other global business organizations. This imposes on the strategic managers in the organization the need to adopt and implement efficient strategies that enable them to overcome this intense competition, and here the importance of strategic management appears as an integrated system for taking and implementing strategies that reflect the best alternatives available to the organization. Speaking about the reasons for using strategic management, it should be noted that the results of studies that tried to test the nature of the relationship between the performance of institutions and their adoption of strategic management indicated that there is a positive relationship between them and that the institutions that are managed strategically enjoy a performance that exceeds the performance of the institutions that are not managed strategically.-Strategy Levels:Strategic management authors usually divide strategic alternatives into three groups: organization-level strategies, strategies at the level of strategic business units, and strategies at the functional level.1- Strategies at the level of the organization These strategies focus on defining the business areas in which the organization must enter to achieve its strategic objectives. 2-Strategies at the level of strategic business units These strategies are used at the level of the organization or at the level of the strategic business unit, which can be defined as an organization that has its own configuration so that it serves a specific market with a specific range of interconnected products, and these strategies include most of the strategies at the level of the organization in addition to Competitive strategies. It is essential that the strategies to be taken at the level of business units are consistent with the strategies taken at the level of the organization. Here we note that the level of the strategic business unit and the level of the organization are the same if the organization works in one industrial field.3- Strategies at the functional level: They are the strategies that are taken in each of the functional areas such as production, finance, marketing, .... etc. It is necessary for the functional strategies to be internally consistent (vertical and horizontal), and horizontal consistency means that there is a alignment between the strategies in a particular job and the strategies of other jobs. .- Responsibility for implementing the strategic management tasks:Strategic management is an activity for all administrative levels in which each level participates within the limits of its responsibilities and within the limits of its own maturity and in its own way. The managers who carry out the strategy management process are called strategic managers. In addition, organizations usually appoint a number of strategic planning experts as consultants to assist strategic managers in the strategic planning process. Also, some organizations can use a number of specialized consultants to provide services related to strategic management.As for defining the strategic role of managers at different levels of the organization, it is different from another organization.But it can be said that in order to achieve the full success of the strategy, it is necessary to ensure that managers at all administrative levels participate early and directly in the process of formulating the strategy and in the process of implementing and evaluating it.- Model of the strategic management process:There is no single acceptable model of strategic management that all writers and practitioners agree on. However, the aspects of agreement between the models presented for the strategic management process are more than the aspects of difference.Hence, the researcher reviewed the model that takes into account the latest modern global developments in this field, which also includes the basic components of the strategic management process, from which no model of strategic management is devoid of. These components or basic tasks of the strategic management process are:•Defining the mission of the organization.•Defining strategic objectives.•Analysis of the external environment of the organization.•Analysis of the internal environment of the organization.•Choosing the strategy.•Implementation of the strategy.•Oversight of the strategy.Although the components or tasks of strategic management are mentioned sequential for ease of clarification, these tasks are overlapping and affect each other. (18. p. 28 .)The various components of the strategic management process are of great importance, both from the perspective of the intended strategies or from the perspective of contingent strategies. Although emergency strategies arise in the organization without prior planning, the strategists in the organization must evaluate the emergency strategies, and this evaluation requires comparing each emergency strategy with the mission and objectives of the organization, the opportunities and threats in the external environment of the organization, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Managers need to be aware of the processes involved in contingencies and be able to think strategically (22. p. 53).Develop strategic props.The organization's strategic mission and objectives are the first component of the strategic management process, and they represent the context within which the strategy is formulated.- Defining the mission of the organization- Definition of an organized mission: The existence of any organization is linked to a specific message that it seeks to achieve. This message is derived from the environment of this organization. Usually, the organization begins with a specific message, but over time, this message may require some modifications to cope with the changes that the organization faces.The message is a sentence or several sentences that contain data specific to the organization, distinguishing it from other organizations, and these data differ according to different organizations, but in general the mission of any organization revolves around three main elements:1- Statement of the strategic vision of the organization.2- A statement indicating the basic values of the organization.3- A statement indicating the driving forces of the organization. (11, p. 25) (22, p. 82). As for the strategic vision of the organization, it is a statement of what the organization is trying to achieve in the medium and long term. The statement of the strategic vision of the organization is determined by answering the following two questions: What is our activity? And what should it lead to?To answer the first question: What is our activity? Abell suggested that the organization should define its activity according to three dimensions: Who is to be satisfied? (What is the group of customers)? and what are the needs and desires to be satisfied? (What are the needs and desires of the customer?), and how are the needs and desires of customers fulfilled? (What are the special resources)? Figure NO (1) illustrates these three dimensions. Figure No. 1Abell's Framework for Doing Business Source: Adapted from Jones, Gareth, Hill, Charles. Strategic management, part one.The concept of Abell emphasizes the need to face the consumer rather than the face of the product, in the field of activity definition, because identifying the activity with the consumer orientation can protect the organization from falling into the clutches of major changes in demand, and by helping to anticipate those major changes in demand, the Abell framework can To help business organizations take advantage of the changes that occur in their environment, and this may help answer the second question (what is the outcome of our activity?).The core values of the organization are those key values espoused by the members of the organization, which define and direct behavior within the business organization and determine how managers intend to manage business affairs. As for the driving forces, they are the central engine that drives the organization's efforts forward.It should be noted that the mission of the organization may sometimes be called the purpose of the organization or the philosophy of the organization or the beliefs of the organization or business principles, and that many large and famous business organizations did not put a specific written message for them, and some of them have a message but it is not written, although the good and accurate preparation of the message It is considered an essential component of the strategic management process, and it is also worth mentioning that some organizations have a mission at the level of the organization and a message at the level of the strategic work unit emanating from the mission of the organization as a whole. (6, p. 35), (16, p. 59-58). -The reasons why organizations should be interested in developing a good and written formulation of their message and disseminating it to the stakeholders:There are many reasons for organizations to have a good written and written mission statement and the most important of them are:1- The mission of the organization constitutes the basis upon which the organization is relied upon in order to formulate the objectivesand strategies. 2- The good and written formulation of the organization’s message and its dissemination clarify the image of the organization in front of the stakeholders, and thus reduce the risk of losing their support for it and may attract more people to deal with it. 3- The good and written formulation of the mission of the organization and its dissemination creates a good general organizational climate.4- The good and written formulation of the mission of the organization, and its dissemination, consolidates the values over time inthe organization. - Characteristics of an effective message: There are a number of characteristics that must be present in a good message, the most important of which are the following:1- The letter should clearly specify the following data:-The strategic vision of the organization.-The core values of the organization.-The driving forces of the organization.2- The text of the message should not include details that reflect the absence of strategic thinking.3 - The message must include real data about the organization without exaggerating it. 4- The message must be achievable. 5- The message should serve as a guide and a general framework for managers through which various strategies are taken within the organization.6 - That the message evoke a positive feeling that leads and motivates all stakeholders with the organization to work with it.The researcher believes that it is necessary to add the following criterion mentioned to the above criteria: The message must take into account the demands of the stakeholders, or at least the demands of the most important stakeholders if the organization cannot fulfill all their requirements.” - Defining strategic objectives: After the completion of defining the mission of the organization, the next step comes, which is setting the main objectives of the organization, and the purpose of setting them is to define precisely what must be done if the organization wants to achieve its mission - Criteria for good goals:There are basic criteria that must be taken into account when setting the strategic objectives of the organization, which are: 1- Objectives should be accurate and quantifiable (as much as possible). But if the goal cannot be set accurately and quantitatively, the business organization may be unable to assess its progress towards the goal well. 2- The objectives should be challenging and realistic at the same time. As the goals that ignite the challenge give the managers an incentive to search for ways to improve the operations of the organization, but if the goal is unrealistic in terms of the challenges it poses, it may make the employees give up, but if the goal is excessively easy and superficial, it may fail to motivate managers and employees . 3- The goal must include a specific time for its implementation, because this makes it clear to employees that achieving success requiresAchieving the goal at a specific time, not after this time has elapsedActions to raise a sense of alert.4- Objectives must be understandable.5- The objectives should be flexible to accommodate urgent changes.The researcher believes that it is necessary to add the following two criteria mentioned to the previous criteria, which are: 6- The necessity of adopting goals that will result in high performance rates in the long term. 7- The strategic objectives must satisfy the stakeholders, or at least the most important of them, if the organization cannot fulfill all their requirements. - Elements affecting the formulation of the mission and objectives:When formulating the mission and goals of the organization, some factors affecting the mission and goals must be taken into account, including the external environment, the organization's resources, and the organization's history.1- External environment:Changes in the factors of the general external environment and in the forces of the industry environment affect organizations greatly, as they put before them both opportunities and threats that must be taken into account when formulating mission and objectives.2- Organization resources:The organization's resources largely control the formulation of the mission and goals that the organization must achieve, and they include financial, human and technological resources...etc.3 - History of the organization:Every organization has a history of strategic vision, goals, strategies, and achievements, so when formulating mission and goals, that history must be taken into account.4. ConclusionThe economic institution lives like any other being. After its establishment, it grows and develops, progresses and faces challenges. It struggles and adapts, that is, it undergoes the same stages that humans go through. Change has become a natural phenomenon experienced by the organization. It does not change for the sake of change, but rather changes because it is part of a broad development process, and it must interact with the opportunities and threats contained in the environment in which it operates. By virtue of the institution's openness to its surrounding environment, it faces today many obstacles and challenges related to the phenomenon of globalization. Spatial boundaries and time distances were absent, and they lost their meaning in many aspects of life. These great developments led to the emergence of a phenomenon that translated into the porosity of the institution, which was caused by the turmoil and instability in this environment, and its future was characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty. Strategic planning in the economic institution is of great importance in ensuring the quality of administrative decisions, as it is a basic function of the administration, which is concerned with the prior planning of all its activities, taking into account two elements: the risk and return inherent in its financial decisions.References.1- Alex, L, Fill, H , what Is 2x2 Thinking? www.transcendstrategy.com/html/indexphp ?Moudle=htmlpages &func.2015 2-Assael, H. "Marketing Management: Strategy and Action, Boston, Mass" , Kent publishing company, 1985. 3-Collic, D& Montgomery, C. " competing on Resource: strategy in the 199 0 s, Harvard Business Review, July-Aug. 1995. 4-David, F. "concepts of strategic Management", Columbus Merrill publishing company, 1987. 5-David, F. "strategic Management: concepts & cases", new sersey, prentice Hall, Ewight edition, 2001. 6-Glueck, w. "Business policy and strategic management " , New York, Mc Graw- Hill, 1980. 7-Higgins, J& Vincze, J. "strategic management text and cases", Fortwortn: Hardcover Brace Javanorich college publishers, 1993. 8-Jauch, L.& Glueck, w. "Business policy and strategic Management", 5th .ed, Mc Graw – Hill, Inc, company, New York, 1988. 9-Johnson, G & sholes. K " Exploring corporate strategy: text and cases", 3 rd. ed – New York, 1993. 10-Kaplan, R g Norton, D, "using the Bataned scoreboard as a strategic management system" Harvard business review (jan- Feb- 1996). 11-Kotler, Ph, " Marketing Management Analysis Planning and control", New York: prentice- Hill, Enc, 1980. 12-Nicholls, J "The Mcc Decision Matrix: A toll for Applying strategic logic to Every day Activity". (MCB) University, Bradford, management Decision. Vol 33 . No .6, 1995.12- Al-Arif, Nadia. Strategic Management, Third Millennium Administration, University House, Alexandria,201913- Abu Bakr, Mustafa Mahmoud. Strategic thinking and preparation of the strategic plan, Al Dar.14- Al-Douri, Zakaria Mutlak. Strategic Management: Concepts and Case Studies, Dar Al-Yazuri, Amman,2018.