It is generally accepted that our era is characterized by phenomena of complexity, uncertainty, interdependence, and instability. And that leaders and business executives are often called upon to make decisions, but mainly to manage or change businesses, within an atmosphere and a broader climate of ambiguity and indeterminacy.

The same applies to all those who attempt to implement changes and reforms in the realm of the economy and society. They often face phenomena and reactions that they had not anticipated or see the changes they are making being overtaken rapidly, with hopes for better results being shattered in practice.

Strategic management as a concept for addressing business problems, as well as changes and situations in general, arose from the need to understand the difficulties and failures that typically present themselves at a practical level. It supports the idea that the development of changes and reforms should occur within a framework where all data - statistical, numerical, parametric - form part of a broader understanding with characteristics of complexity and ambiguity, which does not encourage linearity, possibilities of statistical predictions, and so forth;

Insights from social engineering, while on the contrary, highlight the dimensions of system dynamism, alternative scenarios, and reflective processes and actions. The practical results of this perception are usually better. Because reality is approached systematically, and emphasis is placed on the viewpoints through which events are observed, on the dimensions of culture, innovation, human intuition, as well as on processes of knowledge, learning, and analysis - synthesis of problems.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]