Strategic management involves 9 critical tasks including formulating the company's mission, conducting internal and external analyses, identifying strategic options, selecting long-term objectives and strategies, and implementing and evaluating the strategic process. It operates at 3 levels - the corporate level which determines the business, the business unit level which translates strategies, and the functional level which develops short-term strategies. Benefits include enhancing problem prevention, generating better decisions through group interaction, reducing gaps and overlaps, and reducing resistance to change.