•Externally imposed
•Self-induced
•Deliberate

The nation is in crisis.  Everyone who follows the news, rumors, and barbershop opinion brokers knows it.  Or at least have some sense of what every average Filipino lives through.  Average here refers to the daily and minimum wage earners, underemployed, and plain unemployed.

But crisis isn't always bad.  The Gospel writers preach about the immense value of “pruning”.  It is a time to feel, understand, embrace, analyze, plan, and be conscious of turning a crisis situation into an opportunity for growth.

Externally imposed crisis takes many forms.  War on terror, a terror hyperpower, regional and global competitive forces, oil shock, globalization, etc.—all combine to whip technology-poor societies to near perpetual just-to-survive mode. 

Self-induced crisis also manifests all over.  Domestic production sector is generally first wave, some second wave, and a sprinkling of low level third wave activities.  Any society that largely ignores the tested value of technology-based production of goods and services is practically defenseless when one considers that every local firm or business is competing against the rest of the world.

In such environment, it is not surprising to see unwanted statistics on many things of consequence to the nation.  Mass unemployment bigger than the size of Singapore population, violence, [un]peace and [dis]order, declining education, unsafe streets and neighborhoods, poor everything on top of repeated declarations against corruption and lawlessness.

The list is endless.  It seems bright people in responsible places generally specialize in management by chaos. Or they are too boxed in by traditions.

But there is hope.  And it takes the form of “deliberate crisis”.  The South Koreans call it “crisis construction”.  By this, they set ambitious research, development, and engineering goals—determine, search, and collect required resources and then stick to the game plan like leech.  Exploited to maximum overdrive, crisis construction kickstarted the South Korean automobile industry from zero in 1962 to among today's high-speed car producers and innovators.  Their combined phenomenal success story typifies the high flying chaebols that now produce cutting edge semiconductors, digital media systems, home appliances, information and communication technology products, ships, power tools, construction machinery, and many other things that keep South Koreans busy, productive, affluent, and proud of themselves.

Deliberate crisis, taken in positive light, is a powerful tool for opportunistic learning, an “antidote to inertia”.  It is creative and visionary in that it accelerates crisis resolution through “intensity of efforts”.

Above all, the South Korean success story is stuffed with singular smart attitude—policy independence and focus.

In DOST, discussions to differentiate, define, and understand the importance of tactical and strategic has yet to begin at the ground level.  That's, well…read our title.