“Our need will be the real creator” – Plato Greek Philosopher

Despite relatively low litter rates, in 2019 the Victorian State Government implemented a state-wide ban on lightweight plastic shopping bags. The Government explained this as a global problem, as plastics in the environment break up into smaller and smaller pieces over time.  Plastic bags can easily be blown into open spaces and waterways and pose a danger to marine life.

I was outraged. We reused shopping bags for bin liners and put ‘doggy poo’ in them when we walked our dog. We were recycling plastic bags and not allowing them into the environment. I considered that our household was doing our bit in helping the environment and recycling plastic bags.

Interestingly, the two major supermarkets who in Australia have over 50% market share displayed predictable oligopolistic behaviours. They immediately implemented the ban and then sold ‘reusable’ plastic shopping bags to customers, never missing an opportunity to make money.

In regard to the ‘doggy poo’ problem, we soon found alternatives to shopping bags. The plastic covering for bread, which previously were thrown into the rubbish bin made better ‘doggy poo’ bags than the now banned shopping bags.

The lesson here was that necessity made us find an alternative to shopping plastic bags. This happens in business. Here is an example and is another “lesson from the farm”.

I grew up on a farm in rural NSW, Australia. My father grew wheat and bred sheep and cattle. Ewes lambed in spring. One important task was to check them each morning to see if any were in difficulty, if lambs were not with their mothers or if lambs had been attacked by crows. So, each morning my father had to ‘catch a horse’ (go and round up his horse), saddle it and ride over a kilometre to the paddock where lambing was occurring, then ride around the flock to check them. This took well over two hours, a considerable part of the day. This was in the mid-1960s.

He gave it some thought and came up with the idea of using a motorbike. A bike didn’t need to be caught and saddled each morning, be fed and was far quicker than a horse. Placing an advertisement in the local newspaper he found a person wishing to sell a World War II era motorbike. Dad purchased it, and quickly learnt to ride it, especially in rough paddocks. He saved the equivalent of a day a week each week. Five years later Honda released their Honda 90 Ag Bike – necessity was the mother of invention!

Can you think of any examples in your organisation of necessity forcing innovation?

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