Perspective # 17 – Frugality drives Innovation

Frugality drives Innovation: Jeff Bezos of Amazon said in a recent Businessweek Interview “Frugality drives Innovation,just like other constraints do.One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.When we were first trying to acquire customers, we didn’t have the money to spend on ad budgets.So we created the associates program,which lets any web site link to us, and we give them a revenue share.We invented the one click shopping so we could checkout faster.Those things didn’t require big budgets,They required thoughtfullness and focus on the customer”

Yes - Frugality drives Innovation and we in India are a living testimony! Checkout the Hindustan Times article ‘Espirit de jugaad’ -- India’s 60 most interesting innovations. Read about the barber from UP, Mohammed Idris, who uses a ‘bicycle-powered horse-shaver’ in which the power of the bicycle rotary drive is converted via speed cable to the cutting blade, which cuts the horse hair .Another good one is the Maruta jugaad assembled in the sugarcane fields of UP and Punjab.This bare bones transport is put together using a pump, a wooden plank and old tyres. It has a 20-seater bullock cart trailer attached to its rear. A steering is jacked into the shaft and the 12-horsepower pump engine is hand cranked to give speeds crossing 20km/hour.!!!

Also remember that the best Russian literature came out during those oppresive days. Think about it .. Microsoft spend 6.5 Billion in R&D last year and all we got was Vista!