“Innovation creates a
resource. There is no such thing as a ‘resource’ until man finds a use for
something in nature and endows it with economic value. Until then, every plant
is a weed and every mineral just another rock” (Peter Drucker)
Soichiro Honda was always
fascinated by things mechanical. However, he was not the academic type. At 28,
he joined a technical high school to pick up the theories in engineering needed
to help him is his endeavours. Nonetheless, he chose only to attend the classes
that he wanted to. His principal was not too amused about that and promptly
dismissed him. That did not discourage him. Instead, it fired him up and he
succeeded in manufacturing sound and functional devices.
Immediately after the
World War II, Japan was immobilized by a severe fuel shortage. Honda could see
that there was no point in driving cars. He solved the problem by attaching a
motor to a bicycle. Using a small gasoline engine that had been used for
electrical generators during the war, he created the world’s first motorcycle,
which is today the ubiquitous mode of transportation in the less developed
nations.
Because of the
governmental restrictions on gasoline and the manufacture of gasoline-using
machines, Honda substituted pine resin, which he recalled had been used a
temporary aircraft fuel towards the end of World War II, for gasoline. Since
then, Honda had never looked back.
He turned a temporary problem into a long-term global
demand. In fact, he was so passionate
about the motorbikes that he created the
Dream, a sleek and powerful motorcycle with a four-cycle engine. As he said
later: “We do not make something
because the demand is there. With our technology, we can create demand; we can
create the market. Supply creates its own demand.” The name ‘Honda’
is now seen not only on motorcycles but also on cars and other vehicles. It is
a name that spells quality.
Reference: I Can Cre8! (Prentice Hall, 2001) by
Peter Leong. Page 15-16
Lord, Give
Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)
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