If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right
Wealthy people don't just have better toys; they have better nutrition and better medical care, more free time and more meaningful labour-more of just about every ingredient in the recipe for a happy life. And yet research consistently shows that they aren't much happier than those who have less. If money can buy happiness, then why doesn't it? The authors argue that five principles apply to the money/happiness equation, including 'buy experiences instead of things' and 'help others instead of yourself'. In the end, they show that money can buy many of the things that make us happy; and if it doesn't, the fault is ours.
Authors :: Elizabeth Dunn, Daniel Gilbert, Timothy Wilson
Swot Analysis of "If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right" written by Elizabeth Dunn, Daniel Gilbert, Timothy Wilson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Happy Money facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Happy Money, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Happy Money operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Happy Money
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Happy Money
Strengths If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Happy Money in If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Happy Money is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Happy Money to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Happy Money to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Happy Money is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Happy Money has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Happy Money are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Happy Money has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Organizational Resilience of Happy Money
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Happy Money does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Happy Money is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Happy Money is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Happy Money in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Happy Money in the sector have low bargaining power. If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Happy Money to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Happy Money has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Happy Money has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Weaknesses If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right, is just above the industry average. Happy Money needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Happy Money has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Happy Money even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right, it seems that the employees of Happy Money don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Happy Money needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Happy Money has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Happy Money, firm in the HBR case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Happy Money is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Happy Money needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Happy Money to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right, in the dynamic environment Happy Money has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Happy Money has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Elizabeth Dunn, Daniel Gilbert, Timothy Wilson suggests that, Happy Money is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Happy Money is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Happy Money has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Happy Money can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Happy Money can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Happy Money can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Happy Money is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Happy Money has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Happy Money to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right case study. Happy Money can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Happy Money to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Happy Money to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Happy Money has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Happy Money to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Happy Money to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Happy Money can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Happy Money operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Happy Money can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Developing new processes and practices
– Happy Money can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Happy Money can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Happy Money can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Happy Money can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right, Happy Money may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Happy Money can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Happy Money can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Happy Money can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Happy Money will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Happy Money needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Happy Money needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Happy Money can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Happy Money in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Happy Money business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Happy Money in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Happy Money is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, You Probably Aren't Spending It Right is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Happy Money needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
