Social Innovation at salesforce.com

Authors: Marquis, Christopher; Kornreich, Marley C.; Thomason, Bobbi
Source: Harvard Business School
Year: 2011
Number of pages: 19

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Abstract:

Salesforce.com recently implemented an innovative social enterprise business model whereby the Salesforce.com Foundation funds its operations and grant budget by selling discounted salesforce.com software licenses to nonprofits and education clients. The case recounts the development and initial stages of this project and the tradeoffs inherent in mixing social and business goals. Furthermore, as background the case also provides detail on Salesforce's 1-1-1 business model, whereby the company contributes one percent of product, one percent of equity, and one percent of employee hours back to the communities it serves.