Is Omi Merchant the Top US IT Company? August 31, 16:21

"Companies are not just about making a profit."
This is the management philosophy of CEO Mark Benioff, the founder of the fast-growing American IT company Salesforce.com. Last year, Benioff published a book summarizing his thoughts and was featured in the United States, such as being picked up by the leading American economic newspaper, and was published in Japan in July. Why are you so interested now? We interviewed Mr. Benioff himself. (Oh Biz Caster Masahiro Kishi)

Rapidly growing IT company

Salesforce.com was founded 20 years ago by Mark Benioff, a software company from Oracle, and is rapidly growing as a pioneer in providing cloud for customer management software for corporate customers. Today, there are 150,000 trading companies around the world, including Japan, and the annual sales are close to 2 trillion yen. Recently, it was selected as a stock of the Dow average stock price, which is an index representing the American stock market.

However, even the same IT companies are different from GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple). Criticism is growing that these giant IT companies are making huge profits by using their monopoly status. Benioff points out that attitude.

Benioff:
“The only thing they care about is making money. It's not right. Those business owners have to change. We have “new capitalism”, caring, “sustainability”. "I need possible capitalism"

1-1-1 model

What should companies do to realize "sustainable capitalism"? One of them is the rule "1-1-1 model" since its establishment. We donate 1% of our stocks and products and ask our employees to devote 1% of their working hours to volunteer work.

For example, in education, we install Wi-Fi in schools and give the latest computers. Furthermore, employees not only teach how to use computers as volunteers, but also provide programming education. Through these things, I am thinking of nurturing many human resources who will be responsible for the IT industry in the future. Benioff said:

Benioff:
“We have the power to do amazing things with the assets that we earn from our business. A company is more than just making and selling products.”

Equality and diversity are important

On the other hand, in his book, Benioff also depicts how he struggles with various issues facing American society, such as race and gender.

For example, four years ago, a black man was shot and killed by a police officer. Amid growing interest in racial issues, Benioff expressed his support for the Black Rights Movement.

However, the sales force itself was criticized for its low proportion of black employees. In addition, while actively promoting women, the female executives pointed out that “wages are cheaper than men for all female employees”.

In response to internal and external criticism, Benioff continues to work to increase the proportion of black and other employees and improve the treatment of women, including merged companies.

Benioff argues that “equity” is important in managing a company and that “diversity” must be ensured.

We believe that fostering such a “corporate culture” leads to the collection of excellent human resources and the creation of competitive ideas.

Regarding the relationship between companies and society, Benioff said:

Benioff
"Business must be considered together with "society," "employees," and "customers." We are not separate from the world, society, or the environment. We're all connected, and we're all one. Don't forget that."

Is it the same as Omi Merchant's "Sankata Yoshi"? !

Have you heard of these thoughts somewhere?
The Japanese Omi merchant's "Yoshi Mikata" concept is "good for sellers, good for buyers, good for the world".

Omi merchants were doing business nationwide in Shiga prefecture during the Edo period. The creed is transmitted as follows.

"A commerce must be a profitable deal that satisfies both sellers and buyers, and the profits made in that deal must broadly contribute to the well-being of the entire community."

"A business that does not earn the trust of many people in the world cannot last forever"
(From the Higashiomi City Omi Merchant Museum website)

I think it's very similar to Benioff's idea. When I asked him about it, he said, "Yes."

If a company gets involved and the society improves, it will lead to sustainable growth of the company in the long run. This idea may be universal regardless of the times and countries.

We are now facing unprecedented global challenges such as the new coronavirus and global warming. Mr. Benioff's words can be a hint in thinking about the role that a company should play in such a difficult situation.

Oh Biz Caster
Masahiro Kishi In charge of Good Morning Japan's Economic Corner based on the experience of
an
economic reporter who joined the company in
1992