Compassionate Capitalism: How Corporations Can Make Doing Good an Integral Part of Doing Well

Rating:
Summary: Great examples for making your company a community asset
Review: found Compassionate Capitalism to be an extraordinary collection of practical examples for companies who want to make a difference in the world.

As CEO of a small and growing business I plan to implement some of these ideas immediately - giving paid time off for my employees and putting aside some of our equity for future charitable growth as two examples. This book provides a blueprint for small and large companies alike to make more of an impact in the communities they operate in. I recommend it to any other CEO or professional that wants to 'step up' their level of giving.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: I really hope this kind of book published in my country, too. Only a few companies realize that they should do good things in a community. Rather, most of companies still pour their resources for doing well here in Japan. This book is great firstly because, it states that, no matter how large the company is, there should be a way to become a good citizen in a community. I am working in a company with 30 peoples, which is not so large. This book suggests that there is a business-philanthropy integrating model that my company can follow. Secondly because this book points out that a company has a power to change the society better. Most of us do not aware but a company has much more resources and opportunities than we imagine. This book describes how a company takes advantage of their resources to give back to a community. That is the new model of integrating business and philanthropy.

Rating:
Summary: PR Week Review
Review: PR Week US

BOOK REVIEW - 'Compassionate' gives readers a lot
02.23.04

Andrew Gordon

A breath of fresh air amongst the many business books out there, Compassionate Capitalism is full of insight and trade secrets simply about building the bottom line. At a time when many corporations have cut back their philanthropy, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff shows how giving back is always a good idea.

Benioff leads from example, demonstrating Salesforce's own philanthropic philosophy. He includes dozens of other examples from the likes of Hasbro, Timberland, and Cisco Systems.

While the book is repetitive at times, it ultimately proves insightful, using the examples to show how companies establish a culture of philanthropy, how they involve staff, how they reach out globally, and how they maintain their giving during tough times. Perhaps most importantly, the authors note that corporate philanthropy 'must be more than lip service or devotion to giving as a way to generate PR coverage.' The book is a nice reminder that shareholders are not the only ones who have a stake in a company's success.

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational yet still practical "how-to" guide
Review: The book is clearly written and has well explained steps on how any corporation can integrate philanthropy into their corporate culture. The examples include both large and small businesses and the authors demonstrate that a company can do well both for their shareholders and community.

I work in Silicon Valley and this book will help me as I work to convince others that the start-ups we work in and back need the integrated philanthropy described in this book.