At the ‘Davos Agenda,’ Salesforce Joins Global Leaders to Discuss the Urgent Need to Reshape Capitalism for a Better Future

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland will look a little different this year. As the world continues to grapple with the Coronavirus pandemic, Davos has gone virtual, with an extensive online roster of sessions taking place between January 25th and 29th. 

Over the course of four days, participants will discuss the urgent need for a collaborative global effort to drive innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic, drive a robust recovery over the next year and make progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Salesforce has participated in the World Economic Forum for more than a decade, and this year executives including Chair and CEO Marc Benioff will participate in discussions on topics like implementing stakeholder capitalism, accelerating grass roots innovation, and re-orienting boards for the long term.

Five decades ago, Klaus Schwab defined “stakeholder theory,” and he has championed it since the founding of the WEF in 1971. It asserts that companies have a responsibility to all our stakeholders: not only shareholders, but employees, customers, communities, and the planet. The pandemic and economic crisis have shown that stakeholder capitalism — a more fair, equal and sustainable way of doing business — is urgently needed to address the multiple crises we face today. 

Salesforce believes that business is the world’s greatest platform for change, and we work to leverage our technology, people and philanthropy to improve the state of the world. 

One example of our commitment is our work with WEF and Deloitte to develop and launch Uplink — a digital platform to crowdsource innovative solutions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Those innovative solutions will be profiled throughout the Davos Agenda 2021. 

At Davos 2020, Salesforce supported the 1t.org initiative — an effort to conserve, restore and plant one trillion trees by 2030 — in partnership with the WEF. In 2021, Salesforce will expand our environmental efforts with backing for Uplink projects focused on biodiversity and the oceans.

As part of the WEF program, Salesforce leaders will discuss how common metrics for Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) reporting and non-financial disclosures can be crucial to the implementation of stakeholder capitalism; how to re-orient corporate boards to focus on the long term; and how technology can help accelerate grassroots innovation around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

In addition, this year marks the 16th edition of WEF’s Global Risk Report (GRR), and the release of the report has gone through its own COVID-19-driven transformation. Released in an all-digital format, the report includes for the first time an interactive Tableau dashboard that maps the Global Risks Network map for the upcoming year. The map can help companies see more than just a headline risk, but all the downstream impacts of any one or a collective group of risk drivers. Leaders can see, for example, the degree to which longer term Failure on Climate Action is seen as driving Human Environmental Damage.

The full Davos Agenda calendar is available here. Salesforce leaders will participate in the following events in Davos:

Davos Codes

Begins Jan 25

Davos Codes is a Salesforce-hosted learning experience that teaches middle school students computer programming skills and the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the power that technology can bring when used for social good. This will be the sixth year of the program and the first time it will be held in a virtual format. Learn more about Davos Codes here.

Accelerating Grassroots Innovation

Monday, Jan. 25, 6-6:30pm PT  and Thursday, Jan. 28, 3-3:30am PT | Streaming Link

Marc Benioff, Salesforce Chair and CEO will join WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab, and Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen to introduce stories of how entrepreneurs are speeding up the global delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals via the Uplink platform, and how it can be used to promote innovation.

Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism session

Tuesday, Jan. 26, 8:15-9am PT | Streaming Link 

Marc Benioff will participate in a leadership panel discussion on how business leaders can implement non-financial disclosures for their companies and how investors and governments can work together to advance stakeholder capitalism in their region.

Reorienting Boards for the Long Term session

Tuesday, Jan. 26, 9am-9:30am PT | Streaming Link 

Salesforce President and Chief Legal Officer Amy Weaver will participate in a session on structuring corporate boards and governance in a manner that is responsible and focused on the long-term health of the company and its environment.

Arctic Basecamp with Rainn Wilson discussion

Wednesday, Jan. 27, 11am PT | Streaming Link 

Marc Benioff will appear in an event about environmental findings from Arctic Basecamp, an Arctic science basecamp run by experts and scientists, with findings reported annually at WEF’s Annual Meeting.