Corporate Social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business/ Responsible Business)[1] is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders.
The term “corporate social responsibility” came into common use in the late 1960s and early 1970s after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization’s activities have an impact. It was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders as a result of an influential book by R. Edward Freeman, Strategic management: a stakeholder approach in 1984.[2] Proponents argue that corporations make more long term profits by operating with a perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from the economic role of businesses. Others argue CSR is merely window-dressing, or an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations.
CSR is titled to aid an organization’s mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers. Development business ethics is one of the forms of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR. Public sector organizations (the United Nations for example) adhere to the triple bottom line (TBL). It is widely accepted that CSR adheres to similar principles but with no formal act of legislation. The UN has developed the Principles for Responsible
Original content quote from Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility
企业社会责任（英文：Corporate Social Responsibility，简称CSR），企业社会责任并无公认定义，但一般泛指企业的营运方式达到或超越道德、法律及公众要求的标准，而进行商业活 动时亦考虑到对各相关利益者造成的影响，企业社会责任的概念是基于商业运作必须符合可持续发展的想法，企业除了考虑自身的财政和经营状况外，也要加入其对 社会和自然环境所造成的影响的考量。（来源：维基百科）
欧盟目前的官方定义为“企业社会责任CSR是指企业在自愿的基础上，将对社会和环境的关注融入到其商业运作以及企业与其利益相关方的相互关系中”。
对于该定义需要强调的是：
第一，欧盟认为CSR实际上既包括社会问题也包含环境问题，使用企业社会责任这样的定义是因为它已经被广泛接受和认可，事实上，企业社会责任是一个具有广泛内涵的概念，包含了企业对社会整体应负的责任，具体话题包括：健康、安全、环境污染等，当然也包含更广泛的一些内容。
第二，定义中特别指出了CSR包括企业如何协调与利益相关方的相互关系，也就是企业如何在其商业运作中协调、考虑雇员、消费者、商业合作伙伴、地方 社区与整个社会的一些合法的关注。欧盟确认企业是实践CSR最基本的主体，但同时企业的CSR实践需要在企业内部和外部的利益相关方之间进行讨论和协调。
第三，欧盟强调CSR是将对社会和环保的关注融入到商业运作之中，也就是说CSR并不是企业每天的商业活动之外附加的一系列活动，相反CSR恰恰应该是一个企业每天如何运作的问题：产品的研发、生产过程、销售与市场、人力资源管理等。
最后，定义强调CSR自愿的性质，也就是说欧盟认为CSR意味着企业如何在其最低限度的法律义务之上关注社会和环境问题。从这一角度来讲，遵守法律 是CSR的前提条件，但是不等同于CSR。这一定义对欧洲是很有益的，但是我们也意识到，它不一定非常符合中国对CSR的理解。（来源：百度百科）