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Liu Peng: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the expectations and
requirements raised for corporations at a certain historical period of the economic
and social development. In modern market economy, corporations are exercising
greater influences on society and people‘s daily life, and playing a more important
role in the economic and social development. Corporation is the creator of material
and spiritual wealth while at the same time having impact on various fields: science,
technology, education, culture, environment, etc. It has become a universal
expectation and requirement of the modern society that corporations, as the
converging point of different social agents, should shoulder more social
responsibilities.
In the early 20th century, the concept of ―corporate social responsibility‖ was
proposed by some Western scholars, though merely within the academia. Then after
the 1970s, with the rapid economic development in the West where there appeared
severe environmental and social problems, CSR began to be noticed by the public
and gained gradual recognition. The issue has received wider international attention
since the beginning of the 21st century, when the economic globalization picks up a
higher speed. With the help of governments, consumers‘ organizations, trade unions,
environmental organizations and many other non-governmental organizations from
Western countries, some of the multinational corporations set out to release social
responsibility reports and formulate production codes as well as other principles,
proposals and standards. In 2000, the United Nations initiated the ―Global Compact‖,
advocating that enterprises should observe, support and implement within their
influences a set of basic principles regarding human rights, labor standards,
environment and anti-corruption, aimed at sustainable growth of corporations and
shared augmentation in social benefits. In 2004, the International Organization for
Standardization started to stipulate the Social Responsibility International Standards
ISO 26000, which has received much attention and attracted active participation
from the international community. About 80 countries and more than 300 specialists
from different international organizations are taking part in this effort. Therefore, the
CSR drive has already grown into a global fashion.
Since the 1970s, overseas studies on CSR have entered a new stage. There are
three most representative concepts proposed by scholars and organizations. The
first is the ―Three Concentric Circles‖ as proposed by the Committee for Economic
Development of the United States, which defines the ―inner circle‖ as essential
responsibilities for corporations‘ economic functions, i.e. providing returns for
investors, products for society, jobs for employees and contributing to economic
growth. The ―middle circle‖ means that corporations‘ economic functions should
conform to their social values and major social issues, e.g. environmental protection,
fair treatment of employees, meeting customer‘s expectations, etc. Finally, the ―outer
circle‖ is a wider range of intangible responsibilities to accelerate social
advancement, e.g. social poverty elimination and urban decline prevention. The
second concept is called the ―pyramid‖, brought forward by Professor Carol of
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