Definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR): Movement aimed at encouraging companies to be more aware of the impact of their business on the rest of society, including their own stakeholders and the environment. (Source: Financial Times).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that contributes to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders.

CSR is a concept with many definitions and practices. The way it is understood and implemented differs greatly for each company and country. Moreover, CSR is a very broad concept that addresses many and various topics such as human rights, corporate governance, health and safety, environmental effects, working conditions and contribution to economic development. Whatever the definition is, the purpose of CSR is to drive change towards sustainability.

In Article: A Conceptual Framework for the Integration of Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Development Based on Lifelong Learning by Thilo J. Ketschau (2017, Department of Business Education and Human Resource Development, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Goettingen), it is discussed that in the economic sciences, the rising pressure placed on companies by increasing public expectations during the last decades has caused a discussion on the sustainable behaviour of companies, resulting, for example, in the sustainability concept of Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line and, based on this, the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility. These concepts are justified in general by the changing role of the companies from being responsible solely for their own profit to being responsible for society with a focus on social aspects of business activity. In the field of educational sciences, on the other hand, education is understood as a social resource. The discipline is closely connected to the idea of social justice by education, offering promotion prospects irrespective of an individual’s social background.

The concept of Lifelong Learning (LLL) is indivisibly related to this perspective with respect to its basic idea of the need as well as the right of individuals for education in every phase of their life.

Within this context, the concept of Human Resource Development (HRD), defined as the promotion of job-relevant knowledge, qualifications and competencies using measures of further education, will be understood as a company’s design system for generating education under the primacy of economical need. This primacy may be supplemented by the option to provide education with emphasis on social responsibility.

In Serbia, corporate social responsibility appears as a theme in the business and non-governmental sector, after 2000. In the business sector, it arrives with the inflow of foreign capital and the opening of representative offices of foreign companies that in Serbia also deliver its established CSR policies and practices while in the non-governmental sector there are initiatives for potential cooperation and partnership between these two sectors. “The responsible business forum is the only business network in Serbia dedicated exclusively to the development and promotion of a socially responsible business and, made up of more than 30 leading companies, is the backbone of the CSR practice in our country. One of the most important initiatives launched in 2016 by the CSR Index, the first platform for measuring corporate social responsibility in Serbia. The methodology, modelled on the world's leading methodologies in this domain, and adapted to the economic situation in our country has become a benchmark for recognizing companies that have established practices and policies in responsible relations with the local community, the market, the environment and their employees.” Quotations: Neven Marinovic, Executive Director of the Forum for Responsible Business and Smart Collective

Regardless of global or local, when we integrate social responsibility obligations into culture of life-long learning we can expect successful outcomes.