Over the past few years, a scholarly and policy-oriented debate has emerged in Indonesia about what corporate social responsibility means in an Indonesian context and how it can best be implemented. The purpose of this research is to contribute to this emerging debate by outlining the different approaches that can be taken to corporate social responsibility. It will assess the likely implications of these different approaches for Indonesia’s attempts to reduce poverty, and identify the main political and social obstacles to Indonesia’s adoption and implementation of approaches that promise maximum benefit in terms of poverty reduction.