Corporate social responsibility (CSR) continues to be an important topic in organisations worldwide. This paper considers the implementation of CSR by state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In this type of organisation, the state acts as a powerful stakeholder as it acts as representative, guarantor and shareholder of public interests. SOEs would seem to be an ideal testing ground for assumptions about CSR that have been imported from the (US) private sector, in particular, how stakeholders can influence and be influenced by CSR policies. Against this background and drawing on diverse literature, this paper presents the features and challenges identified in the SOE sector in relation to CSR. It proposes a systemic view of CSR to identify relevant possibilities to help the advancement of CSR in this sector and from a perspective that considers the wider context of SOEs. Findings suggest that although senior SOE managers show awareness of and commitment to CSR principles through a number of fixed or static elements, there remains an imperative need to enhance their application of CSR in SOE plans, strategies and daily activities, in other words to adopt a more proactive, stakeholder awareness and dynamic view of CSR