This paper will critically consider the importance of J Sainsbury plc's corporate social responsibility (CSR)/sustainability initiatives to business success, using literature related to corporate social responsibility/sustainability in the food and retail sector. J Sainsbury says it has a clear strategic vision in which it places the customer at the heart of everything it does. It believes its strong commitment to corporate responsibility outlined in the 20x20 sustainability plan is essential to how the company operates and conducts business. and in ensuring the future success of J Sainsbury's (J Sainsbury plc, 2013). To critique the importance of these initiatives to business success, it is first necessary to define the term CSR/Sustainability, however this could be considered problematic in itself as in fact it is not one term but two. Several authors Gatti and Steele 2014, Jones Hillier and Comfort 2014 xxxxxxxx have reflected on the terminology surrounding CSR by discussing the confusion that may arise from the development of multiple terms used to attempt to conceptualize and illustrate the most ethical business practice, incorporating environmental and social issues. McWilliams and Siegel (2001) define the term CSR as activities or best practices that “appear to promote a certain social good, beyond the interests of the company and what is required by law” while a more simplified term is used by the European Commission as “business responsibility for its impact on society” (Khan and Kakabadse, 2013). In addition to the multiple concepts surrounding CSR, Wiese et al., (2012) believes that there are a number of definitions of sustainability and variations in use, using different… focus of the paper… government objectives. Regarding social gain, there has been criticism of the gains that organizations provide in the programs they run, such as “computers for school”, “Active Children”, as the gains for the organization exceed the benefit given as it is is attracts customer loyalty in collecting vouchers, with many vouchers needed to be collected by the beneficiary organisation. (Citation needed) Most studies in the field of CSR/Sustainability have focused only on the different impacts of sustainability on the organization, perhaps assuming that to be an important organization in the food retail sector is the It is normal to implement such indications however, negative connotations may be associated with CSR/sustainability reporting as the organization in the media always focuses on the Assiouras, Ozgen and Skourtis organization, 2013