Syllabus: OCR - A and AS Level Business
Module: Business Objectives and Strategy
Lesson: Different Stakeholder and Business Objectives
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Introduction
This topic, drawn from OCR’s A and AS Level Business specification under “Business objectives and strategy”, helps students understand how stakeholder priorities can shape and shift business objectives. It addresses a key exam theme: recognising competing interests within and outside the business, and evaluating strategic trade-offs.
Curriculum-aligned and assessment-relevant, this content prepares students for Paper 1 and Paper 2, and connects directly to core business principles including strategic decision-making, organisational behaviour, and corporate governance.
Key Concepts
From the OCR syllabus, students need to grasp:
Definition of stakeholders: Individuals or groups affected by or having an interest in business activity – including owners, employees, customers, suppliers, the government, and the local community.
Primary vs secondary stakeholders: Primary stakeholders are essential to the business’s survival (e.g. employees, customers), while secondary stakeholders influence or are influenced but not essential (e.g. pressure groups).
Business objectives: Financial (e.g. profit maximisation, cost efficiency) and non-financial (e.g. sustainability, customer satisfaction).
Conflict and compromise: Different stakeholders may have conflicting objectives, such as between short-term profits and long-term environmental sustainability.
Stakeholder mapping and influence: Analysis tools like Mendelow’s Matrix help identify how interest and power influence strategy.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and ethics as stakeholder-centric strategies.
Students should also understand how strategic direction is shaped by internal and external pressure – with stakeholder expectations at the heart of this tension.
Real-World Relevance
Stakeholder dynamics are constantly at play in real businesses. Consider:
Amazon: Balancing rapid growth and customer satisfaction with criticism over employee conditions.
Greggs: Their pivot toward plant-based products responded to customer trends while pleasing ethical investors.
Shell: Facing pressure from shareholders for profit and from environmental activists for cleaner energy, their shift towards renewables reflects stakeholder influence on long-term business strategy.
Bringing these case studies into the classroom helps ground abstract stakeholder theory in relatable, evolving contexts.
How It’s Assessed
OCR assessments will challenge students to:
Explain stakeholder roles and objectives (e.g. “Explain one objective of employees in a large business.”)
Analyse tensions between stakeholders (e.g. “Analyse how conflicting stakeholder interests might affect a business’s decision to relocate.”)
Evaluate strategic decisions (e.g. “Evaluate whether focusing on CSR is in the best interest of all stakeholders.”)
Expect 6-, 10-, and 20-mark questions using command words like explain, analyse, evaluate, and discuss. Students are rewarded for using real examples, logical reasoning, and balanced arguments.
Enterprise Skills Integration
This topic lends itself naturally to active learning. Students engage in:
Decision-making: Evaluating trade-offs and proposing strategies that balance stakeholder needs.
Problem-solving: Analysing case studies with conflicting stakeholder demands.
Communication: Presenting stakeholder maps or defending strategies in group settings.
Empathy and negotiation: Understanding different viewpoints and justifying compromises.
Enterprise Skills Simulations allow students to embody roles such as shareholders, union reps, or marketing leads—making the consequences of strategic choices real and measurable.
Careers Links
Stakeholder understanding is essential across career paths, aligning with Gatsby Benchmark 4 (curriculum links to careers) and Benchmark 5 (encounters with employers):
Project managers must manage competing stakeholder expectations.
Marketing professionals balance customer needs with business goals.
Human resource officers navigate internal tensions between staff wellbeing and productivity.
Entrepreneurs juggle investors, partners, and communities from day one.
Use this topic to discuss roles where negotiation, communication, and strategic planning are key.
Teaching Notes
Start with the real: Use a current business in the news as your entry point.
Stakeholder role-play: Assign roles to students and present them with strategic dilemmas (e.g. cost-cutting vs wage rise).
Diagrammatic tools: Teach stakeholder mapping and how influence/interest shapes strategy.
Use Skills Hub: Drop in activities that develop analytical writing, such as planning an ‘evaluate’ question around stakeholder conflict.
Common pitfalls: Students often assume one stakeholder group is “right”. Encourage nuanced thinking and prioritisation based on context.
Differentiation tip: Offer sentence starters for EAL learners or scaffold decision-matrix tools for structured thinking.
