Syllabus: OCR - GCSE Business
Module: 6. Influences on Business
Lesson: 6.1 Ethical and Environmental Considerations

Introduction

This lesson is directly aligned with section 6.1 of the OCR GCSE Business specification, which focuses on ethical and environmental considerations in business decision-making. These themes cut across subject boundaries and prepare students for real-world debates and dilemmas they’re likely to face in employment, higher education, or as consumers. Understanding how businesses navigate their responsibilities to people and the planet is not only relevant for exams—it helps students think critically about the role of enterprise in society.

Key Concepts

Students should be able to:

• Define what is meant by ethical behaviour and environmental sustainability in a business context.

• Understand how pressure groups, media, and consumer preferences influence business ethics and environmental decisions.

• Explain how business decisions can have positive or negative ethical and environmental consequences.

• Identify trade-offs businesses might face when balancing profit with ethical and environmental considerations.

• Evaluate the impact of adopting ethical and environmentally responsible practices on costs, reputation, and competitiveness.

This topic draws directly from OCR’s focus on developing critical reasoning and moral evaluation in economic and business settings.

Real-World Relevance

The fashion industry offers a rich example: brands like Patagonia and Lucy & Yak lead with environmental credentials, while others such as Shein face criticism over labour conditions and waste. In food retail, Greggs has earned praise for its focus on employee wellbeing and sustainable sourcing, while Nestlé has been the target of environmental campaigns.

Bringing it closer to home, students might investigate their school canteen’s sourcing policies or the carbon footprint of their uniforms. These aren’t just academic questions—they’re business decisions with social impact.

How It’s Assessed

OCR typically assesses this unit through questions that involve:

• Explain: Define and contextualise concepts (e.g. “Explain what is meant by an ethical business decision.”)

• Analyse: Show chains of reasoning (e.g. “Analyse how pressure from consumers might affect a business’s decision to reduce plastic packaging.”)

• Evaluate: Weigh up impacts, consider both sides, and reach a judgement (e.g. “Evaluate the impact on a small business of choosing to use only Fairtrade suppliers.”)

Expect short-answer questions, case study data response tasks, and extended responses worth 6–9 marks.

Enterprise Skills Integration

This topic is perfect for embedding active learning. Ethical dilemmas and sustainability trade-offs naturally lead to:

• Decision-making: Choosing between cost-saving and ethical options in simulated scenarios.

• Problem-solving: Finding creative solutions to balance business goals with stakeholder expectations.

• Critical thinking: Assessing media claims about business ethics or greenwashing.

• Team communication: Role-play activities can mimic boardroom debates or PR response planning.

Tools like Enterprise Skills’ Business Simulations allow students to weigh up real-time consequences of their choices, enhancing understanding through experience.

Careers Links

Ethical and environmental considerations align directly with:

• Gatsby Benchmark 4 & 5: Linking curriculum learning to careers and encounters with employers.

• Careers in sustainability (e.g. CSR manager, ESG analyst, ethical buyer, environmental compliance officer).

• Roles in marketing, where ethical branding is now a core consumer concern.

• Opportunities in the charity sector, social enterprise, and B Corps—businesses that balance purpose and profit.

Bridging business content with future pathways helps make learning stick.

Teaching Notes

• Time-saving tip: Use mini case studies or short videos to introduce real businesses under ethical scrutiny.

• Common pitfall: Students often assume ethical = expensive = bad for business. Encourage them to explore longer-term benefits such as brand loyalty or staff retention.

• Stretch activity: Run a simulation where students lead a fictional company and face dilemmas like “cut costs by switching to cheaper suppliers with poor environmental records” or “invest in biodegradable packaging at higher cost.”

• Scaffolding: Offer sentence starters for evaluation questions and use graphic organisers to map out pros and cons.

To go deeper without adding workload, plug-and-play tools like Skills Hub can offer interactive activities and ready-to-use templates that bring ethical trade-offs to life in under 10 minutes.