Syllabus: OCR - GCSE Business
Module: 1. Business Activity
Lesson: 1.5 Stakeholders in Business

Introduction

This lesson aligns with section 1.5 of the OCR GCSE Business specification, which introduces learners to the concept of stakeholders and how their interests can impact and be impacted by business decisions. It builds on prior knowledge of business activity and lays the groundwork for future topics in operations, finance and ethics.

For teachers, it’s a prime opportunity to connect abstract content to real people – turning business into a human story. The OCR specification calls for an understanding of internal and external stakeholders, their objectives, and how businesses manage sometimes conflicting priorities.

Key Concepts

Students should be able to:

• Define stakeholders and explain why they are important in a business context.

• Identify internal stakeholders (e.g. owners, managers, employees).

• Identify external stakeholders (e.g. customers, suppliers, local community, government).

• Understand stakeholder objectives (e.g. profit, job security, fair pay, service quality).

• Analyse potential conflicts of interest between stakeholder groups.

• Evaluate how businesses might respond to or manage these interests.

This section is designed to develop analytical thinking and prepares students to examine real-world business dilemmas through the lens of competing needs.

Real-World Relevance

Stakeholder decisions are everywhere. When Amazon raises wages, employees benefit, but shareholders may worry about falling profits. When a local café extends opening hours, it pleases customers but may frustrate neighbours or staff.

A useful classroom example is Uber:

• Drivers (internal stakeholders) seek fair pay and rights.

• Customers want fast, cheap rides.

• Regulators and local councils (external stakeholders) are concerned with public safety and traffic.

Bringing these cases into class helps students think critically and apply stakeholder theory beyond theory – into headlines, boardrooms and local communities.

How It’s Assessed

OCR assesses this topic through:

• Multiple-choice questions (e.g. identifying stakeholders).

• Short-answer explain questions using command words like ‘explain’ or ‘identify’.

• Extended writing where students might be asked to evaluate the impact of a business decision on different stakeholder groups.

Typical command words include:

• Explain – show understanding of concepts.

• Analyse – examine relationships or conflicts.

• Evaluate – weigh stakeholder priorities and justify decisions.

Exam questions often give a context (e.g. a company case study) and ask students to assess the response to stakeholder pressure.

Enterprise Skills Integration

This topic lends itself naturally to skills like:

• Decision-making: choosing between stakeholder demands.

• Problem-solving: resolving stakeholder conflict (e.g. staff vs. customer needs).

• Critical thinking: understanding consequences of favouring one group over another.

• Empathy: seeing from the perspective of different people in and around a business.

Enterprise Skills’ Business Simulations drop students into real business scenarios where they must weigh stakeholder interests to make commercial decisions. These experiences shift learning from passive recall to active judgement – the core of learning by doing.

Careers Links

This content is linked to:

• Gatsby Benchmark 4: linking curriculum learning to careers.

• Gatsby Benchmark 5: encounters with employers and employees.

Relevant roles include:

• Human Resources Officer – balancing internal interests.

• Customer Service Manager – handling customer expectations.

• Operations Manager – coordinating supply chain interests.

• Local Government Officer – representing community interests in business development.

Understanding stakeholders also underpins roles in law, sustainability, PR, and more – where negotiation and balance are key.

Teaching Notes

Tips for delivery:

• Use real case studies (e.g. fast fashion, tech firms, or local businesses).

• Simulate stakeholder meetings: assign roles and debate a business decision.

• Keep a stakeholder map visible – it helps students visualise connections and conflicts.

Common pitfalls:

• Students often conflate owners with managers or overlook community/government roles.

• Watch for simplistic answers that ignore conflicting interests.

Extension activities:

• Run an Enterprise Skills simulation where teams act as business owners responding to a crisis.

• Create stakeholder matrices for a well-known company and analyse recent decisions.

• Link to ethics by discussing how stakeholder management ties into corporate responsibility.

Plug-and-play tools like the Skills Hub offer interactive stakeholder mapping tasks and scenario-based questions – saving planning time and helping with consistent delivery across classes.