Ethical & Environmental Considerations (AQA GCSE Business)

Case Study

Thorntons Ltd is a British chocolate making business which is part of a larger company. Thorntons sells its chocolate products in stores. Boxes of handmade chocolates sell for a minimum of £6. Employees are trained to personalise some products, such as adding a name to Easter eggs, to add a touch of luxury.

Two of Thorntons’ ingredients are cocoa and palm oil. A Fairtrade agreement for cocoa guarantees a higher price for Fairtrade farmers above the normal market price at which it can be sold.

The company wants to behave ethically. When its supplier of palm oil cut down too many trees and had a negative impact on the environment, it found a new supplier in South East Asia.

Case Study

Thorntons Ltd is a British chocolate making business which is part of a larger company. Thorntons sells its chocolate products in stores. Boxes of handmade chocolates sell for a minimum of £6. Employees are trained to personalise some products, such as adding a name to Easter eggs, to add a touch of luxury.

Two of Thorntons’ ingredients are cocoa and palm oil. A Fairtrade agreement for cocoa guarantees a higher price for Fairtrade farmers above the normal market price at which it can be sold.

The company wants to behave ethically. When its supplier of palm oil cut down too many trees and had a negative impact on the environment, it found a new supplier in South East Asia.

Case Study

Thorntons Ltd is a British chocolate making business which is part of a larger company. Thorntons sells its chocolate products in stores. Boxes of handmade chocolates sell for a minimum of £6. Employees are trained to personalise some products, such as adding a name to Easter eggs, to add a touch of luxury.

Two of Thorntons’ ingredients are cocoa and palm oil. A Fairtrade agreement for cocoa guarantees a higher price for Fairtrade farmers above the normal market price at which it can be sold.

The company wants to behave ethically. When its supplier of palm oil cut down too many trees and had a negative impact on the environment, it found a new supplier in South East Asia.

Case Study

HelloFresh is the world’s leading meal-kit delivery company. Each meal-kit contains all the ingredients and a recipe to cook a meal from scratch. HelloFresh deliver the kits to customers. The company was set up by two entrepreneurs in 2011 when they spotted a gap in the market to help busy people cook high quality meals at home. HelloFresh offer meal-kits to suit the needs of young families and couples who are prepared to pay a premium for its service.

HelloFresh are proud to be environmentally responsible and advertise that it is the ‘greener way to shop for groceries’. It uses recycled packaging and carefully plans delivery routes to make sure that vehicles travel the shortest possible distance.

Meal-kits are becoming very popular in the UK and HelloFresh is operating in an increasingly competitive market. HelloFresh tries to keep its customers interested by developing exciting new recipes each week that are different to the recipes that competitors are offering. This process is expensive and time consuming. HelloFresh is now looking for opportunities to reduce costs. It uses customer reviews to find out which foods customers like and dislike, but not all customers give regular feedback. Once HelloFresh has developed a new recipe the Finance and Production departments must work together to make sure the ingredients are available within the budget.

Case Study

Thorntons Ltd is a British chocolate making business which is part of a larger company. Thorntons sells its chocolate products in stores. Boxes of handmade chocolates sell for a minimum of £6. Employees are trained to personalise some products, such as adding a name to Easter eggs, to add a touch of luxury.

Two of Thorntons’ ingredients are cocoa and palm oil. A Fairtrade agreement for cocoa guarantees a higher price for Fairtrade farmers above the normal market price at which it can be sold.

The company wants to behave ethically. When its supplier of palm oil cut down too many trees and had a negative impact on the environment, it found a new supplier in South East Asia.

Case Study

Reusable drinks bottles are becoming more popular. Jake Webb is a product designer. A couple of years ago, Jake noticed that young people wanted to drink cold water on the go without having to buy single-use plastic bottles. He thought there was a gap in the market for lightweight, stylish bottles.

Jake is planning to redesign his original BEco Bottle to make it appeal to the sports and fitness market by using sustainability as a marketing tool. Retailers are keen to stock the new sports bottle if the design and price are right.

Although Jake has always used the fact that the BEco Bottle is produced in the UK in his advertising, one option is to outsource production of the sports bottle to India. He has found a manufacturer in India who can offer a short-term contract and is able to use cheaper labour and recycled plastic materials. This means the sports bottle can be produced for 50% less, but will require shipping to the UK. However, the manufacturer has not been able to reassure Jake that they pay the living wage or that they undertake regular staff safety training.

An alternative option is for Jake to use hire purchase to buy the equipment he needs and produce the sports bottle in his current factory. This would allow Jake to maintain high levels of employee training and ensure all staff are paid at least the minimum wage. It also allows Jake to monitor the source of all raw materials to ensure high standards of sustainability.