Problem:
Profit vs. Everything else: How can a manager balance maximizing profit over doing the right thing, for a company? For example, if doubling severance pay would ease the burden of a layoff for employees, but that reduces the year's profitability, how does one weigh the two? If the issue is less direct, if a company is asked by a local city or county to contribute significantly to a local toxic waste cleanup that is not its fault (say, for instance that the offending company is long bankrupt and gone), but that reduces profitability, how does one weigh the two?