A privately owned company manufacturing fabric experienced a fire in its factory, destroying it. The owner of the company, then 70 years old, decided that rather than taking the $300 million insurance proceed check and retiring, he would use the money to build a state-ofthe-art factory and re-employ all but 10% of his workforce (who would be displaced by the updated equipment) though the new factory would cost $130 million above and beyond the $300 million funded by the insurance proceeds. The owner also agreed to continue paying the salaries of the employees during construction. Within six years, however, the company was in bankruptcy. Which of the following justifications for the owner's decision to be benevolent in the short-term is ethical, considering the ultimate failure of the business in the long-term?

a. Even with the short term economic costs, he was still creating value long-term by creating a more loyal workforce and a state-of-the-art factory.

b. The benevolence was intended to maximize the benefits for the majority of the stakeholders, with only the owner, himself, not receiving the maximum benefit.

c. Social responsibility and profit maximization are not mutually exclusivetherefore it is ethical to keep paying employees even if it hurts the bottom line since he is the only owner of the company.

d. All of these are ethical justifications for the owner's actions.