Doing The Right Thing

Samsung has taken the right action by recalling all of its latest cell phones even though the cost to the company will likely be between $1 billion to $5 billion.  The company has lost its momentary advantage over Apple, but it doesn’t want to take chances of exploding  batteries in its phones.  One asks how this could have happened and a partial answer is that the company was rushing to beat Apple to market.  There also is the possibility of an unknown defect in the batteries it is using that has caused the meltdowns.  Either way, the company has acted responsibly by getting the phone off the market until the problem is solved.  It is good PR and it saves the company millions in possible tort costs from victims of the exploding phones.  Tesla can learn a lesson here with its refusal to turn off autopilot in its cars even though it has caused at least one death.