Five things to learn from the Samsung Galaxy Note Recall Crisis!

GrowthHack –Thinker –Customary Blog

To a brand like Samsung, Note 7 recall crisis is the biggest damage it could self-induce, ever! First the battery started exploding and now it is reported that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 production will be halted in lieu of the news that the replacement devices are also catching fire.

A company like Samsung which is operationally so sound shouldn’t have faced it in the first place. And now the news that the replacement devices catching fire seems to be the last nail in the coffin for the Note7 as a product. What is more appalling is that Samsung is not vocal about it? They could have started with some reputation building measures or could have tried to reinstate the faith of people in the form of some media initiatives or least they could have come up with a Video Advertisement. In Business, Consumer’s Faith and trust is critically important. As Entrepreneurs we have the opportunity to learn from such real incidents and take lessons to avoid such apocalypse at any stage!

1. Build an organization where Quality of the Product is never compromised for Scalable Production!

Technology Behemoths like Apple and Google are recognized for value creation and great products. The value they create is through their comprehensive and robust Quality Control and Customer Service which the user would not like to part with, even at the cost of excess money that he or she may be asked to pay! They have infused the ability to create excellence in Consumer Experience in their DNA and thus they don’t compromise it, against anything! Reportedly Apple went against the national interest (against FBI) in revealing user information through hack on their device.  Your product is the live testimony of your value creation in the lives of people.

2. Mistakes are things going out of your control! Accept it and be apologetic about it.

In the past also there have been some big goof ups which had happened with even bigger companies. Few of them were frauds and others were caused because of things going out of control from the Management’s hand. Volkswagen recent fraud of violating emission norms, Yahoo massive data breach and several other incidents were reported but then these brands came firm to their disclosures and apologized for their act publicly!

3. Try and seek a complete and steady resolution and not temporary fixes!

If Note 7 would have gone for the recall & replacement of the faulty devices then replacement devices should have worked flawlessly. This would have given more strength to Samsung as a brand to project itself as a Tech Company which cares for their users by replacing faulty devices with new ones! But what happened further deepened the crisis. The device which was given to the user as a replacement also malfunctioned. This was something which was a final blow to the product line and to the reputation of the brand of course.

4. Once the issue is resolved and situation is well under control try to reinstate faith of consumers!

Something that is built in years will not disappear in one blow. What is more important than the mistake is, what you do after that? Something that’s happened cannot be revisited but its impact which pervading incessantly can be restricted.

5. Never be Egotistical. You exist because of your Users!

Whatever you build whether its Spaceships or a bicycle? How valuable your company may be. Remember you exist because of your users. If at the end of the day your users are not happy you are exposed to Existential Crisis. Do not put your organization or for that matter any Resource or Stakeholder above the Consumers. Try to be as humble and caring and never be Egotistical.