三星果斷止損是正確選擇
Samsung is not the first company to discover that battery life can be a combustible issue.
三星(Samsung)不是第一家發現電池壽命可能是個燙手問題的企業。
Fiery power packs have haunted businesses as diverse as Dell and Boeing in recent years.
近年來，電池過熱問題困擾過從戴爾(Dell)到波音(Boeing)等各類企業。
The latter’s Dreamliner fleet was even grounded in 2013 after the aeroplane’s batteries demonstrated unfortunate incendiary tendencies.
2013年，波音的夢想客機(Dreamliner)機型甚至還因電池不幸出現易燃傾向而遭到禁飛。
The Korean electronics company now has its very own fully fledged battery flame-out to navigate.
這家韓國電子公司眼下要應對自己的一場由電池導致的全面危機。
It has just been forced to halt production of its much-hyped Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after the device was blamed for setting fire to at least one house, a car and a number of alarming incidents where Galaxy Note 7s started smoking on planes when in flight.
三星剛剛被迫停止生產其被大肆宣傳的Galaxy Note 7智能手機，此前這款手機因造成至少一套房屋和一輛車起火、以及造成一系列在飛行中的飛機上冒煙的令人驚慌的事件而受到指責。
It is not the first time Samsung has tried to deal with the problem.
這不是三星第一次試圖處理這個問題。
The company recalled 2.5m of the devices just five weeks ago after reports of battery fires.
僅5周前，在出現多起電池起火的報告後，三星召回了250萬部Galaxy Note 7。
But it then claimed to have fixed the problem and encouraged customers to swap their dodgy phones for new ones.
但之後三星聲稱已經解決了這個問題，並鼓勵消費者將問題手機置換爲新機。
Now that fix appears to have come unstuck, it had no option but to dump the whole line.
現在，所謂的解決看來是失敗了，三星別無選擇，只能放棄整條產品線。
That, despite the heavy cost, is the safest option.
儘管這樣做的代價非常高昂，這是最安全的選項。
Defective products — especially when they are potentially dangerous — can take a disproportionate toll on a company’s reputation.
有缺陷的產品——尤其是當這些缺陷構成潛在危險的時候——可能會對企業聲譽帶來特別沉重的打擊。
Demonstrating a firm disinclination to risk your customer’s wellbeing is the way to limit reputational damage, as well as the inevitable consumer lawsuits.
展現不願把客戶的福祉置於險地的堅決態度，是減少聲譽損失以及不可避免的消費者訴訟的方法。
The classic example that is often cited is Johnson & Johnson, which faced potential disaster in the early 1980s when a malicious attacker poisoned batches of the consumer analgesic, Tylenol.
人們經常提及的經典案例是強生(Johnson & Johnson)。上世紀80年代初，該公司曾面臨一場潛在的災難。當時，一位惡意攻擊者在多批次的非處方止痛藥泰諾(Tylenol)中下了毒。
The company responded by swiftly pulling all Tylenol products from retailers’ shelves across the country.
對此，該公司的迴應方式是迅速將全國各地零售商貨架上的所有泰諾產品下架。
It then repackaged the products, which included the tamper-resistant packaging that is now common.
接着，該公司將這些產品重新包裝，採用瞭如今常見的可防止私自替換內容物的包裝。
Its quick reaction prevented both the need for federal intervention and a public outcry.
該公司快速的反應，既消除了聯邦政府幹預的必要性，也阻止了輿論的強烈譴責。
Having failed to resolve the problem with its cutting-edge lithium ion battery, Samsung is right to cut its losses.
在未能解決其尖端鋰離子電池中存在的問題之後，三星採取止損的辦法是對的。
Unlike past phones which had removable power packs, the Note 7’s integrated design means that repeated modifications would be cumbersome and costly.
與過去電池可拆卸的手機不同，Note 7電池與機身一體的設計意味着，反覆修改將不僅拖沓而且成本巨大。
Even a fix would not repair the damage to the Note 7 name.
而且，即使修復了問題，也無法修復Note 7品牌受到的損害。
The company does not want customers to start asking shop assistants: Which one is the exploding phone?
該公司肯定不希望看到客戶開始問導購：哪一款手機是那個會爆炸的？
Recalls are painful, but are survivable by large companies that are not dependent on a single product line.
召回是十分痛苦的，但是對於不依賴於單一產品線的大企業來說，是可以挺過去的。
Both Toyota and Merck have suffered financial losses as a result of massive product recalls.
豐田(Toyota)和默克(Merck)都曾因大規模產品召回而遭遇財務上的損失。
Still, long-term trends suggest that both companies’ reputations and stock prices bounced back.
然而，長期趨勢顯示，兩家企業的聲譽和股價都反彈回來了。
Samsung is at least well insulated from any financial fallout. The company is sitting on a cash pile of some $59bn.
三星至少不用擔心召回導致任何重大財務影響——該公司目前仍坐擁大約590億美元現金。
Samsung should remember how it started out in the mobile business, which took off in the 1990s after its chairman Lee Kun-hee demonstrated his zero tolerance approach to faulty handsets.
三星應該記住它在手機業務上是如何發家的。該公司手機業務在上世紀90年代的起飛，是由於此前其董事長李健熙(Lee Kun-hee)顯示了對問題手機零容忍的處理方式。
He piled up 150,000 defective phones outside a factory and had them publicly incinerated.
他在一家工廠外堆積了15萬部有問題的手機，並將它們公開付之一炬。
A re-run with the Note 7 would do Mr Lee’s successors little harm.
在Note 7上再次使出這一招，從長遠來看對三星將沒有什麼壞處。
