Samsung Electronics Co. is corporate royalty in South Korea. It's also a company recognized for its marketing smarts and engineering savvy worldwide, so much so that consulting firm Interbrand ranked it as the world's seventh-most valuable in its 2016 survey, ahead of Amazon and Mercedes-Benz.

So how is it that the pride of South Korea has so botched the recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after complaints of exploding batteries — and a ton of negative publicity by the media in the U.S., Europe and China, not to mention the vast echo chamber of social media?

When it recalled its phones last month, it assured consumers it had diagnosed the problem and that its replacements were safe. Not so it turns out: Customers reported the lithium batteries in new phones went up in flames too, in some instances. On Tuesday, Samsung took the dramatic step of killing off the Note 7 for good.