ABSTRACT
Current issues in reliability technology Several years ago, a medium-sized company regarded as a rising star in Korea declared bankruptcy. It had developed mobile phones and launched them successfully in the domestic market. Due to heavy price competition in China, its pro‚tability had deteriorated, so in the expectation of higher prices, it opened up a new market in Europe.* But there was also severe price competition there, and the company released its product without enough margin. This may have succeeded, but an inherent quality problem forced multitudes of product returns, which forced the business to close, ‚nally, with major losses. Now, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) system developed from the General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs (GATT) in order to enhance free trade, the global marketplace has become increasingly competitive; companies can only survive when they make no mistakes in either price or quality.
