The Note7 debacle and this political crisis are both products of Korea's corrupt chaebol structure [1] (a polite way of saying "oligarchies").
Samsung sourced its batteries, virtually exclusively, from Samsung SDI [2]. Samsung SDI is very likely controlled by Lee's family members. That implies these bids weren't competitive. The upshot is less emphasis on function than family.
The technical issue was the result of a top down demand on engineers who weren't given enough time to deliver/test a safe design. I'm not sure how this can be directly attributed to the chaebol structure although the Lee heir in question was also pushing the Note 7 redesign effort.
Samsung sourced its batteries, virtually exclusively, from Samsung SDI [2]. Samsung SDI is very likely controlled by Lee's family members. That implies these bids weren't competitive. The upshot is less emphasis on function than family.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol
[2] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-sdi-batteries-idUS...