Marking his first in-person field visits since the pandemic, CJ Group Chairman Lee met with employees to encourage them and underscore CJ’s key 2024 strategies
CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun recently carried out his first field visits of the year by visiting the offices of CJ Olive Young and CJ Logistics. The visits were Lee’s first to any CJ company site in five years since his visit to CJ CheilJedang’s food and bio-research center dubbed CJ Blossom Park in 2019 and the following onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The prominent Korean businessperson used the visits to meet employees face-to-face and communicate key business strategies to them.
As CJ Group subsidiaries, both CJ Olive Young and CJ Logistics achieved significant results last year. Throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic period, CJ Olive Young took preemptive measures aimed at handling potential future crises, in adherence with the company’s ONLYONE* philosophy. CJ Logistics, meanwhile, received recognition for innovating its business structure and bolstering its technical competitiveness, laying the foundation for future growth.
*CJ Group’s philosophy of becoming a leading global company by pursuing “First, Best and Different” in all areas of operation and building a capacity for breakthrough achievements.
Lee’s message to employees focused on accelerating global strategies and fostering mutual growth with partner companies. For CJ Olive Young, the importance of cultivating a healthy beauty industry ecosystem was underscored, while the need for co-prosperity within the logistics industry was emphasized for CJ Logistics.
CJ Olive Young: K-Beauty Retail Pioneer Set to Accelerate Global Growth
On January 10, the chairman visited frontline business departments at CJ Olive Young’s headquarters in Seoul, sharing the year’s business plans with the management team and meeting with young employees in person.
During the discussion, CJ Olive Young’s enhancement of its Online-to-Offline (O2O) capabilities, including same day delivery services during the pandemic, was noted. Lee also pointed to its preparations for reinvigorated offline market expansion in the pandemic’s wake.
“Our way of working and other qualitative aspects of our operations have also advanced,” Lee noted. “As a global lifestyle culture company, Olive Young is doing what it does best, supported by substantial business capabilities and making the most of favorable conditions.”
The discussion then moved on to getting the company ready for a quantum leap in O2O business and accelerating globalization. CJ Olive Young’s noteworthy online success in O2O is a first for an offline Korean distributor. Now, the company aims to expand capacity and make significant progress domestically, while simultaneously shifting focus from the near-saturated Korean market towards intensifying global strategies and expanding business scope.
Co-prosperity and Mutual Growth: Fundamentals for a Beauty Industry Ecosystem
Following his meeting with the management team, the CJ leader visited various other departments at the CJ Olive Young headquarters, including the MD Business Division, the Brand Business Division and the Digital Business Division.
During this round of visits, Lee emphasized “social responsibility” in particular, a theme that he sees as encompassing mutual growth and ecosystem activation.
“As a market-leading business operator, we have a responsibility to cultivate a beauty ecosystem,” he said. “The fundamentals of distribution are co-prosperity and mutual growth, and a company that forces its partners to suffer losses can never fully flourish. Olive Young has achieved its current success by continuously evolving in line with trends and environmental changes, and this is something we can be proud of as a company.”
The company has recently established a mutual fund of 300 billion KRW (227.8 million USD), an investment which will be dedicated towards the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the next three years.
CJ Logistics: Taking Responsibility in Leading Korea’s Logistics Industry
Two days later, on the morning of January 12, Lee visited the CJ Logistics headquarters, also located in Seoul. There, he held a New Year’s meeting with CJ Logistics management.
Over the past three years, CJ Logistics has innovated its structure and streamlined its organizational culture, focusing on key business areas and boosting profitability in the process. The company has successfully established courier services, including “O-NE,” and integrated its various delivery services aimed at both sellers and buyers, such as early morning delivery. It has also focused on establishing next-day delivery and same-day delivery services. Elsewhere, the company has enjoyed strong results in Contract Logistics (CL) and in numerous global business sectors, with its TES* technology capabilities credited with helping build a foundation for future growth.
*TES, or Technology, Engineering, System & Solution, is a core capability of CJ Logistics that helps it to design a future where robots work alongside humans and data and systems support and guide employees.
During Lee’s visits to various business departments – including the O-NE Headquarters, the Fulfilment & Transportation (FT) Headquarters and the TES Logistics Technology Research Institute – he offered employees words of encouragement.
“CJ Logistics has greatly improved its business structure and organizational culture by focusing on strengthening its constitution and honing its fundamentals,” he emphasized. “If our preparations until now can be thought of as learning to run, now it’s time to start the race. Your efforts and hard work are greatly appreciated.”
CJ Logistics envisions 2024 as its opportunity for a significant global leap, powered by TES technology and other competitive capabilities.
“Securing the best technology with the determination to be recognized as the world’s best in this field is a must,” Lee said. “As we aim to jump into the global top 10, we must not rest on our laurels.”
Finally, the chairman underscored the importance of carrying responsibility and taking pride in leading the Korean logistics industry, working hand-in-hand with partner companies for the mutual benefit of the entire sector.
