How an employee-first ethos drives CheilJedang’s business and culture.
“To make an impact on the market, we need to be the first and be the best. If we are second, third, fourth, we need to innovate our products, services and systems and make them different from others.”
This is the “ONLYONE” philosophy: to be the first, be the best and be different. It is a core guiding principle for all CJ employees, encouraging them to strive for both excellence and variety in what they produce. Over the years, the concept has driven the group’s wide-ranging business practices and helped bring about the development of its many market-leading products and services. The ONLYONE ethos also influences CJ’s current four core business sectors, spanning Food & Food Services, Biotechnology, Entertainment & Media and Logistics & Retail.
“Korea’s Leading Lifestyle Company”: The Launch of CheilJedang
Employees are the biggest growth engine at CJ Group. This belief goes all the way back to CheilJedang, the original iteration of CJ Group. Beginning operations in 1953, CheilJedang’s founding principle was “employees first.”
On its 40th anniversary in 1993, CJ Group announced for the first time its independence from Samsung, officially finalizing the process in 1997. In October 1993, CheilJedang advertised for new employees in newspapers under this slogan:
“Employees are the company, and the company is its employees.”
The response was remarkable, with more than 17,000 people applying for 130 positions. This applicant influx surpassed those of even Samsung and Hyundai, two of Korea’s biggest industry presences at the time.
Following the implementation of full-scale management independence, CheilJedang’s sales continued to rise. From KRW 1.3 trillion in 1993, the company’s business performance rose to KRW 1.4 trillion in 1994. In order to secure its employee base so the company could continue its growth and prosper, CheilJedang relentlessly pursued new business and evolved the company’s scope. By taking bold steps, the group’s business portfolio gradually became more dynamic and diverse.
In 1996, CheilJedang announced a new corporate philosophy: to make the dreams of the present the realities of the future, championing empathy-driven management based on a fundamental human respect for its employees and integrating the ONLYONE approach across all sectors of activity. Eventually, ONLYONE led to a significant evolution in the company’s strategies that spanned all its business areas.
Through the swift and ambitious growth of its businesses, CJ grew into a comprehensive lifestyle company. From the start of its independence in 1997 to the consolidation of its four main business groups in the 2000s, ONLYONE has been a crucial part of CJ’s DNA. With subsidiaries that specialize in many aspects of customers’ daily lives, the company’s employee-first approach to growth and work culture has been instrumental in the direction it has taken and the role it plays in the global industry today.
