Food Industry's 'MZ Owners' Positioned at the Forefront

CJ·Nongshim and Others' New Management Trend
Starting as Employees After Studying Abroad
Most Responsible for Discovering New Businesses

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The third generation of owners in the food industry has officially begun to take center stage. The full deployment of third-generation owners, mainly from the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), is quite different from the previous appearances of second-generation owners, which were primarily aimed at business succession. This is based on the judgment that young executives who are well-versed in the current era's sensibilities and internal company affairs are necessary to capture rapidly changing trends such as the metaverse (extended virtual world) and virtual models.

The Metaverse That ‘Chairmen’ Couldn’t Understand, Caught Up by Their Sons

On the 12th, a senior official in the food industry said, "The second-generation founders currently serving as chairmen in the food industry have all experienced the major shift to online, but it is true that their understanding of the non-face-to-face trend after COVID-19 is lacking," adding, "Traditionally conservative food companies are expanding the management roles of their MZ generation children to incorporate these new trends into the company’s value, and this is the background for that."

Looking at the third-generation owners who were promoted to executives or began actively participating in management last year, most are around their 30s and represent the MZ generation. Lee Seon-ho, who was promoted to ‘management leader’ last year and is in charge of Food Strategy Planning at CJ CheilJedang’s Food Growth Promotion Office, was born in 1990 and is 33 years old this year. Shin Sang-yeol, purchasing director at Nongshim, was born in 1993 and is 30 years old, and Dam Seo-won, senior manager of Orion’s Management Support Team who joined last year, was born in 1989 and is 34 years old.

Overseas Education, Entry-Level Employees, New Business

The third-generation owners who have fully emerged all share the common traits of having studied abroad and starting from entry-level positions. They have high expertise and understanding of overseas markets due to their overseas education, and their experience as entry-level employees gives them a better understanding of the company overall compared to their fathers’ generation.

Both Lee and Shin are alumni of Columbia University in the United States and joined their companies as entry-level employees to begin their management training. Lee joined as a staff member in 2013 and was promoted to executive last year, while Shin joined as a staff member in 2019 and was promoted to executive last year. Senior Manager Dam graduated from New York University and has experience working as a regular employee at Kakao Enterprise.

They also share the common role of being in charge of new business within their companies. This is interpreted as the second generation’s intention to have them discover the company’s vision by utilizing the unique young sensibilities of the MZ generation. Lee has played a leading role in discovering new businesses for CJ CheilJedang, launching the vegan brand Plantable following the global marketing business of Bibigo. Shin is also responsible for global business capabilities and discovering new businesses.

A business community official said, "Looking at the third-generation MZ owners in the food industry, they reflect the values pursued by the MZ generation such as global competence (overseas education) and fairness (entry-level employment)," adding, "This is not a forward deployment for succession, but rather a new management trend as food companies, which have traditionally been the most conservative, have significantly expanded the roles of the MZ generation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.