CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun: "Plan to Quickly Establish and Immediately Execute Ultra-Gap Capabilities"

Chairman Lee holds 'Group CEO Meeting' with all subsidiary CEOs and holding company executives just 3 days after executive personnel changes
After reviewing 1-year performance of mid-term vision, orders "Establish execution-focused mid-term strategy by 2025"
Chairman Lee: "The next 2-3 years are a critical turning point for the group's future growth; we must do our best with extraordinary determination"

CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun attended the 'CEO Meeting' held at the CJ Human Resources Center on the 27th, discussing the direction for establishing the 2023-2025 mid-term strategy with the group executives.

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group, gathered key executives in one place just three days after the executive personnel reshuffle to discuss the group’s growth strategy and execution plans beyond next year. The personnel reshuffle was conducted on the 24th, two months earlier than usual, and within three days, the key executives were assembled. This early reshuffle is interpreted as a step to first reorganize the internal structure in order to steadfastly pursue the group’s growth vision amid challenging domestic and international environments, and then immediately discuss the vision and future strategies for the group’s growth with these executives.

On the 27th, CJ Group announced on the 28th that it held a ‘Group CEO Meeting’ at the CJ Human Resources Development Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, attended by CEOs of major affiliates and key executives of the holding company.

At the meeting, Chairman Lee reviewed the one-year achievements of the mid-term vision announced last November and emphasized the direction for future growth, urging each company to prepare a new mid-term strategy and execution plan for the next three years. Chairman Lee stated, “The period from 2023 to 2025 is a critical crossroads between becoming a global major player or remaining complacent in the domestic market and heading toward decline,” adding, “CEOs must steel their resolve, return to their original intentions, and swiftly establish good plans that embody the Only One philosophy to create a super-gap capability, which must be executed immediately next year.”

Accordingly, each CJ affiliate will begin building a new mid-term strategy from next year through 2025. Plans that can be executed immediately from next year are expected to be prepared within this year and promptly implemented. The keywords of the mid-term strategy presented by Chairman Lee on this day are ▲ securing super-gap capabilities ▲ accelerating innovative growth centered on four major growth engines ▲ securing top talent ▲ and advancing financial strategies. Regarding the establishment of a mid-term strategy within less than a year after announcing the mid-term vision, a CJ official explained, “The intention is to continuously establish strategies in predictable two- to three-year cycles to flexibly respond to the management environment.”

Along with this, CJ Group CEOs reviewed the achievements over the one year since the mid-term vision announcement, sharing cases of exceeding or falling short of targets and jointly checking next year’s tasks. Chairman Lee emphasized the importance of the mid-term strategy, saying, “Although we achieved meaningful growth, including record-high performance in the first half of this year, it is still too early to say that the four major future growth engines, which we proposed as keywords for innovative growth, have been fully activated,” and added, “A new strategy is needed to strengthen super-gap capabilities through a thorough analysis of business capabilities and external environments.”

Chairman Lee Jae-hyun of CJ (third from the left in the second row) and group executives including subsidiary CEOs attended the 'CEO Meeting' held at the CJ Talent Institute on the 27th to discuss the direction for establishing the mid-term strategy for 2023-2025. In the front row, at the far left, is Lee Seon-jeong, the new CEO of CJ Olive Young. Behind her, from the left, are key CEOs including Choi Eun-seok, CEO of CJ CheilJedang; Kang Shin-ho, CEO of CJ Logistics; and Kim Hong-gi, CEO of CJ Corporation. In the far left of the back row are Lee Seon-ho, Head of Food Growth Promotion at CJ CheilJedang, and Lee Kyung-hoo, Head of Brand Strategy at CJ ENM Entertainment.

Last November, CJ announced that it would invest over 10 trillion won centered on the four major growth engines of C.P.W.S (Culture, Platform, Wellness, Sustainability) to build a foundation for sustainable future growth. In particular, recognizing that creating an environment where talent can work freely is paramount to achieving these goals, the group simultaneously undertook various personnel system and organizational culture innovations. Since then, CJ has continued its growth momentum despite the global economic downturn, setting record-high performance including surpassing quarterly sales of 10 trillion won for the first time in history (as of Q2).

The group has also actively pursued strategic M&A and equity investments in promising future sectors, acquiring Batavia (CJ CheilJedang), a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for gene therapy, and Endeavor Content (CJ ENM Entertainment), a global production studio, as well as investing in fandom business specialist startup ‘Be My Friends’ (CJ Corporation, CJ OliveNetworks). Additionally, CJ established an AI Center (April) and launched CJ Investment, a corporate venture capital (CVC) firm (August), creating a structure that actively pursues future business discovery.

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