CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik, in his New Year’s speech, called for boosting the stability of management through reform and the expansion of its overseas operations, as the domestic market reaches a saturation point, by finding and nurturing its future growth engines.

V. Chmn. Lee Mee-kyung of CJ Group.

(Photo: CJ Group:article by SK Lee)

The group’s annual sales last year amounted to 28.5 trillion won, up 6 percent YoY with operating profit rising to 1.1 trillion won thanks to its major affiliate Cheiljedang clearing up its food production sector by dropping all unprofitable units. The CGV sector has done well, too, by ranking fifth largest in audience number for its films including “Snowpiercer” and TV drama series including “Granny Before Flowers” and “Respond, 1994.”

In the area of filmmaking, the group will expand joint projects with foreign producers through joint planning and investments if needed to increase its income from overseas to account for around 20 percent of the group’s total sales.

The group will go all out to achieve its aims under the Great CJ Strategy to have its annual sales reach 100 trillion won by 2020 and operating profit of 10 trillion won, with overseas operations generating 70 percent of its sales. The CGV sector has been doing exceedingly well in Vietnam, ranked first in such areas as bakeries, theaters, and home-shopping operations. The group also plans to generate more jobs this year. Last June, the 15,271 part-time employees working for its service company affiliates such as CJ Foodville, CJ CGV, and CJ Olive Young were made regular hourly employees as well as an expanded number of women employees to return to their jobs after taking maternity leave.

“My brother, Jae-hyun takes care of strategy, while I run it,” Vice Chairman Lee Mee-kyung of CJ Group said in a recent interview with Bloomberg, an affiliate of Bloomberg cable TV, published in the United States, while discussing the working relationship between her and her brother, who is chairman of the group.

Although she meant to say she is the de facto CEO, she said she has not taken over the chairman’s role while her brother has been incarcerated, adding, “The title changes nothing.” She said the group’s operation will be back to normal soon, denying any problems with the group’s operations stemming from her brother’s extended incarceration.

The vice chairman didn’t want to be involved with her family’s business when she was young, but instead wanted to be a scholar. However, she got involved with the business due to her illness, a hereditary nerve-related illness that manifested itself during her 20s, causing one of her legs to drag. She recovered her normal spirit through prayers as an ardent Buddhist.

When she was attending Harvard University, she found that not many students knew about Korea, so she decided to devote herself to the development of the Korean culture as her lifetime work.

The vice chairman said her grandfather wanted to do business to provide jobs to people, not just to make money and live comfortably. “My brother and I have inherited the same DNA from our grandfather,” she said.

She entered Cheiljedang in 1994 and in 1995 invested 300 billion won in DreamWorks, a U.S. film production company set up by Hollywood film producers, Stephen Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, to produce movies, television shows, and animated films, among others. She won the rights to distribute the Hollywood company’s films in all of Asia except Japan, opening the way for CJ Group to take up entertainment as part of its business.