CJ Group is concentrating on efforts to realize its vision “Great CJ,” established in 2017, which calls for the group to log 100 trillion won in sales by 2020, as the company shifts into aggressive M&A mode and explores emerging countries and new markets. Under the vision, CJ Group aims to become the top international player in at least three businesses by 2030, with the ultimate goal of being the best in all businesses. The business group plans to invest 36 trillion won, including M&As, in such areas as logistics, bio, and cultural content by 2020.
The year 2017 was remembered as a year in which CJ Group focused on aggressive M&As and expanding internationally to strengthen the competitiveness of its conventional businesses and secure future growth engines. The business group has also laid the groundwork in the Korea to nurture new industries in such untapped businesses as cultural content, bio and biotechnology, on top of the upgrading of the conventional businesses and their future strategies.
CJ Cheiljedang aims to top the global mandu (dumpling) market by making the most of its Korean food brand “Bibigo Mandu” as part of efforts to globalize Korean food. The company aims to raise annual sales of Bibigo Mandu to 1 trillion won by 2020. About 70 percent of the sales are forecast to come from overseas markets. CJ Cheiljedang acquired Ravioli, a Russian frozen food company, last June to set up a platform to enter the European market.
CJ Cheiljedang plans to expand exports to countries in Southeast Asia, South America and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), based on each country’s production center. The company plans to concentrate on securing a stable market position by acquiring a local company with a competitive edge.
By continuously investing in R&D, CJ Cheiljedang plans to produce such localized products as Pelmini in Russia and Cho gio in Vietnam as well as restaurants, snacks, convenience stores and other future products with differentiation in mind.
In related development, CJ O Shopping and CJ E&M have agreed to be merged to create the nation's first convergence media commerce company, the two companies said on Jan. 17. Chairman Lee recognizes culture businesses as a future growth engines for both CJ and Korea.
CJ Cheiljedang, established in 1953, is the mother company of CJ Group. CJ Cheiljedang was merely a food company specializing in domestic cuisine before it was spun off from Samsung Group in the 1990s. But under the stewardship of CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun’s determination to explore new industries, CJ Cheiljedang has aggressively ventured into cinema, broadcasting, media, music (CJ E&M), multiplex (CJ CGV), home shopping (CJ O Shopping), and logistics (CJ Logistics).
Thanks to its early investments, CJ Group has an international life and culture business portfolio that is leading the spread of hallyu (the Korean Wave) around the world. The group has seen sales jump 20 times and about 40,000 new jobs be created over the past 20 years. Chairman Lee now sees it as his mission to give the sagging Korean economy a shot in the arm.
CJ Group has four main business units ― food and food services (CJ Cheiljedang, CJ Foodville, and CJ Freshway); biotechnology (CJ Cheiljedang and Cj Healthcare); new logistics (CJ Logistics, CJ O Shopping, and CJ OliveNetworks); and culture (CJ E&M, CJ CGV, and CJ Hellovision).
Attracting attention from the outside is the group’s cultural business, which accounts for some 15 percent of the group’s total sales, but contributes to improving its image in Korea and abroad.
Chairman Lee ventured into the culture business when he invested $300 million into DreamWorks in 1995, inaugurating the multimedia business division. The company acquired a music network, now Mnet, in 1997. The following year, CGV Gangbyeon, the nation’s first multiplex, was opened, and the group acquired Yangcheon Broadcasting, the predecessor of CJ Hellovision.
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