CJ Group Chairman Holds Global Business Strategy Meeting in U.S.

The CJ Group announced on Dec. 18 that group chairman Lee Jay-hyun has recently held a global business strategy meeting in Los Angeles, California, and checked out the current state of its global business and medium- and long-term strategies.

At the meeting, Lee pointed out the group’s sluggish global growth, saying, “We have achieved some results in such areas as biotechnology, home meal replacement (HMR), ENM drama, but they are not enough to make the CJ Group a truly global company.” He urged officials to make a constant effort to lead future trends and secure global competence in order to make each of the group's businesses number one in the global market.”

The meeting was attended by some 50 executives including CJ Group vice vhairman Park Keun-hee, CJ Corporation CEO Kim Hong-ki, CJ CheilJedang CEO Shin Hyun-jae, CJ Logistics CEO Park Keun-tae and CJ ENM CEO Heo Min-hoi.

The CJ Group has pushed into three markets in the Americas – the United States, Brazil and Mexico – after China and Vietnam and gained a foothold to jump up to be a global leading firm in the food, bio, logistics and culture sectors. Based on this, the group has been showing a high growth mainly in the bio, food and logistics business. It has been recently accelerating business expansion, including large M&A deals.

CJ Cheiljedang Corp., which shows a rapid growth in sales every year with the largest share in the US dumpling market, has set up a total of five production bases in the US, such as L.A. and New Jersey. The company is expanding its market power by releasing a variety of home meal replacement (HMR) products after Bibigo Dumplings. In particular, it acquired frozen food producer Kahiki Foods Inc. earlier this year and US-based large frozen food firm Schwan’s Co. recently. With the acquisitions, CJ Cheiljedang has increased the number of frozen food production bases to 22 in the US, expanding its food production and distribution base within the country. The company is planning to accelerate the spread of K-food in the US further with its large products and brands based on the leading-edge technology.

For the bio business, CJ Group also took over Brazil’s Selecta S.A. in 2017. It is focusing on boosting its market share in the Americas and maintaining an overwhelming global market status by extending investment in facilities that produce “threonine,” amino acid for livestock.

CJ Logistics Corp., which has entered the market in 2006 and tried to secure a logistics base early, recently acquired a 90 percent stake in US logistics company DSC Logistics Inc., regularizing food logistics in the US. Based on its differentiated logistics competence, including the advanced technology, engineering, system & solution (TES), the company is planning to expand the influence as a leading smart logistics firm further.

In addition, the CJ group is accelerating the expansion of its cultural business in the Americas. CJ CGV Co. inked partnership deals with North American top movie theater chain Regal Cinema Inc. to export its own special screen technologies, such as ScreenX and 4DX. The company will solidify its growth ground by introducing its advanced cultureplex.

CJ ENM Co. has continued to hold and spread KCON, the world’s largest K-culture festival which took place in 2012 for the first time, targeting the millennials in the U.S. and spreading K-lifestyle. The company has recently partnered with Hollywood’s leading studios – Universal Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Inc. (MGM) to produce films in the US and opened a new esports arena and studio with a floor area of 1,000 pyeong to produce live events and other esports content, focusing on expanding global power through the US market, the hub of the cultural industry in the world.