Highlighting the Link Between Business Competitiveness and the K-Beauty Industry Ecosystem
Considering K-Beauty Related Programs in Collaboration with Harvard University
CJ Olive Young announced on the 17th that a case study on its platform competitiveness has been adopted as a teaching material at Harvard Business School in the United States. This is interpreted as a meaningful business study case evaluating the business model and growth of the representative K-beauty distribution channel, amid South Korea emerging as the world's 4th largest cosmetics exporter last year.
The teaching material featuring Olive Young's innovation and growth case was first revealed on the 11th (U.S. time) during a business innovation class for second-year MBA students.
The case study titled "Olive Young: Creating Beauty Innovation" primarily focused on Olive Young's role as a K-beauty 'incubator' that discovers and nurtures promising emerging brands while expanding the market. Olive Young established collaboration models with partners of various sizes and positioned itself as a channel that not only introduces brands to consumers but also presents new trends, thereby significantly contributing to the formation of today's robust beauty ecosystem and the global K-beauty trend.
The study also mentioned that CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun's management philosophy supported Olive Young's growth. It introduced Chairman Lee's emphasis to Olive Young's management that "each business must be a leader, the best, or provide unique value," reflecting CJ's ONLYONE spirit, and that "distributors must prioritize long-term partnerships based on mutual growth."
The core secrets behind Olive Young's growth as a K-beauty industry leader were identified as ▲ the MD working method ▲ omnichannel ▲ customer experience innovation. The teaching material highlighted MD competitiveness that strengthens partnerships by leveraging Olive Young's infrastructure across stores, online, and global channels based on strategies to grow brands, rather than simply deciding product listings through price negotiations.
It also regarded Olive Young's MD council, where key factors such as product differentiation points, price competitiveness, and trend potential are collectively discussed and evaluated before launching new products, as an important process that increases the likelihood of product success.
The omnichannel, where more than 1,300 stores nationwide and the online platform are organically linked, was also analyzed as a core competitive advantage. Examples introduced included analyzing customer behavior patterns in stores to reflect in online strategies and using offline stores as urban logistics warehouses to promptly respond to online orders. Attention was also drawn to bold investments in logistics and IT to strengthen the omnichannel strategy.
The store operation method, which departed from brand-specific displays to introduce trend- and category-centered displays and provides staff assistance only upon customer request, was also highlighted. Through 'discovery shopping' that allows customers to freely explore new products, customers were made to feel Olive Young as a 'beauty playground.'
An Olive Young official said, “We felt the high interest in K-beauty as the only category channel adopted as a case study at Harvard Business School,” and added, “With the mindset that the growth of small and medium-sized enterprise brands is Olive Young’s growth, we will play a growth booster role to help small and medium-sized K-beauty brands continue to expand globally.”
Meanwhile, the Olive Young case study was co-authored by Professor Rebecca Karp and researcher Shu Lin of Harvard Business School. It is expected to be published through the Harvard Business Review, a monthly business magazine owned by Harvard Business School, and utilized in various ways. Olive Young is also considering additional K-beauty related programs in collaboration with Harvard Business School this year.
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