The company not only provides a research summary but also maps out marketing strategies.
The Focus Company is known as the best in IT fields, including telecommunications, wireless internet, and Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. Choi Jeong-sook (’78, Sociology) leads this renowned company as the CEO.
Choi worked for Oricom, the first comprehensive advertising company in Korea, from 1983 to 1986 and then worked for other companies including A.C. Nielsen, one of the finest research company until 2000. She then founded Focus Company, the company of her own in 2001.
On 2009, Choi recieved an award certificate from Minister of Knowledge and Economy for her outstanding management skills.
“I decided to run my own company since I was interested in exploring new markets and new things when doing research,” Choi said.
She dreamed of being a CEO when taking the Advanced Industrial Strategy Program course at Seoul National University. At that time, most of the students in the course were CEOs of distinguished companies and their mindsets were quite different from ordinary people.
“I wanted to have more chances to meet such great people and to work with them,” Choi said. “In conducting research, I also began to learn new things more quickly and deeply than others.”
Choi started her company with just four employees, but now employs more than 50 people.
When starting her business, Choi worked 364 out of 365 days, excluding Chuseok. She overworked and stayed overnight to do research and establish systems.
“Now the company is in a stable situation, but back then, I overcame difficulties through my efforts only,” Choi said.
Though Focus Company is well known in the IT research field nowadays, its way to success was not simple. The company competed against other big companies for the right to conduct an important survey titled “Usage and consumer satisfaction of the wireless Internet service.”
At that time, it was not easy for Choi to conduct such a huge research with only fifteen employees. To overcome the limit of a small-scale company, the company armed itself with professionalism and knowledge. As a result, the company took charge of the survey eight times in a row, making Focus Company one of the most renowned companies for research on IT.
Choi also had a hard time, especially in man-management. At the beginning of running her company, some employees, who contributed in helping her create and settle the company systems, wanted to work for another company. It made her a little embarrssed since she had to start her business with only a few employees.
“However, I decided to let them go and then make them come back after further improvement are made and gained more experience from other workplaces,” said Choi.
Choi, who went through ups and downs on her way to the success, emphasized the importance of challenges and human networks, and credited the members of her company for their achievements.
“I am grateful to my co-workers for our achievements. Without their help, I could not have overcome difficulties,” Choi said.