Companies lick lips as Beijing Olympics loom
(Xinhua)Updated: 2007-04-08 08:56
ITT, the US-based water treatment company, cut itself a slice of Olympic cake worth eight million yuan when it won the contract to provide pumping solutions for canoeing.
In March, English First, a Swiss-based group, was selected to give language training to the Olympic crew.
DHL, a leading German post company, chose to sponsor China's national badminton team to enhance recognition among its small- and medium-sized customers in China.
"Sponsors like the Bank of China, Yili Group, Volkswagen, Adidas, Johnson & Johnson, BHP Billiton and Beifa Group are deeply embedded in China's economy," said Ding Yuanzhu, a researcher with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission.
"The ramifications extend up- and downstream for miles," he said. "These companies all have partners and subcontractors who are also influenced by the Beijing Olympics."
"Whether it's a cow farmer connected to the Yili Group, Standard Chartered Bank investing in Beifa Group, Samsung selling its mobile phones or PricewaterhouseCoopers auditing the Bank of China," he said, "everybody is on board."
Beijing plans to spend 290 billion yuan on Olympic-related projects. Goldman Sachs predicted that Games spending would add 1,376 billion yuan to China's GDP, close enough to the country's estimate of 1,500 billion yuan.
Like it or not, the Olympic economy has become a micro-image of China's development and affects all aspects of the economy.
"The sponsors and all the companies connected to them, whether they are domestic or foreign-funded, have their fortunes firmly tied to the Olympics," Zhang said. "Let's hope that domestic and foreign-funded companies all enjoy an Olympic dividend."
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