Crowding China's Red Carpet
For Beijing, Hosting
Bigwigs Will Be
An Olympian Task
By MEI FONG
July 16, 2008; Page B1
BEIJING -- In addition to thousands of athletes, more than 80 heads of state and about 30,000 members of the media, another group is expected to invade Beijing in force for the Olympics next month: corporate executives.
Lured by the growing importance of the Chinese market and the chance to help Beijing celebrate its biggest international event yet, the number of chief executives planning to attend the Beijing Games is likely to rival the number at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which often attracts more than 1,000 business leaders.
"It goes beyond just a wonderful sporting occasion. There are political and economic implications," says Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising conglomerate WPP Group PLC, who is planning to attend. "You could call it a sporting Davos."
Many executives see the Olympics as a can't-miss event for companies that do business in China, or hope to. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., is set to attend, for instance, as is General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner.
But the invasion of corporate bigwigs is leading to headaches: How can you give someone VIP treatment when everyone is a VIP?
With dozens of executives flying in on private planes, airspace clearance is a problem. Not to mention front-row seats to hot events -- tickets for the opening ceremony are now going for $50,000 in the gray market.
Olympics officials say that because of traffic controls, some bigwigs will have to forgo their usual limos and take the bus (luxury coaches, of course). Limousine companies say they are almost booked solid. Nearly all the of the dozens of BMWs at First Automobile Leasing Co. have been reserved for the Olympic period for 15,000 yuan ($2,190) daily, quadruple normal rates, says a person in the reservations department.
Space -- as well as tickets -- may be tight. There won't be enough air-conditioned skyboxes at the National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest," for all the VIPs during the opening ceremony, says John Pauline, an architect who helped oversee the construction of some major Olympic venues. Many corporate chiefs will be seated in "special" seats -- more plush than most, but without air conditioning. That could be uncomfortably sticky in the enclosed stadium in August, traditionally Beijing's hottest and most humid month. And like all guests, they will have to arrive hours early.
Among the CEOs expected to attend the Games are BP PLC's Tony Hayward; Blackstone Group LP's Stephen Schwarzman; Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s H. Lee Scott Jr. and Terry Leahy, of rival British chain Tesco PLC; Rupert Murdoch, of News Corp., and Motorola Inc.'s Greg Brown. Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang may be there, though a representative says his plans aren't final. AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson plans meetings with customers, partners and employees while he is there, a company spokesman says.
Also on the list: the top executives of dozens of Olympics sponsor companies, including McDonald's Corp.'s Jim Skinner, Volkswagen AG's Martin Winterkorn and General Electric Co.'s Jeffrey Immelt. Many of these companies will hold board meetings in Beijing.
The Games draw chiefs of countries, too. George W. Bush will be the first sitting U.S. president to attend an Olympic Games opening ceremony on foreign soil. Despite controversy over some of China's policies -- as seen in the demonstrations during the recent Olympic-torch run -- the number of heads of state planning to attend the opening ceremony is roughly double the number who attended the opening of the Athens Games four years ago.
China's government, worried about security and the prospect of unsightly protests, has made it more difficult for ordinary tourists to get visas this summer and has encouraged many of Beijing's poorer migrant workers to return to their homes elsewhere. But for VIPs, the city is rolling out the red carpet.
"For those who wish to be important in business in China for the next 20 years, people in China will ask you if you were here during the Olympics. And if your answer is 'No,' they'll ask, 'Why?'" says Matt Estes, a Beijing-based businessman who is helping organize a gathering for the Young Presidents' Organization, an international club largely made up of CEOs younger than age 45.
China, long a land of big potential, has become increasingly vital to growth and profitability for a wide swath of companies, especially as the U.S. economy has sagged. China is already the world's biggest cellphone market by number of users and the second-biggest market after the U.S. for products from oil and cars to personal computers. This year, the number of Internet users in China surpassed that in the U.S.
Showing up "to show support for China" is key for multinationals with stakes in the country, says James McGregor, CEO of consultancy JL McGregor & Co. "This is China's national achievement test, their way of telling the world, 'We've achieved. Give us credit,'" he adds.
Both the Chinese public and the country's leadership were quick to take offense when some heads of state publicly dithered over whether to attend the opening ceremony, following demonstrations against China's Tibet policies in London, Paris and other Western cities along the global Olympic-torch relay route.
Security experts say that despite the presence of so many important guests, China will be reasonably safe, given the authorities' tight control. Indeed, that could become a problem -- the lockdown on information makes it hard for security officers to plot logistics and plan routes, says Dane Chamorro, regional Asia manager for Control Risks Group Ltd., which handled some security in the 2000 Sydney Games. Sharing information is "one area [in] which people say organizers have fallen short of expectations," he says.
Security professionals in Beijing are more in demand to provide concierge-type services such as scheduling and pickups, says Steve Vickers, chief executive of International Risks Ltd. in Hong Kong. "Beijing is far safer than most places in the U.S.," he says, adding the greatest risk for people traveling outside Beijing "is probably traffic accidents."
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savas, on Jul 16 2008, 06:17 PM, said:
