China plans big push for Olympic mascot products

China expects record sales of licensed products for the 2008 Beijing Games, spurred by a marketing campaign promoting its Olympic mascot.

Earlier this year about a half-dozen candidates from the panda to the Tibetan antelope were under consideration.

Beijing organizers Thursday declined to give details about the mascot. Chinese leaders will announce the result of the secretive selection process on Nov. 11, marking the 1,000-day countdown to the Summer Games, officials said. The fanfare will include a gala in a Beijing stadium.

"The launch of the mascot will carry sales of Olympic products to a new height," Lai Ming, director of the organizing committee's marketing department, said at a news conference. "We believe the sales volume will be bigger than the previous Olympic Games."

Mascots are the most marketable symbols in the Olympics business. The choice is important as sales of licensed products and helps organizers defray costs.

Lai did not provide projected sales figures. But recent Olympics have generated more than $300 million in sales of licensed products, many of them emblazoned with the mascot. Local organizers keep about 10 percent to 15 percent of that in royalties.

More than 300 kinds of licensed products bearing the mascot will go on sale at 188 authorized venues across China the day after the announcement, from fluorescent pens that cost $1 to souvenirs made with precious metals for thousands of dollars, Lai said.

Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the organizing committee, said dozens of artists and design experts had been called to pare the initial list of mascot entrants from 662 to 56 and finally to six, with the final choice selected by the organizing committee. The International Olympic Committee approved the choice in August.

Jiang said the choice "ought to satisfy the 1.3 billion Chinese people and the peoples of the world."
Source: Daily Times, November 3, 2005

Foreign companies see no bonanza in Beijing Olympics spending

Beijing's spending bonanza for the 2008 Olympics is proving a disappointment to foreign companies, who say they are being effectively locked out of most contracts.

With China allocating billions of dollars (euros) to the Games, the frustration among foreigners over so far scant opportunities, voiced privately for months, broke out in the open in October. A senior executive with General Electric Co, in published remarks, criticized the bidding process as opaque and skewed toward domestic firms. The authorities are currently unable to ensure that the bidding process is fair, the American Chamber of Commerce-China?s monthly magazine quoted Li Jianbo, in charge of GE's relations with the Chinese government, as saying.

Both the city government office in charge of Olympic construction and the Beijing Olympic organizing committee have promised that bidding would fair and open and that foreigners would be welcome. The two agencies didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Foreigners have not been completely excluded, though US officials said no American company has won a sizable contract.

Australian and European architects are designing several venues, including for the 3.1 billion yuan ($386 million) National Stadium, the Games signature architectural work. London-based Ove Arup & Partners is providing design, engineering and project management services for a handful of venues and related infrastructure projects. But the foreign share pales in comparison with the huge sums involved: China is spending $2.4 billion on Olympic venues alone and another $35 billion- $40 billion on remaking the city for 2008. Projects range from new power, water and sewage treatment plants to the world?s largest airport terminal.

The disparity and the discontent generated have thrown a spotlight on China's less-than-free-market economy, in which the communist government and state-connected companies often play decisive roles. The bidding process is a nightmare,? said a foreign consultant who is trying to land Olympic-related contracts for European companies complained that anyone who wasn't an insider didn?t know what was going on. The consultant requested anonymity so as not to jeopardize his already limited chances of business success here. Big companies have staffs to gather information on bidding, but have only about 1 percent of the information that they need, the consultant said.

Part of the frustrations stem from years-long trade frictions. Three years ago, Beijing raised the bar for foreign participation in construction projects, requiring foreign construction firms to set up local entities and foreign architects to work with local partners. That has helped keep most major Olympic contracting in the hands of state-run Chinese construction companies,executives with foreign companies say. But a larger part of the foreign criticisms are directed at the often close relationship between Chinese business and government and the resulting disregard for regulation and standard practices.

Although China has laws and rules for government procurement and bidding, foreign executives said that much Olympic contracting is governed by neither. For infrastructure projects a water treatment plant, for example government ministries issue separate regulations, the executives said. For an Olympic equestrian center initially planned for the Beijing suburbs, bidding was organized by invitation only. The GE executive?s criticisms took aim at these connections. In the article, Li said that bidding standards were being manipulated to exclude certain companies and that relationships seemed to be influencing outcomes. Bidding and tendering standards should be generic, open to the general public and incorporate international practices, Li was quoted as saying.

Li confirmed that the reported remarks were accurate but declined to elaborate, referring inquiries about GE?s Olympic contracting to company spokesman Geoff Li. There is nothing significant we've won on Olympic projects so far, said Li, the spokesman. GE's fate is seen by other foreign Olympic business hopefuls as a bellwether. The company is one of a select group of global sponsors of the Olympics. Its advertisements for everything from electric power to water treatment are plastered all over Beijing.
Source: Rediff.com, October 11, 2005

Beijing Olympics to create 1.8 million jobs

The Beijing Olympics in 2008 will generate 1.8 million new jobs in the host city, says the Beijing Municipal statistics Bureau.

A research report by the bureau estimates that between 2004 and 2008, 280 billion yuan ($34.6 billion) will have been invested, which will bring Beijing and nearby regions a boom in construction, communications and environmental protection industries. After that, the service sector will be the major job provider. The investment is forecast to raise the city's gross domestic product by an average of 0.8 percentage points per year.

Beijing would spend 100 billion yuan (USD 12.3 billion) of that figure on infrastructure construction for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which will take place from August 8-24, head of the bureau's accounting division Wei Xiaozhen said. "The massive construction projects, such as the 300-kilometre subway network and the 600-kilometre highway system, will create a huge number of job opportunities over the next few years," Wei was quoted as saying by the China Daily. Moreover, the city is expected to allocate more than 10 billion yuan ($1.23 billion) to build or rebuild sports venues. These buildings will be used as public sporting and entertainment venues after the games. "To operate and maintain such huge buildings, service workers are in great demand," Wei said. Preparations for the 2000 Sydney Olympics meant 150,000 new jobs in Australia. Experts say Beijing, with its plentiful cheap labor, can expect to gain even more.

Apart from generating 1.8 million jobs, the Olympic efforts will increase the proportion of the service sector in the city's economic structure, an important factor in gauging a city's level of development. According to the report, the service sector will take up 70 per cent of the city's economic volume in 2008, 10 percentage points higher than the current level.

"It is good news for Beijing to see the growth of the service sector," Wei said, adding that the service industry usually accounts for more than 80 per cent of the economic volume of cities in developed countries. Inward investment will bring Beijing and its environs a spending boom in construction, communications, postal and telecommunication services, tourism, and catering.

However, Beijing still has a long way to go if it is to make the Games both successful and profitable, the report said.
Srouce: China Daily, October 11, 2005

Army of workers lays foundation for Beijing Olympics

Beijing has mobilized an army of 20,000 construction workers to avoid the last-minute rush that preceded the Athens Olympics and make sure the venues are completed well before the start of the 2008 Games. On Tuesday, the city showed off the site for the basketball stadium, where a 1,200-strong workforce has finished the vast foundations and is busily setting steel and concrete for basement levels just six months after ground was first broken.

"I think it will turn out to be very beautiful," electrical worker Wei Wenwu said of the stadium, which computer models showed would be a spartan, windowless box. The venue, part of the sprawling Wukesong Sports and Culture Center, is one of 11 new arenas designed for the Games. Beijing has begun work on 10 and will launch construction of the last one by the end of this month.

The Wukesong stadium is scheduled for completion in 2007, when it should have a high-tech water recycling, solar powered equipment with one main basketball court, two side courts and seating for 18,000 spectators. The original plans were more ambitious the floor space has been reduced and a potentially costly exterior wall of television screens was scrapped. "I wouldn't call it scaling back, I would call it optimizing," Liu Zhongyi, head of the Wukesong center, told reporters on Tuesday, repeating a phrase used frequently in the past year in Beijing.

The capital still expects to have spent at least $2 billion on Olympic venues by 2008, with more than 4 billion yuan ($496 million) going on building the showcase "bird's nest" National Stadium and "water cube" swimming center. That is a fraction of the estimated $40 billion the ancient city will spend on improving its creaky infrastructure and putting forward a modern face to the world in the run-up to the Games.

After the Games, the whole complex could be used to host exhibitions, professional sporting events and concerts, Liu Zhongyi said.

GAMES LEGACY

"We have to leave a legacy for the Chinese people," he said. "It's not right to build a useless stadium." Beijing says its Games will be a "people's Olympics" but as part of the city's face-lift, a dozen shabby villages near Olympic venues will be razed to the ground.
"The 12 villages do not fit with the surroundings for Olympic venues and don't match the city's appearance," Jin Yan, an official with the Beijing 2008 Project Construction Office, said at a Tuesday news conference.

Jin called the targeted villages "dirty and disorderly," but did not specify how many people would be affected. More villages could be moved before the Games begin, he added.

In June, hundreds of farmers in a Beijing suburb rallied after being forced from their fields without compensation to make way for the Shunyi Olympic Aquatic Park, the venue for the rowing and canoeing competitions. Reuters
Source: Reuters, September 20, 2005

Unique chance for fair play

China has introduced measures to fight corruption in preparing the Beijing Olympics in 2008 that could become a blueprint for a wider campaign against graft, according to international anti-corruption experts.

In cooperation with international advisers, the Chinese government has instituted a range of procedures to minimize the potential for corruption in contracts for the Games, estimated to be worth up to US$16bil (RM60.4bil).

These include more frequent audits of spending, last-minute selection of experts to decide on contract bids to reduce the possibility of bribery, threats of blacklisting for corrupt contractors, the opening of tenders to public scrutiny on the Internet and establishing public hot lines for public complaints.

For a country where rapid economic growth and massive infrastructure spending over more than two decades have led to numerous government scandals involving bribery, embezzlement and kickbacks, staging a high-profile international event such as the Olympics has become a test case for the ability of the Communist Party to combat corruption.

If it works successfully, China would like to use it as a framework for national guidelines on big infrastructure projects, said Janos Bertok, an expert on corruption in China at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Speaking this week on the sidelines of an anti-corruption conference in Beijing organized by the Asian Development Bank and the OECD, Bertok said the Chinese authorities planned to carry out a study into all preventative measures, from awarding construction and procurement contracts for the Olympics through to ticket distribution.
(Source: China Daily/Asia News Network, Monday October 24, 2005)

Olympic goods win licensing go-ahead

With the launch of the Beijing 2008 Licensing Program, official Beijing 2008 Olympic merchandise will soon be available in every major city across China, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) revealed yesterday.

"With the official kick-off of the program, the sales network of the merchandise will be made as large as possible to cover all the provinces, cities and autonomous regions in China," said Yuan Bin, director of BOCOG Marketing Department. "More kinds of merchandise will be designed to help promote the brand image of the Games."

In order to test public reaction and learn more about marketing requirements, the Licensing Program was operated on a trial basis starting from August 2004.

By the end of this August, about 600 kinds of licensed goods in seven categories, such as leisure clothes, pins, stationery and bags, were available in 27 newly-established stores in seven cities Beijing, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Nanjing, Chengdu and Shenzhen. According to BOCOG statistics, the sales volume has reached 600 million yuan (US$4.86 million).

"Through the trial stage of the program, we have found some weaknesses in the sales of licensed merchandise, so we will improve the program," said Yuan.

Stores will be set up in more cities, and other categories of goods, such as jewellery, toys and food, will be designed.

"The licensed stores will be set up in scenic spots, and also in western cities," said Yuan. "We hope that by 2008, nearly 10,000 licensed stores will be open throughout China."

In order to satisfy the public's desire for officially licensed merchandise, more manufacturing and distribution licensees will be selected by BOCOG.

"Licensees will be selected on the basis of market research, qualification assessment, and first-hand investigation," said Yuan. "We are aiming to raise the quality of the merchandise and involve more Chinese enterprises in the Olympics."

Yuan also revealed that an international program is also included in the Licensing Program, so that Beijing 2008 merchandise will be sold around the world.
Soource: China Daily, November 3, 2005