Beijing Olympic medals
AUSTRALIA'S major companies -- including BHP Billiton, Qantas, ANZ, National Australia Bank, Bluescope Steel, Macquarie Group, Telstra, the Seven Network and minerals company Astron -- are combining to leverage the business opportunities from this year's Beijing Olympics.
The companies are sponsoring a hospitality suite, organised by Austrade, in Beijing during the Games. The suite will be used to promote business contacts between Australia and China.
Macquarie Group chairman David Clarke, who is chairing the roundtable advisory group for Business Club Australia Beijing 2008, said yesterday that 13 major Australian companies had combined to sponsor the Business Club.
But he said many more would be using the facilities with almost 40 different corporate events already scheduled to be held at the venue during the Games.
More than 50 small-to-medium enterprises are also expected to be involved in a series of seminars linked to the Games that will cover specialist areas such as mining, financial services, sports business and companies in the clean energy and environmental businesses.
Mr Clarke said the model of using sporting events such as the Sydney Olympics or the Rugby World Cup to promote business links between countries had been successful in the past.
"A lot of businesses use it to get together on a one-on-one basis," he said.
But he said the Beijing event would be the most ambitious attempt of its kind outside of Australia to leverage business links to a sporting event.
Mr Clarke said major Australian corporates such as BHP Billiton and Macquarie had already planned their own individual events during the Games but would also be working together with the Business Club Australia centre in Beijing to create an Australian business centre.
"What we are trying to do here is to co-ordinate the interests of quite a lot of major companies so that one and one make three," he said.
"We want to present, as much as we can, a united front (for Australian business) which is probably more important in China than it is in many other countries."
Austrade estimates that its Business Club programs, which have been tied to the Sydney Olympics, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the 2007 Rugby World Cup in Paris last year, "helped facilitate" some $1.7 billion in trade and investment opportunities for Australian companies.
Australia's business leaders are waiting on an announcement about whether the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will attend the Olympics.
Mr Clarke said he did not think that controversy over China's policy in Tibet, which sparked protests against China's Olympic torch relay around the world, would cloud enthusiasm for the Beijing Olympics.
"Sometimes the politics in the Olympics is important," he said.
"Probably, in China, it will be a bit more political but I think it will be a pretty good experience generally.
"I don't think it will be disrupted in the way that, say, the Moscow Games was."
Mr Clarke said Macquarie which has a substantial presence in Hong Kong and China, in a range of areas from property to financial services, would use using the Beijing Olympics to entertain Chinese clients.
But he said other companies would be using the Business Club Australia centre to entertain clients brought from Australia for the Games.
Austrade chief executive Peter O'Byrne said yesterday that corporate sponsorship for the Beijing Business Club had been very strong.
"Australians are very interested," he said.
"The Business Club has some very senior businesspeople involved in its organisation and we are planning it to meet the overall needs of the community," he said. "There is a real dynamic between the companies involved."
BHP -- the only Australian company to sponsor the Beijing Olympics -- has an extensive corporate hospitality program planned for the Games.
The company is providing the metal for all the Beijing Olympic medals.
Several Australian companies, such as architectural firm PTW, which has designed the Olympic swimming centre, will also use the Games to promote their China business credentials.
Corporate executives who attended yesterday's meeting in Sydney to discuss the Beijing Business Club Roundtable included Qantas executive general manager, John Borghetti; Bluescope Steel general manager George Glover; Telstra executive Randy Lynch; Tourism Australia chief Geoff Buckley; ANZ's president for China Andrew McGregor and National Australia Bank's Asian business development manager Michael Shagrin.
The companies are sponsoring a hospitality suite, organised by Austrade, in Beijing during the Games. The suite will be used to promote business contacts between Australia and China.
Macquarie Group chairman David Clarke, who is chairing the roundtable advisory group for Business Club Australia Beijing 2008, said yesterday that 13 major Australian companies had combined to sponsor the Business Club.
But he said many more would be using the facilities with almost 40 different corporate events already scheduled to be held at the venue during the Games.
More than 50 small-to-medium enterprises are also expected to be involved in a series of seminars linked to the Games that will cover specialist areas such as mining, financial services, sports business and companies in the clean energy and environmental businesses.
Mr Clarke said the model of using sporting events such as the Sydney Olympics or the Rugby World Cup to promote business links between countries had been successful in the past.
"A lot of businesses use it to get together on a one-on-one basis," he said.
But he said the Beijing event would be the most ambitious attempt of its kind outside of Australia to leverage business links to a sporting event.
Mr Clarke said major Australian corporates such as BHP Billiton and Macquarie had already planned their own individual events during the Games but would also be working together with the Business Club Australia centre in Beijing to create an Australian business centre.
"What we are trying to do here is to co-ordinate the interests of quite a lot of major companies so that one and one make three," he said.
"We want to present, as much as we can, a united front (for Australian business) which is probably more important in China than it is in many other countries."
Austrade estimates that its Business Club programs, which have been tied to the Sydney Olympics, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the 2007 Rugby World Cup in Paris last year, "helped facilitate" some $1.7 billion in trade and investment opportunities for Australian companies.
Australia's business leaders are waiting on an announcement about whether the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will attend the Olympics.
Mr Clarke said he did not think that controversy over China's policy in Tibet, which sparked protests against China's Olympic torch relay around the world, would cloud enthusiasm for the Beijing Olympics.
"Sometimes the politics in the Olympics is important," he said.
"Probably, in China, it will be a bit more political but I think it will be a pretty good experience generally.
"I don't think it will be disrupted in the way that, say, the Moscow Games was."
Mr Clarke said Macquarie which has a substantial presence in Hong Kong and China, in a range of areas from property to financial services, would use using the Beijing Olympics to entertain Chinese clients.
But he said other companies would be using the Business Club Australia centre to entertain clients brought from Australia for the Games.
Austrade chief executive Peter O'Byrne said yesterday that corporate sponsorship for the Beijing Business Club had been very strong.
"Australians are very interested," he said.
"The Business Club has some very senior businesspeople involved in its organisation and we are planning it to meet the overall needs of the community," he said. "There is a real dynamic between the companies involved."
BHP -- the only Australian company to sponsor the Beijing Olympics -- has an extensive corporate hospitality program planned for the Games.
The company is providing the metal for all the Beijing Olympic medals.
Several Australian companies, such as architectural firm PTW, which has designed the Olympic swimming centre, will also use the Games to promote their China business credentials.
Corporate executives who attended yesterday's meeting in Sydney to discuss the Beijing Business Club Roundtable included Qantas executive general manager, John Borghetti; Bluescope Steel general manager George Glover; Telstra executive Randy Lynch; Tourism Australia chief Geoff Buckley; ANZ's president for China Andrew McGregor and National Australia Bank's Asian business development manager Michael Shagrin.
posted by aliaswn at
8:45 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home