GE's moves to win Olympic-related business illustrate the efforts of non-Chinese companies. GE is targeting about $1 billion in Olympics-related contracts to provide everything from lighting and security at stadiums to electrical equipment at subway stations and treatment systems at waste-water facilities. GE says it has already won more than $150 million in contracts for projects such as new baggage-scanning equipment at Beijing Capital Airport. GE reported $5 billion in revenue in China last year, and it hopes to raise that to $10 billion by 2010.

Last year, GE created a team of 100 engineers and sales people in Beijing to work on Olympics-related projects. It then broke them up into smaller groups focusing on the Beijing Olympic Committee, Chinese companies developing the stadiums and the government agencies in charge of transportation. As an Olympic sponsor in several categories, including security systems, lighting and ultrasound equipment for diagnosing athletes' ailments, GE will provide specific services and products during the Games. But it must bid against other companies that aren't necessarily sponsors to supply permanent lighting and security systems to the stadiums.

"The Olympics effort is an opportunity for all of our businesses to create new relationships, expand on the ones we had, and take our effort in China to the next level," says GE vice chairman John Rice, who runs the company's $42 billion infrastructure group.

GE officials say the company is now bidding on 25 to 30 contracts a month, compared with four to five a month last year. "We're hitting our sweet spot over the next six to eight months," Foss says.

United Technologies' Otis Elevator and Carrier Corp. units have also made headway on Olympics-related contracts. Otis, for example, is installing 136 escalators and 41 elevators valued at more than $14 million for a Beijing subway line. The Carrier unit is providing air-conditioning systems to the National Aquatics Center and Qinghuangdao Stadium, which will host the football matches.

Siemens also has a Beijing-based group focused on the Olympics and other megaevents, and it is marketing a portfolio of products, including security, lighting and fire controls. Among its wins: an estimated $200 million contract to supply a baggage-handling system to the new Beijing airport terminal. Siemens also recently acquired a 70 percent stake in a small Chinese water-treatment company, CNC Water Technology Inc., to expand its water business in the country.

---

Contributing: Sue Feng