◼COVI March 16, 2020

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� The Olympic stadium

in Tokyo

○Witha $5.9billionbudgetanda decadeofplan-

ningbehindit,the 2020 SummerOlympicsinTokyo

hadbeenexpectedtodraw11,000oftheworld’selite

athletesandmorethan600,000touristswhenit

startsinlateJuly.Butwiththecoronavirusspreading

rapidly,andJapanhavingalreadyclosedschoolsand

canceledpublicevents,theInternationalOlympic

Committeeisreportedlyassessingitsoptions—

includinga gameswithfew,if any,spectators.

Thatprospectis becominglessunthinkableby

theday.SomeU.S.collegebasketball,European

soccer,andJapanesebaseballteamsarecompeting

inemptyvenues.TheannualFormulaOneracein

BahrainonMarch 22 willberunwithoutanyfans.

EventheOlympictorch-lighting ceremony, which

usually takes place in Greece amid much fanfare,

is scheduled to occur this week without spectators.

For organizers, an Olympics behind closed doors

may be the best of a bunch of bad options. It would

satisfy the athletes and, equally important, the

media companies that pay the IOC billions to broad-

cast the events—but only if they happen.

What’s more, in-person fans are a diminishing

source of revenue. When Atlanta hosted the 1996

Summer Games, tickets accounted for 25% of the

budget. In Tokyo, they are half that. In a sign of

things to come, Japan’s bid for the 2022 World Cup

included technology to broadcast the matches

bepo

Dynamics,a researchservicefocusedontheindus-

try.“Theymayrealizethatputtingalltheirinvest-

mentsinonemarketis risky,andI’msuretheywill

be thinking hard about that in the future.”

Senior Peugeot executives who take direct charge

of pressing bottlenecks have been granted full power

and resources to fix an issue. In some cases, parts

have been brought in via air instead of by road. But

air cargo is more expensive and risks driving up

costs over time. The company is also monitoring its

product mix, potentially cutting back on variants

such as diesel cars, and increasing hybrid or gaso-

line models. “We have a long list of issues, but we’ve

managed to keep production going,” Picat says. “We

could fail one day. So far so good.”

For PSA Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares,

avoiding a shortage in components, models, or

workers and keeping factories on course is crucial

this year. He’s in the middle of pulling off the biggest

industry deal in more than two decades, a merger

with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to create the

world’s fourth-largest carmaker. With a reputation

for efficiency and delivering industry-beating profit

margins, Tavares has enjoyed PSA’s full order books

and plants running at maximum capacity.

Like many corporations, PSA has taken some

precautions to protect its workforce from the virus.

Visitorsarerequiredtofillinquestionnairesasking

aboutrecenttraveltoChina,Italy,andothercorona-

virus hot spots. And Tavares himself refrains from

too-direct contact with others. At a press briefing last

week, he kept his distance, standing on a stage to

address a room of journalists seated on chairs placed

farapartfromoneanother.

Thewarroomgatheringshavealreadyhelped

PSAavoidsomebreakdowns.Whena manufacturer

in Hubei stopped supplying parts for rear vehicle

sections,PSA’sengineerssearchedthroughthe

car’sdevelopmentphaseandtrackeddownproto-

type machines that could stamp out the parts in

sufficient quantity—albeit at a slower pace—to fill

the gap until the Chinese partner started up again.

Turnsout,thereplacementmachinewasinMilan,

innorthernItaly,theepicenteroftheEuropean

virusoutbreakandnowina government-mandated

lockdown. “We managed to get the machines to

anotherItaliansupplier,soit allworkedoutin

theend,”Picatsays.ThatwasbeforeMarch9,

ofcourse,whenallofItalywentintolockdown.

�Tara Patel and Chad Thomas

Do the Olympics

really need an

audience?

ss